Graphic in many ways

Rating: 10/10 (10 June 2005)

I'm not given to flights of extravagant praise, being old and cynical, but this is the best film I've seen in years. Stylistically it's an absolute feast for the eyes, incredibly tight and economical. The actors attack their roles with a real enthusiasm, and some of the performances, particularly Micky Rourke and Clive Owen, are superb. It's great to see Rourke back, albeit unrecognisable in the prosthetics. Perhaps not Bruce Willis's best ever performance, but he's good too, though not as old and grizzled looking as he could have been. The women are beautiful and sexy, the men are dark and dangerous, the scenery is brooding and uncomfortable. OK I admit I'm a fan of Miller's graphic novel work, but I don't know the Sin City series at all. From that standpoint I have to say that it really doesn't matter if you are a fan of Frank Miller's work or not. However, the violence in this film is constant, ripe, and graphic. Even with the duotone look of this movie, and the fact that blood is generally shown white, not red, it's gory and not for the faint-hearted. I only remember ONE real laugh in it too. But the fact is that this is an amazing movie. The foyer of the cinema I went to had framed prints from the books alongside the same frames from the film, and if anyone has any doubts about it being true to the original - I've never seen such attention to detail. Awesome. Go and see it. You'll be talking about it for weeks.