Sin City DVD > Reviews > Walk down the right back alley in Sin City...

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Advantages:	Great cast and a technological marvel
Disadvantages:	The portrayal of women, excessive violence and plotlines that occasionally drag

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Marv, the biggest, ugliest thug in Sin City goes on a rampage of revenge after the beautiful woman he's sleeping next to is murdered and he's framed for the killing. Chancer Dwight inadvertently starts a turf war by trying to protect the prostitutes that run the Old Town and good cop Hartigan is sent down the river after he takes down a corrupt senator's son who's responsible for kidnapping little Nancy Callahan. But when he gets out of prison he discovers Nancy's all grown up and in serious danger.

There was a time when comic book adaptations were primary coloured kid-friendly superhero tales with men in lycra slugging it out. But the times they are a changing and the adaptations have been getting increasingly dark. "Sin City" is the darkest to date and definitely one you shouldn't take your kids to see. It's a film with a heart of noir brought lovingly to life by Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller and Quentin Tarantino. Every image is a feast for the eyes, shot in creamy high definition black and white, the likes of which haven't been used since the height of film noir. Certain aspects have been overlaid with colour - a red dress here, green eyes there, a pair of sneakers, pouting lips… Every frame is a detailed reproduction of comic book panel from Miller's original comics, picking out light and shade to reflect his black and white ink drawings. The action reflects the comic book setting with characters able to defy the laws of physics, jumping from tall buildings and landing unscathed or dodging bullets. True to the spirit of film noir, Rodriguez employs voice-over narration and focuses as much on the shadows as the light, using them to reinforce the greyscale morals of the characters and the dystopian world they inhabit, not to mention the ink-black humour. Also true to the essence of the genre is the objectification of women - each is a tough-talking broad, a femme fatale or a victim. The tits and ass approach is gratuitous, sexist and morally objectionable but true to the original comic books and is a natural extension of the hard-boiled detective story. The pacing throughout is odd - there are three overlapping stories and each one is a character study as much as an action segment and as a result they almost drag. That's not to say this is unwatchable by any means it just takes a while to get used to the slower pace. There are three different directorial styles at work that though not hugely dissimilar don't fit together as a coherent whole, leaving the movie juddering as it switches between plot strands. Cutting and shutting three storylines together is pure Tarantino, as is fiddling with the chronology and the orgiastic portrayal of guns and violence. The make-do-and-mend attitude to effects is straight out of Rodriguez's handbook and the style is taken straight from Frank Miller's comic books. It's a shame you can see the joins between the three directors' work, but that's always the risk you run when working as an ensemble.

The screenplay is based exclusively on Miller's comic books, which makes for mannered and self-consciously cool sounding dialogue. The majority of speech is delivered in voice-over anyway, so it was always going to sound exaggerated. There's also an earthy quality to the language that will offend those who object to the use of expletives. Having being taken from a comic, the screenplay tends towards a number of end-of-issue surprises or cliff-hangers that cause the pacing to stutter at times, but also makes for a number of exciting moments. Despite the monochrome visuals, none of the characters are black and white, neither good nor bad. Each has their own morality to which they remain constant, though the concept of character development seems alien to the writer. However, if you accept them as three-dimensional representations of two-dimensional archetypes, they work pretty well.

The cast list for this movie is not only huge but packed to the gills with the great and good of Hollywood. The mark of a good director is who's willing to work with them, regardless of the size of the part and how often. Robert Rodriguez has something of a cult following among actors and his casting reflects this. Where else are you going to see über-Hobbit Elijah Wood playing a cannibal killer, Michael Madsen in a blink-or-you'll-miss-it role or Josh Hartnett as an assassin? All handle the rigours of the mannered script well, managing to inject some life and humanity onto the characters while acknowledging their comic book origins. Sure the performances may be a little over-stated, but it fits the style of the movie.

