Opening Day: 14 July 2005

Synopsis :

The central story follows Marv, a tougher-than-nails street-fighter who has always played it his way. When Marv takes home a Goddess-like beauty named Goldie, only to have her wind up dead in his bed -- he scours the city to avenge the loss of the only drop of love his heart has ever known.

Then there’s the tale of Dwight, a private investigator perpetually trying to leave trouble behind, even though it won’t quit chasing after him. After a cop is killed in Old Town, Dwight will stop at nothing to protect his friends among the ladies of the night.

Finally, there’s the yarn of John Hartigan – the last honest cop in Sin City. With just one ticking hour left to his career, he’s going out with a bang as he makes a final bid to save an 11 year-old girl from the sadistic son of a Senator . . . with unexpected results.

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Movie Review:

"Walk down the back alley of Sin City and you can find anything".

Watching Sin City is like a murderous eroticism: its equivalent to a beautiful woman kissing you on the neck while she knifes you in the gut. Stunning on the surface and below, is an instant classic: a rare treat for an art form constantly at the fury of the mainstream. It's a roaring head-thumping ride oozing with style and flair, stunning in its boldness and vision like a cartridge of dynamite cinema that shoots at you from a shotgun.
Acclaiming the success of this macabre cinematic visual, Robert Rodriguez, known for his previous works like, Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Spy Kids, directed three main segments of the movie to the novels: "The Hard Goodbye", "The Big Fat Kill", "That Yellow Bastard" and a small insert short-story "The Customer is Always Right" with some of Hollywood's top actors headlining each one.

"The Hard Goodbye"

The story of Marv (Mickey Rourke, in a return to greatness), a lovable tough guy who is on a one-man mission to avenge the murder of his lady, Goldie (Jaime King), because she was the only one who seemed to really care for him even with his oddities. Also costars Carla Gugino (the most prominently nude character in the film, god bless her) as Marv's parole officer Lucille, Elijah Wood as the merciless and creepy Kevin, and Rutger Haur as Cardinal Roark. Btw, check out Miller himself playing the priest who get the blink and you’ll miss the uber cool head blown scene.

“He never screams. Even after the dog has its fill and his guts are hanging out, he never screams.”

"The Big Fat Kill"

Told by Dwight (Clive Owen doing a good American accent), a down on his luck alcoholic who gets caught up in a war between the the ganglord-ess of hookers in "Oldtown", led by Gail (Rosario Dawson) and the cops. Confrontation between Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro who is absolutely brilliant here) and Becky (Alexis Bledel using her good girl act to pull of this role perfectly) catalyst a turf war, tightening the truce that they hold dearly.

“She doesn't quite chop his head off. She makes a Pez dispenser out of him.”

"That Yellow Bastard"

The third and final old-timer detective story. It tells the tale of an old cop named Hartigan (Bruce Willis) who takes on a powerful senator's son, Junior (Nick Stahl; Terminator 3) who kidnaps, tortures and kills young girls. Hartigan finally tracks down Junior to an old warehouse/pier where he's about to torture his latest victim, Nancy, but fortunately, he saves her despite his ex-partner's (Madsen) protest that caused him inprisonment. A few years later, Hartigan manages to track down an older Nancy (Alba; Fantasic Four) and indeed she has as she now works as a stripper at a seedy nightclub with Junior hot on their trail to get back “the one that got away”.

“When it comes to consoling 19-year-old girls, I'm about as expert as a palsy patient performing brain surgery with a pipe wrench.”

The latest comic book to film adaptation with a mixture of high expectations and dread, Sin City would be the first comic book film to straight up adapat it's source and to do it in such a way that nearly every shot was to match a panel from the comic book. It had never been done and there were mutliple factors that could've made this movie suck. Who knew how Miller's dialogue would sound coming out of real people? Who knew if all of the color scheme stuff would feel right? How would it play to non-comic book readers? So many questions. The simple answer is: It worked. Just about every single part of it worked.

The film itself is masterfully directed by Miller and Rodriguez, collaborating their talents into a dynamic partnership rumbles with creative fusion puppeteering this remarkable collision of art and entertainment. They really had done this film right. Everything from the score to various camera angles is just beautiful. The special fx looked great and realistically graphic comic like. It's pacing is perfect, it's got great acting and directing, it's funny, it's action packed and twistedly violent (in a good way). Faithfully adapted from MiIler's macabre graphic novels and translated onto the screen with striking verve and innovation, the grisly retro-world at the centre of this film's universe is dark and rank a seedy, corrupt and crime stricken coalition of the darkest chambers of the human psyche.

In this seething comic book world of immorality and decay heinous crimes are the dialogue of the streets and violence is the language. There are few clear-cut heroes or villains in Sin City - collective justice offers no trophies for good deeds and no direct punishment for evil. The narrative weaving through this ballistic environment, which was mostly lifted directly from Miller's graphic novels, is chopped into three distinct chunks, intersecting only in brief peripheral detail. Each story is fitted with razor sharp dialogue in the style of a noir P.I. fable, with long descriptive voice overs and red herrings connecting many of the story's junctions.

In terms of characters, where do i begin? The performances are almost all across the board excellant. Elijah Wood and Devin Aoki have no dialogue but are magnificent in their silent but deadly roles. Clive Owen, Rosario Dawson, Nick Stahl, Carla Gugino, Michael Clarke Duncan, Benico Del Toro, Alexis Bledel, and Jaime King are all exquesite and do some of their finest work ever. Mickey Rourke is amazing. Rourke hasn't been a movie or a role this good in over a decade or so and hopefully this will give him more opportunities in the future. Bruce Willis is pretty good but he didn't blow me away. It's not a overpowering role nor is it one of his best, but I do think that's it was alot better than the stuff he has done lately. Jessica Alba merely doesn't suck and did a decent enough job.

What else can I say? Sin City is a masterpiece of pulp fiction, and even those who frown on the over the top violence will admit that it is a visual experience unlike any other. By far, the most awesome, disturbing, action packed head smack of a movie ever made, turbo charged comic book ‘film noir’ that’s spewing black fumes and leaking gallons of blood, perfect for those looking for an extreme dark adrenaline overload. Go ahead. Walk down the back alley of Sin City. You’ll find everything there.

Movie Rating:

Review by Lokman BS