Sin City --- the city that won't let you sleep....

© Dimension

Title:
Sin City (A-)
PH Release Date:
June 1, 2005
Actors:
Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Nick Stahl, Rosario Dawson, Elijah Wood, Brittany Murphy, Jaime King, Benicio Del Toro, Devon Aoki, Alexi Bledel, Michael Clark Duncan, Josh Hartnett, Michael Madsen
Director:
Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller
Story and Screenplay:
Frank Miller / Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller
Editor / Music:
Robert Rodriguez / John Debney et al.
Design / Photography:
Jeanette Scott / Robert Rodriguez
Producer:
Elizabeth Avellan et al.
Studio:
Troublemaker and Dimension Films


© Dimension

“Walk down the right back alley in Sin City, and you can find anything...”

And hell I totally did! Wow. It was quite the movie I expected from start to finish. No more, no less. The movie is composed of three stories intertwined by that one city where everything took place. A conurbation where almost anything, as long as it’s iniquity, can actually transpire.


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The story of Marv (Rourke) revolves around his search for the killer of Goldie (King). After the special night he spent with the prostitute, he awoke with her dead body right by his side. When he finally found the murderer, it didn’t became as easy as he thought the payback would be. Dwight’s (Owen) struggle to save the Ladies of Sin City from utter annihilation is the core of the second story. A war is verging between the authorities and the prostitutes and the only way to stop the truce from expulsion is to make sure that Jackie Boy’s (del Toro) head will never be found. And lastly, as every city has its own good cop, Sin City finds it in the persona of Hartigan (Willis).He paid the price of being true to his oath by spending 8 years of his life in prison and putting his entire name in shame. Now, he must find the girl he saved a few years ago and find a way to keep Nancy (Alba) away from the same bastard he once protected her away from.


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Unless this is the first time you’ve read a crap of this kind, you must have known that I haven’t read or seen any of Frank Miller’s work. I have very little interest with reading books, and not an inch of which for comics. But despite that fact, I still watched this all-CGI movie and learned that comics may not be as bad as I think they are.

If director Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller decided to be faithful to the whole “comic” idea, I thought it was a great move. However, I think it will be better if they didn’t tamp in all of these three stories in one movie. It gave them very little time to characterize well. They might be all short stories, but man, you wanna see more of these characters do all the crazy things they do. But then again, if these three stories were made into individual movies, the bore factor may kick in, so alright, I’ll take the 3-in-1. (Just shows how terribly indecisive I am)


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Not all directors get the chance to work with such a tremendous amount of talent. They are very lucky that the studio allowed them to work in the film to the fullest. They’re making all the calls which I think helped a lot to make the movie consistent. Even if one of the scenes was directed by Quentin (I forgot what scene it was), it didn’t take away what the movie was all about, and besides, Quentin surely knows what gore is all about.

The stories were not that complicated. Comics, as far as I know, need not be intricate but they have to be profound in dialogue. And this one was profound from start to finish. A simple request of getting a robust car is done with words and intensity that only a comic book may possess, and to my surprise, it worked oh so well in this movie.


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If I was to have the arduous task of picking which story’s the best, I would have to say Marv’s. Yeah, it went over the board a lot of times, incredibly unbelievable if you may categorize, but it was just a knockout. Among the three, this is the most comic bookish. The other two were not bad at all, Dwight’s was a little shallow compared to the two but still gets your blood running fast and Hartigan’s more emotionally packed.

The option of using CGI has its own pros and cons, especially if the film is supposed to portray reality at its veracity. But if you aim to project a completely different world, something strictly stripped out from the comic book, CGI may be a fine option, and I believe it was for them. This is the second flick I’ve seen made entirely around the green wall, the first one (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow) didn’t leave me completely staggered but this one quite did. I can’t believe how extremely difficult it must have been directing with nothing but a fluorescent color surrounding your actors, it’s totally risky, it can make your or break you and it made this movie. I was convince that Sin City does exist, it was a city like many others but in a lot of ways is just nothing quite like any inexistence.


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The whole playing around with colors was very cool. I was extremely amazed by how slick it was done. Now you see color, now you don’t. Such a feast for the eyes. The music played around with the whole story as well. And I know that it would entail a lot of camaraderie between the director and cinematographer to have a decent photography, so I guess Robert Rodriguez didn’t have quite a difficult time convincing himself what shots to be taken and how to shoot it. wahehe…


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The biggest star amongst all of them was Mickey Rourke, never noticed him before, and the answer is simple: they just don’t give him respect as an actor cuz he's not a moviestar! Imagine, he’s one, if not the central character in the film and you can’t see his face in the main movie poster. If I were him, I’ve gone berserk, I didn’t know he was one of the main characters until I saw the movie cuz even in the trailer he’s barely discernible. This kind of crap makes me wanna puke. It lessened my respect for the directors of this movie, cuz they had the power to made the choice, they’re also the producers. But leaving that idiocy alone, this man gave one hell of a performance. He didn’t portray the character it was him from start to finish. B-R-A-V-O! Second best for me, which may come to you as much of a surprise as it was to me, was Elijah Wood. No dialogues, all facial expressions, the character was marked. I loved his character and I can’t believe how good it was in this movie, all his efforts for the LOTR trilogy will not equate for this stint. It was whew! And since I have used a tremendous amount of space already I’m just gonna give a quickie for the others left.

Bruce Willis was so Die Hard, but it worked. Clive Owen was at his best look. Jessica at her sexiest. Nick at his yellowest. Rosario at her spunkiest (the term!). Brittany at her stupidest. Jaime at her most unrecognizable portrayal yet. Benicio at his serenest. Devon has never been more alluring. Alexi totally no Gilmore. Michael Clark was Michael Clark. Josh Hartnett was Josh Hartnett except this time we're on the same page, we don't get the role. And finally Michael Madsen at his most irksome acting stint yet. Ha! That’s enough.


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This movie is not advisable to be seen by people who find cannibalism as the goriest thing in the world, or those who simply can’t stand seeing a man being eaten by his own dog.(Ha, never seen such a lovely sight). Much of that kind in this one, totally distancing itself from others if I may say. It’s pure style with some substance and a lot of gore. Your eyes will either love or hate what you see, but you can’t help but be in awe wondering how they did it oh so well. So would you stop reading this crap and take your ass out to the movies cuz I dare you to enter the world of Sin City.


Grading Sheet:
Story – 16%
Screenplay – 16%
Direction / Execution – 17%
Acting – 19%
Technical Aspect – 18%
Total: 86% = A-