Strikingly Visionary

Rating: 10/10 (4 April 2005)

Sin City is probably one of the more unforgettable films of the year. In this movie are images of dark cityscapes, haunting countrysides, and brooding characters that will stick with you for long hours after you see the movie. Colors and shadows leap to life from the screen. Some, like the glow of green eyes, are sultry and ethereal, whereas others, such as the jaundiced hue of the Yellow Bastard, are horrifically vivid. At any moment scenes become black and white silhouettes, becoming absolute works of art that burn themselves into your memory. The characters and scenes are more like dreams than anything else.
However, although the style is probably the vanguard of the picture, there is substance underneath it.
I'll begin by saying that this movie is not for everyone. It is intensely violent and the plots is classic pulp fiction and noir on steroids. If you are a viewer who does not care for such content, then, by all means, avoid this movie.
Sin City, both the movie and city itself, is ugly. It is gritty, vicious, sleazy and ruthless. It is a rotting, cancerous hellhole of a place, a city without redemption. Yet there are heroes in this story, and they do have depth to them. But because they are heroes in such a place, they, too, must stoop to brutal violence.
All of the characters are men whose empty and hounded lives are validated by the love of a women. Marv is played brilliantly by Mickey Rourke, who perhaps was born for the role. A sad, simple-minded, beast-like thug, Marv is embraced in the arms of a goddess-like woman and given what may be his first night of acceptance and love. The next morning he finds her murdered in bed next to him, and, refusing to let go of the brief reprieve she gave him, wages war on the underground of Sin City to find her killer and uncovers a lot of dirty secrets in the process.
Dwight (Clive Owen) is a mysterious stranger about whom the viewer knows almost nothing but his intense devotions to Gail and the Old Town Girls, a mob-like confederation of prostitutes who police their own territories. When the abusive, drunk, and misogynist Jackie-Boy cruises into Old Town looking to lick his ego's wounds by beating up the first girl he finds, Dwight is ready to kill and willing to die as a result of the consequences.
Bruce Willis plays what may be the most heart-breaking of all the stories. He plays Hartigan, the one good and noble cop in a city of vipers, and so the entire world is immediately against him. Hartigan is the only cop in Sin City willing to take down Junior, the insane son of a hellishly corrupt Senator who gets his sexual kicks by torturing, raping, and then murdering young girls. Hartigan, unable to bear the thought of skinny little Nacy Callahan, age 11, torn to ribbons at the hands of a perverse monster, hunts down Junior and risks everything he has. In trying to do the right thing, he loses all his friends and allies and is brutalized by Sin City, but never, ever gives up.
Many people will deride Sin City because of its stylized direction, graphic violence, and outlandish characters. However, if you have the patience to get enveloped in the world of Sin City and maybe suspend you disbelief for just a moment, you'll find a rare gem of a film. I'll admit it starts out weak, and perhaps a little unexpectedly. But the movie picks up soon and shows you dreams you never even thought could exist.