What A City!

Rating: 9/10 (6 June 2005)

I was really looking forward to this film. I couldn't wait. Then with all the hoo-hah of Star Wars I kind of forgot about Frank Millar's graphic novel adaptation. However I made a point of seeing it as soon as it hit UK cinemas and I must say this film kicked me in the nuts and reminded me just how much I was anticipating it. I love a nice dark film and Sin City is dark. It doesn't hold back with it's subject matter, that while lurid, and a tad misogynistic it makes for a great lads movie. Speaking of the violence; this film is incredibly violent but comically so, both in the humour and the comic book style. You very rarely see red blood, much like the slaughter scene in kill bill when it went black and white. Sin City is shot in almost entirely black and white with colour flourishes every now and again, maybe for the body work of a car say. Those complaining of the level of violence should remember that this is a comic book style film. Those who love, or would love Millar's graphic novels would love this. Robert Rodriguez has put in every snapshot from the books, every piece of narration and every line of dialogue. It is the most accurate translation of book to screen. This is why Rodriguez gave Millar co-directing credit.
There are three main stories in Sin City. One involves a character Marv, hunting the killers of his only love and trying to clear himself of the crime. He uncovers a deep chain of thugs leading to a Cardinal and his young cannibal friend Kevin. Then there is Hartigan, who we see in two time spans. The first sees him rescue a young girl from the clutches of Roark junior, the son of a senator and nephew of a cardinal. He is something of a lover of young children in the Gary Glitter sense, and has his eyes on 11 year old Nancy. Hartigan rescues her though and leaves junior in a state of near death, with his hand and his pecker blown off! Hartigan is betrayed as well by his partner and left for dead. However he is saved and kept alive by senator Roark who wants Hartigan to be sent down for raping Nancy and for what he did to junior. Hartigan goes to prison and will stay there until he signs a confession to this crimes, the allegations of abusing Nancy of course being false. Each day too Nancy writes to him under a false name, as she now lives outside the radar so the Roark's won't find her and finish the job. Hartigan after 8 years of weekly letters, doesn't receive one, and gets a visit form a now deformed Junior. He now knows Nancy is in danger so signs the confession to get out and get to her before junior. Unfortunately as it turns out he was tricked into leading junior straight to Nancy. So now we must have bloody face-off number two between Hartigan and Junior. Finally we have Dwight who meets his new girlfriends abusive ex. He takes it upon himself to warn Jackie Boy away but when Jackie Boy leaves, Dwight realises that he may hurt another woman, maybe kill her. Jackie Boy and is goons end up in old town which is now run by domina, leather clad hookers, and is part of a shaky truce between the police and the gangsters. These chicks are tough but they wouldn't be able to handle all out turf war. So when Jackie Boy causes trouble and ends up being killed by the silent prostitute assassin Miho, and turns out to be a cop, these girls have trouble. They now have to cover their tracks and bury the body in tar-pits. Otherwise all out gang war will be set upon old town.
This film has great dialogue, whether in someone's head or coming out their mouths. This has plenty of cracking one-liners as well. What really makes this a good film is that it is so unique. The look of it and the style is almost the stuff of cinematic history. Rodriguez has really raised his game from being a good director to doing a film his buddy Tarantino would lovingly emblazon onto his CV.
The cast is fantastic. The three leads Bruce Willis, Clive Owen and Mickey Rourke are superb and Rourke in particular kicks it out of the park. Not only is this a great return to the big leagues for Rourke but this is probably his best performance. Bruce Willis is similarly excellent with his best work in years. Clive Owen also does a superb job as Dwight. Elsewhere all the Roark's are suitably slimy and turgid thanks to excellent turns from Rutger Hauer, Powers Booth and a particularly grotesque Nick Stahl. All the rest of the cast and in particular the gorgeous ladies are superb. There are no weaknesses.
The film's music is also very good with three composers seamlessly gelling to a coherent style. The film really does look great though. It could end up being the best looking film of the year, certainly the most original looking. I love the black and white and the intrusions of colour. While the blue screen method works far better than Sky Captain which at times felt flat with lots of still shots and people running from one part of the screen to the other. Rodriguez's direction is typically frenetic.
So far I would say that Sin City manages to dish out a sneaky shot to Lucas' nuts from behind and is the film of the year so far, ahead of Star Wars the third. To sum up this film in one word; COOL! *****