Fairly silly, but still manages to be mildly entertaining

Rating: 4/10 (21 May 2013)

First of all, I would like to start by saying that I have never read any of the comics on which this film is based so my review is purely based on what I saw. Sadly, what I did see was pretty disappointing.
The film is based on 3 story arcs with each character following their own course of redemption; Hartigan (Willis) the dedicated police officer with a heart condition, Marv (Rourke) a tough guy who acts as 'vigilante' when his prostitute girlfriend Goldie is killed and Dwight (Owen) who is intent on ridding his current girlfriend Shellie (Murphy) of her evil ex Rafferty (Del Toro).
Part of the problem is that all of the characters are uninteresting and lack any kind of depth (the exception being Hartigan who had a fairly interesting story arc and was better developed than the other characters). Another of the film's problems is the cartoonish way in which the violence is depicted - I'm aware that it is based on a comic and was meant to be a bit silly, but to me it just looked stupid and a bit lame. If I wanted to see someone get run over at 100 miles an hour and then get up and start walking around, I would watch a cartoon. I was almost expecting Porky Pig to come on before the end credits started rolling saying 'T-T-T-That's all folks!'. Sin City is also very repetitive and the narrative quickly becomes boring (I felt that there was way too much narrative and not enough dialogue). This film is similar in style to Pulp Fiction except it lacks interesting characters or witty dialogue which is a shame as this might have made Sin City a pretty decent film.
It's not all bad though, the cinematography is outstanding and Sin City really manages to capture the noir feel (particularly the shots of the characters whilst they are driving) and also the way that Sin City is depicted is fantastic - they really did a great job in making it look grim, filthy and disgusting. The film also moves at a fairly brisk pace and doesn't become boring. The acting was also excellent by nearly all involved (particular praise should go to Mickey Rourke and Benicio Del Toro as Marv and Rafferty). Del Toro wasn't in the film for long, but he really stole every scene he was in and it was a shame he was given limited screen time.
Bruce Willis character, the generally good acting and the impressive cinematography helped in preventing Sin City from being a complete disaster. His character was at least interesting and was a character that I found that I could symphathise with. Many of the other characters were either under developed or one dimensional and I just didn't care for them.
All in all, Sin City was a pretty disappointing film. If you are between 16-21, male or you like films with lots of scantily clad women and aren't bothered about a decent script then you may enjoy Sin City. For anyone else, I'd give it a miss.