Sin City Review

I've been looking forward to Sin City for a long time now and I thankfully wasn't disappointed. I figured anything Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino collaborated on would be a safe bet, but you never know. People thought a romantic comedy starring Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts would be a home run and look how that turned out. The fact-of-the-matter is, there may never be a more faithful translation of a graphic novel-to-film done again- what they've managed to put together is unlike anything I've ever seen in a movie. It's beautiful, horrifying, humorous and unforgettable.

The characters are brilliantly portrayed, with outstanding performances from Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro and...Mickey Rourke?? Yes that's right, Mr. Rourke is terrific as the kindly yet moderately sadistic Marv. In kind of a twisted way, it's like he was tailor-made for the part. And following the topic of smart career moves, Bruce Willis has taken what is probably his best role since John McClane in playing the ill-fated Detective Hartigan. Also, Nick Stahl further proves what I've been saying for years...He is a young actor destined to make some waves.

So much can be said about Sin City's visuals, but they really have to be seen to even begin to be appreciated. So much care was taken in shooting this film; I'm really in awe of it. Following the path forged by Sky Captain, the entire film was shot in front of green screens on very minimal sets. The results are so believable that you won't even spend time trying to distinguish what's real from what's digital. It's really a flawless presentation.

Oh, one other point worth mentioning. Everything about this film, every theme presented, completely stands in the face of every ideal Bush's America has tried to cram down our throats. You could almost call it a big F-U to the Christian Right-Wingers. I'd love to see reactions to Sin City from folks in the Bible Belt.

While I certainly have a lot of praise for Sin City, I can't with good conscience give it a 'Strong Recommendation' because this simply isn't a film for the general public. If you were intrigued by the trailer or if you're familiar with Rodriguez/Tarantino/Miller's work, then yes by all means I'd strongly recommend checking it out. But this movie is very hardcore at times, so much so that certain images are still vividly etched in my head 24 hours later. This isn't a movie you take your mom to.

Torrey's Opinion:
5- Strongly Recommended
4- Recommended
3- A Mixed Bag
2- Sub-par
1- Don't Bother

Random Related Fact: Robert Rodriguez scored Kill Bill Vol: 2 for $1. To repay him, Quentin Tarantino directed a segment of Sin City for $1.