A leaden, joyless,masochistic exercise in sheer frivolity

Rating: 1/10 (30 December 2006)

You know it's funny. I have read a good deal of the Sin City graphic novels, and frankly this movie does not even come close to approximating the visceral and disturbing ideas that are Frank Miller's stock and trade. Robert Rodriguez is an over-rated hack with no courage or conviction. Every film he does is more light weight and disposable than the last one. He is so busy playing with his digital toys that he forgets to come up with a compelling narrative at all. The film is so dull and repetitive that eventually you just give up and start waiting for the next moment of calculated violence to occur. The performances are all over the map, some actors seem to be playing it straight, while others seem to feel they are in a comedy. The digital backgrounds are diffuse and lack detail, which is unforgivable considering the hard-edged look of the graphic novels. A lot of good actors are wasted in walk-on roles that usually require they lose a body part or excrete a bodily fluid. Something this vapid and simple should not have Frank Miller's name anywhere near it. The lack of ideas would not matter if the film worked as an entertainment, but it does not. I was bored throughout most of it and could not believe that Rodriguez had managed to come up with something this stultifying and dull. Robert Rodriguez makes Quentin Tarantino look deep by comparison. What good is film craft if it is used to service a retarded and juvenile vision? There have been many good movies based on graphic novels, The Crow comes to mind, but this film is not one of them.