Good, Bad and Ugly

Rating: 7/10 (18 August 2005)

Four slices of life: Detective Hartigan(Willis) saves a young girl from a pedophile; tough guy, Marv (Rourke) is framed for a murder of the prostitute he was just with; Dwight (Owen) helps the sisterhood retain control of Sin City; and Hartigan again meets the young girl he saved years ago.
The Good: this is like looking at a comic book (from which the stories are derived) come to life, literally come to life. I mean every scene looks like a panel in a comic book that springs to life. And, this is awesome. Almost like magic. The action is what we see in our mind's eye when we read comics. It literally comes to life as we read on. Isn't that what a comic book panel is supposed to do? Well, it does it perfectly in this movie. The special effects are stunning and I have never seen anything like them. Most of the movie is in black and white with color thrown in at certain times. The acting also is good, but the cinematography and special effects win here.
The Bad: I would have enjoyed this even more if the stories weren't as violent as they were. I saw no purpose in the overkill (the only word for it) when people were being maimed, tortured, thrown here and there, and then killed. In a comic book panel it probably doesn't have the same negative impact because we go quickly to the next panel (well, most of us do), but here the comic book panel comes to life and we can't go on until the director wants us to move on. So we stay and watch something almost real happening. Repeat: almost real. Overkill because it continues (when it should stop) and stays there when you think it should be over. Yes, I had the FF Button at the ready, but I wanted to see how long the butchery would last. It lasted too long. No purpose served here except to titillate. Much too violent.
The Ugly: We see hands and legs sliced off, bodies still alive being eaten by wolves and body parts being yanked off and jettisoned every which way. It got to be a bit much. Truly Ugly. We need this?
Hartigan, Marv and Dwight are ordinary people until someone tries to kill them. Then you would think they were Clark Kent aka Superman. They are hard to kill or stop and they keep coming back when you know they don't have any more breath in them to continue. I ran out of breath just watching. But continue they do. Somehow, they find their second, third, fourth etc winds and continue to fight and try not to be taken out or killed.
If you thought there was too much violence in Pulp Fiction or Natural Born Killers, you have a big surprise waiting for you with this one. The cinematography and special effects are outstanding and you could say that it is a true work of art, but the violence is really too much. And, that brings it down for entertainment value. This is definitely not for kids......some adults too.