You will love Sin City or hate it, no in-between

Rating: 10/10 (1 April 2005)

Sin City comes to life on the screen directly off the pages of Frank Miller's comic book series. Sin City (Basin City) is a violent city where the police are crooked, crime is rampant in the streets, and the women are beautiful and deadly. The film is a collection of three story lines that connect all the characters to Sin City. The main character is Marv (Mickey Rourke) a street thug who is framed for the murder of a gorgeous and kind prostitute, Goldie (Jaime King), while she was asleep in his bed. To avenge the death of Goldie, Marv sets out on a mission of violence where no one better get in his way. The second storyline is Dwight (Clive Owen) a friend and old flame of the head of the Sin City hookers, who gets caught up in the killing of a corrupt cop and must cover it up to save the girls. The third storyline is about a policeman, Hartigan (Bruce Willis), who was only one hour away from early retirement, but instead of retiring, is shot and arrested and put in jail for 8 years for a crime he didn't commit.
The movie was shot in black-and-white and some color to give the look and tone reflective of the pen and ink of the comic book pages. It is loaded with nudity and violence and is not recommended to the squeamish. The violence doesn't look that bad, even with several killing scenes and body parts flying everywhere. You don't notice the horror as much, because the color of the blood isn't red. You can also tell that the story lines are from comic books, because all the heroes are either shot, run over by a car, tortured and beaten to a pulp, but still survive. I think Marv, the character Mickey Rourke played, was the best of the three stories. This movie was entertaining and not your typical movie; you will either love it or hate it, no in-between. (Dimension Films, Run time 2:06, Rated R)(10/10)