Hot Action Not Enough for Sin City

Rating: Null/10 (3 April 2005)

SIN CITY 2.5/5
Sin City is Frank Miller's on screen adaptation of the graphic novels, portraying the independent plots of three characters, living and dying in the grungy shadowed underworld of Basin (Sin) City. While some of the stylistic violence is quite an enjoyable indulgence, the gore and even the all-star cast are not enough to keep the film afloat.
Apart from the unoriginal and indistinguishably flat characters, Sin City's constant voice-overs are one part overworked film noir and two parts novelistic stream of consciousness-- extremely annoying to hear for two hours. And even in their heads, the thoughts aren't winners, with dry, corny lines like "It's time to prove to your friends you're worth a damn." And while fans of the graphic novel will love the film's scene-for-scene adherence to the comic from which it was based, the rest of us will be bored if not being disgusted at City's liquid violence. And while the violent scenes are reminiscent of the Kill Bill volumes, modern-day classics, Sin City lacks the snappy, witty dialogue of the masterful Tarantino (whose guest direction is the gun barrel-in-head scene /a publicity stunt?). The motives that lead to the bloody battles of Sin City are apparent but disappointingly uninteresting. The character's personalities and motives are never developed or justified, they're just there. Miller could have saved us all time by merging the three male leads into one walking, talking, unaffected male bad-ass stereotype. Though authentic in its translation, this comic book adaptation does not survive on its own as a FILM (like the excellent X-men and Spiderman series). However, the dark film lights a spark with its minimal characters, like Miho, a silent ninja-star and sword-smuggling killer with pin-point accuracy. Also, a light in the dark is the film's artistic cinematography. The occasional instances of color, amongst the black and white, is done very well, drawing the viewer's attention to specific aspects that contrast the gloom of Sin City-- like the dazzling yellow hair of Goldie, a prostitute and the object of Marv's affection. Here, the color scheme not only gives the film a classic feel, but it allows us as viewers to remember what the characters remember, giving us a glimpse into their personalities-- where the sappy voice-over fails.