This might be the film to resurrect Mickey Rourke's career; he could have been born to play lantern-jawed thug Marv. Even under inches of prosthetics he has a brooding presence and is able to express emotions (though I'm sure being pumped full of botox has taught him how to do that anyway). For a guy who spends most of the movie killing people he's a strangely sympathetic creation, who goes on a murderous rampage just to avenge the death of the only person who's ever shown him kindness. Bruce Willis once more proves how well he can do in an ensemble piece as good cop Hartigan. For once playing older than he is, he does what he does best; plays the jaded blue collar everyman turned reluctant hero. It's not exactly a stretch for him but his acting style fits the film very well. For me Clive Owen is the only weak link in the chain of leading men. He doesn't have the requisite attitude or darkness to entirely convince as be-sneakered Dwight. He also has trouble keeping a handle on his American accent, which tends to fade in and out.

The leading ladies are a veritable cornucopia of sympathetic sexpots; Rosario Dawson sizzles with barely disguised sexuality as dominatrix Gail. But she's no brainless bimbo; a tough-talking broad with an itchy trigger finger and an appetite for destruction. Though hardly realistic, Dawson gives the role plenty of gusto even if she never sounds entirely at home with the dialogue. However her on-screen relationship with Clive Owen is stymied by a lack of chemistry between the two. Jessica Alba plays easily the most likeable character in the movie and the only one with anything like purity. She brings a doe-eyed sensuality to the role of good-girl stripper Nancy Callahan, whose ample charms are coupled with a sweet disposition that is charming. Brittany Murphy does what she can with the plot device role of Shellie, bringing some of her usual hyperactive energy to the part, but there's not enough here for her to flesh out.

"Sin City" is basically one big special effect, testing the actors to their limit by placing them in an empty space and asking them to imagine the world around them. In many ways Rodriguez takes up where "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" left off, as he employs many of the same techniques. The most noticeable of these is the use of green screen that allowed him to create whole environments and life-threatening stunts without endangering his stars. He even went as far as shooting his characters in isolation with some never meeting the people they were sharing screen-time with. However unlike other summer blockbusters the effects never threaten to overpower the story, merely enabling it to be told in the most appropriate manner. It's not always clear what is real and what is digitally generated and that's testament to the high quality of the effects. There are times when you can look at things and know they aren't real - the most obvious of these being the way water ripples in too regular a fashion to look right. You can also spot where Rodriguez has, in time-honoured fashion, cut corners to save some cash, like the very fake looking wax head and a clearly plastic arm stump, but even these bloopers have a certain charm. The prosthetics used on the actors are great, making Benicio Del Toro, Nick Stahl and Mickey Rourke almost unrecognisable. It's a job well done in relation to the source material, where the profiles of the comic book characters and their human counterparts are almost indistinguishable from each other.

Like most other aspects of the film, the score is split into three distinct sections, featuring music from three different composers; John Debney, Graeme Revell and Robert Rodriguez. "The Hard Goodbye" features smooth jazz, making it musically the most nourish of the three. "That Yellow Bastard" has plenty of solitary piano that reflects Hartigan's lone wolf attitude while "The Big Fat Kill" relies more on throbbing soundscapes.

The costumes are stick to basic black and white with the men all in long overcoats, but each has his own particular silhouette so they fit the cartoon prototype. So Clive Owen has an upturned collar, Bruce Willis has plenty of padding at the shoulder to make him a little more old school and Mickey Rourke favours an open leather trench that swings just so when he's on the move. The women are al in figure-hugging, barely there scraps of fabric, that leave you in no doubt they are sexual beings.

If you're looking for a different filmic flavour than is usually served at your local multiplex, "Sin City" could be for you. I guarantee you won't see anything else like it at the pictures this year. In many ways it is a triumph of style over substance, with lush visuals padding out the sometimes paper-thin plot. It is very violent, there is some sexual content and the language is often profane. It is long and sometimes drags but is as lovingly crafted a film as I have ever seen. I can't agree with its treatment of women but acknowledge that it is true to the original source material. If you want to see the most faithful comic book adaptation Hollywood has ever produced, this is it.