Movie Info
Movie Name: Sin City
Studio: Troublemaker Studios
Genre(s): Action/Adventure/Mystery/Suspense
Release Date(s): April 1, 2005
MPAA Rating: R
Nancy is always good for a show
Welcome to Sin City. The cops are corrupt, the criminals rule, and the good guys are crazy. When a career criminal named Marv (Mickey Rourke) sets out to avenge a one night stand named Goldie (Jaime King), he finds himself in conflict with a corrupt priest (Rutger Hauer) and his cannibal killer friend Kevin (Elijah Wood). Next, Dwight (Clive Owen) finds himself forced to aid the girls of Old Town when they accidentally kill Jackie Boy (Benicio del Toro), a man with powerful connections. Then a cop named John Hartigan (Bruce Willis) is sent to jail for maiming a senator’s rapist son (Nick Stahl), now he’s out and Nancy (Jessica Alba), the girl he saved, is in danger again.
Why does it feel like somebody watching me? (to the tune of Rockwell)
Directed by Robert Rodriguez and its creator Frank Miller (with special guest directing by Quentin Tarantino), Sin City adapts the popular graphic novel series for the big screen. The movie, like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, was shot almost entirely on a digital set…with high post production visuals put in around the actors. The movie mostly adapts the stories Sin City: The Hard Goodbye, Sin City: The Big Fat Kill, and Sin City: That Yellow Bastard. Most critics enjoyed the film, but some felt the stories in the film were a bit lacking in substance.
Sin City for me works. Many pulp crime fiction stories are rather lacking in substance and that is what Frank Miller goes for in his Sin City series. The heroes are one dimensional, the villains are one dimensional, and the woman is almost always a femme fatale. I enjoy the little bumper stories which feature Josh Hartnett as another one of Sin City’s resident bad guy-assassins.
Get ’em Dwight!
The acting throughout Sin City isn’t always great, but as mentioned, it doesn’t have to be because of the style of the movie and writing. Jessica Alba continues to prove she’s good to look at but not much substance. Bruce Willis plays his normal brooding character. There are stand out performances by Clive Owen, Nick Stahl, Elijah Wood, and Mickey Rourke who jumped back to greatness with this movie. There are tons of actors who pop-up including Nick Offerman (as Shlubb), Devon Aoki (as Miho), Rosario Dawson (as Gail), Alixis Bledel (as Becky), Michael Clark Duncan (as Manute), Benicio del Toro (as Jackie Boy), Michael Madsen (as Bob), Powers Boothe (as Senator Roarke), Brittany Murphy (as Shellie), Rutger Hauer (as Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark), and even Sin City’s creator Frank Miller shows up as a priest. Apparently, you can’t turn a corner in Sin City without running into someone you know.
Everyone needs a little color in their life
The first time I watched Sin City I found one part didn’t work. I got really bored during Dwight’s drive to the tar pits with Jackie Boy. I found the scene annoying, out of context, and not necessary. I learned later that it was that scene that Quentin Tarantino directed. It makes a lot of sense now because it was like hitting a brick wall in an otherwise fast paced movie. I have Quentin Tarantino issues sometimes and this part of this movie is a prime example of why.
Despite the bit of slow down during the Dwight story, Sin City is a good movie. It is innovative and fun. The same style of Sin City was used to create Frank Miller’s 300 in 2006 to an even bigger box office response. Sin City was followed by Sin City: A Dame to Kill For in 2014 but the movie was a financial and critical bomb.
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