Stunning and excessive

Rating: 7/10 (15 March 2007)

A look into a few intersecting stories of people in the dark, dreary and dank underbelly of the notorious fictional metropolis of Sin City.
The film is nothing short of a visual masterpiece and practically redefines noir cinematography. The smoke filled, tense, and dangerous atmosphere of the city is present in virtually every frame. All with the comic book spin to each image. The film looks both frighteningly real yet impressively imaginative throughout. Even die hard fans of the ultra-violent novel have praised it for its faithfulness to its source. Many adaptations, even if good, don't come nearly as close to being so visually and thematically similar at the same time to their sources.
That said the film is definitely not for all tastes. The dark and uncompromisingly violent tone throughout seems to go even beyond extreme by the end and to the absurd. Beatings, shootings, dismemberment, impalement, spraying blood and pure nausea really test the viewers gut. It's the point and what else can you expect from a town full of criminals and corrupted people, but most will get that point well before the movie is even half over.
Overall it's a good film noir and the amount of violent excess present is ultimately up to the viewer, but no matter who is watching it's there. --- 7/10
Rated R for strong violence and brutality