One of my top favorites...

Rating: 10/10 (1 February 2006)

Robert Rodriguez scores again! This man is neck-and-neck with Quentin Tarantino as being my favorite filmmaker. It seems like the man can't fail. This time around, Rodriguez brings Frank Miller's film noir graphic novel series "Sin City". For those wondering if you need to be a reader of the books to enjoy the movie, you don't. I went into this movie blind when I saw it in the theaters and it blew me away. The movie actually inspired me to start reading the books.
The movie is a collection of stories from three of the graphic novels. I think this is where some viewers got confused. A lot of the people I spoke with regarding the movie didn't care for it because "it didn't make sense". People need to know: don't go into this expecting a two-hour, single plot movie!! It is three stories, independent of each other, that share the same characters. In this way, it is like Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction". Another concern people have with the movie is the gratuitous violence and sexual themes. This movie may not be for people who are easily offended by such things or are made uncomfortable. You need to watch this movie with an open mind and just try to enjoy the stories.
And of course, you can't discuss "Sin City" without mentioning the stylized look of the film. The movie is gorgeous, shot almost completely against a green-screen and using digital backgrounds. The use of the green-screen also allowed Rodriguez to do some amazing lighting that could not be achieved through conventional film-making. It gives the movie a look that hasn't been seen before. After reading Miller's first book in the series ("The Hard Goodbye", which is also the first story in the movie), you can see that Rodriguez stayed as true as possible to the look in the books.
Finally, I have to mention the casting. I couldn't imagine a better cast to play these characters. You can tell the actors/actresses really got into their characters and had a great time playing them. They all gave strong performances and brought these characters to life perfectly.