The inevitable return of Robert?

Rating: 8/10 (12 June 2005)

I must confess that I wasn't too sure about this movie. I mean Robert Rodriguez used to be great. Heck that guy was on my TOP 5 favorite director list back in 1996 after I'd seen his films and let me tell you they were all great. From El Mariachi and Roadracers to Desperado and From Dusk 'till Dawn. Bu then came the slow demise of Robert Rodriguez...The Faculty was only OK in a teenage horror kind of way...Spy Kids sucked so bad, I didn't even bother with 2 and 3D...and finally he messed up with the Mariachi's in Once upon a Time in Mexico. That guy was scraped off the list, almost as fast as he'd gotten on there. But then there came rumors about a graphic comic book adaption and I got really psyched...I started hoping where I'd lost hope and I must say that when I saw the trailer I was as scared as I was relieved. I mean it certainly looked as if the 'good old' Rodriguez was back, but in a way I was scared. The trailer looked a lot like 'style over matter' to me and I was not sure he'd pull it off. For him to do that he'd really had to get that comic feeling in to it...
Well he did. As soon as the film started I got sucked into Sin City and wasn't allowed out until the ending credits rolled. Sin City is really exciting stuff. Although there isn't much of a background to the characters you care for them and feel with them, which actually is kind of an accomplishment since they are mainly bad guys...the thing about it is though, there are worse guys. No matter how depraved and bad the heroes in this picture are, they all have a heart somewhere and despite all of their sins they are still human. This is particularly evident with Marv (Mickey Rourke), who is very mean and brutal and yet you somewhat condone what he is doing. In a way this film makes you an inhabitant of Sin City. Your values fade, your rules are bent and you come to accept that everything that happens on screen happens by the rules. That is what great film-making is all about.
Rodriguez couldn't have pulled it off without a great cast though and I must say that everyone fit the picture here. I was especially taken by Marv (Mickey Rourke) and Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro). As far as the ladies go, I must say that there while they were much more shallow than most of their male counterparts I sort of had a soft spot for Nancy (Jessica Alba). My least favorite character was Shellie (Britanny Murphy), whom I really couldn't connect with at all. I just felt that she was odd. The rest of the characters and actors ranged from adequate to the above mentioned 'greats'.
The visuals were another certain plus to the film, as it helped you in getting into the comic surreal feeling of the film and accepting everything that happened there. I'm not talking about the rules of the street here, but about the more unconventional stuff, such as the the Yellow Bastard, the sheer invincibility of some of the main characters and the comic brutality depicted in this film. The film just had that comic book character that made believe everything you see. It was almost as if I was flipping through an old Batman comic. It was just great...and so original. Hats off to Rodriguez and to Miller of course who had his share in the directing (and the writing of course). On account of this I say: ROBERT = BACK. Too bad about The adventures of Shark Boy and Lava girl in 3D though. Well I guess I can live with him doing that, as long as he keeps popping films like these out every now and then (9 years is way too long though).
8,5 out of 10 (with an 8 given upon voting)