Quite Possibly the Most Accurate Comic Adaptation. Ever.

Rating: 10/10 (17 March 2005)

Sin City in its original serialized comic form was everything that one would expect from the then well known artist/writer/creator Frank Miller and more. Many would come to say that it is his best work.
For years it was a world that only existed on paper in black and white with splashes of color, but it was enough to make Sin City live and breath in ways that few others in the medium have ever been able to come close to. Because Miller's dark, noir overtones painted a very clear, and fully realized picture of every seedy back alley and strip club, and cheap motel room in the fictional Basin City it became painfully obvious that it was just too visceral a place to ever be real in a way that could be encapsulated on film, or at least we, including Miller himself, thought. We were wrong.
This is THE comic movie we have been waiting for and it does not disappoint from the first overly dramatic voice-over to the last frame of the credit scroll. Telling three tales from Miller's world (The Hard Goodbye, The Big Fat Kill, and That Yellow Bastard) the comic transitions from paper to cellulose flawlessly and believably with a grace seldom seen. This ease is especially incredible for something so over the top and stylized like this that it's almost hard to imagine that these are the actors you've grown to know and love for years. But they are and it all comes together beautifully.
The cast, crew, and artists involved in making this adaptation a reality should be commended for their service to the idea that a true comic book movie can, in fact, be made without making concessions to the masses, without altering the plot or changing the characters, and still manage to retain the feel that the ink on paper had while creating a truly entertaining film. Much of this film's success can be directly contributed to the fantastic casting job which encompasses an incredibly long list of a-list and up and coming celebs plus a few obscure but cult favorites (yes, I'm talking to you Rutger) and the tag team direction of Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez. Rodriguez should be particularly touted for pushing Miller to finally do this project, and for leading the way to make this the film that Miller always wanted it to be and that Rodriguez knew he could make.
While I do have a few nit-picky points of contention with cut dialog or certain actors/actresses that refused to bare it all for the sake of keeping intact every last detail from the books it doesn't change the fact that what was laid out on the polyester film stock before me was every bit as entertaining as the original works, and it made a pretty darn good flick to boot. If it's not already self-evident, the bar has been raised for the comic movie. The next brave soul willing to venture in had better be prepared to take on Sin City.