101 Gratuitous Maimings for Dummies

Rating: 2/10 (29 November 2006)

A comment on violence. I've seen a lot of violence in films. I've never liked gratuitous violence and I've found that as I've gotten older (I'm early 20's) that I like it less and less. People will automatically jump on me for watching and then low-grading this film. They'll tell me that I'm a fool and if I knew anything about the source material and creative team behind the film, then I shouldn't have bothered watching it.
It's true that I didn't know anything about the comics, but I've seen Tarantino's films and 'Pulp Fiction' is one of my favourite films. I found it to be the perfect balance between style and substance. However, I did not like his 'Kill Bill' movies as much. Part 1 - too much violence/style and not enough story. Part 2 - too much plot and exposition. With tighter editing he should have turned it into the one film it was meant to be. After all, 'Pulp Fiction' was originally about 550 pages long before he pretty much cut it in half. I blame the Weinsteins ....
'Sin City' is just so over-the-top in its blood, guts and gore. An alternative title for the film could be '101 Gratuitous Maimings for Dummies.' The other problem with the film is that it tries so hard to be slick that it is just cheesy. All the hookers in Old Town looked like Models from Lingerie catalogues. Not hot at all because its just so flashy and overstated.
The responses to the above complaints will likely be - "it is not meant to be real, its meant to be cheesy and over-the-top, it's meant to be fantasy, it was made for a specific audience and they loved it, what were you expecting? " Well just because they meant for it to be like this, it doesn't mean it is enjoyable. Just because they went for corn and cheese does not mean it tastes good. Just because its fantasy doesn't mean it should sacrifice all probability for bullshit. Just because this was made for testosterone-fuelled-youngsters doesn't mean its not a disappointment that the people behind this film are capable of a lot more. I hope 'Grindhouse' is more fun than blood and guts. If not, one day Tarantino's substance and nuance will rise from the ashes.
Final point. So why not a 1-star? The acting from the all-star cast is satisfactory, Alexis Bledel is hot (good casting) and it looks good (but my dislike for the film soon soured that).