Sin City Movie Review

Robert Rodriguez had to quit the DGA so Sin City creator Frank Miller could share Directing credits with him in the movie, and he also got crazy mastermind Quentin Tarantino to be guest director and put a little of him in the movie. The result is a masterful story filled incredible visual style taken right out of Frank Miller's violent and tragic books.

The movie combines 3 of the books and moves in a Pulp Fiction sort of way, giving us lots characters all performed perfectly by the great and talented cast. I won't get into much detail as how the stories go because with so many characters and crime and violence being the theme of the movie, I would be spoiling their faith, so I'll just name which characters form part of what stories and who they are.

The Hard Goodbye is the first of Miller's books, and follows the story of Marv (Mickey Rourke), a big, tough, covered in band-aids man currently on parole, and seeking revenge for the death of his true love, a prostitute called Goldie (Jamie King). His parole officer and friend is Lucille (Carla Gunino).

He also receives the help of Goldie's twin sister Wendy (also Jamie King of course) and the killer is a young cannibal called Kevin (Elijah Wood). Marv's is the best character in the movie for me and his story is also the most satisfying to watch, and not completely because Jamie King and Carla Gunino are both naked most of the time. Mickey Rourke is a marvel to watch here and Carla Gunino puts a great supporting performance too.

The Big Fat Kill is the third book in the series, and the central story in the movie. Dwight (Clive Owen) protects his new friend, a waitress called Shellie (Brittany Murphy), from her crazy exboyfriend and cop Jack Rafferty aka Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro), who doesn't want to be her exboyfriend. The story takes them to the city' Old Town, ruled by the prostitutes after an arrangement with the cops that keeps them out of the place letting the women to protect themselves. They are led by Gail (Rosario Dawson), a former lover of Dwight's, and there's also the very young Becky (Alexis Bledel) and the deadly Miho (Devon Aoki). Jackie Boy's side is later led by a big black man called Manute (Michael Clarke Duncan).

Dwight is also one of the best characters, with very good work by Clive Owen. My beloved Alexis Bledel looks great, and the amazing Devon Aoki provides the best action.

Finally we have That Yellow Bastard, the fourth book, named after the deadly rapist called Junior (Nick Stahl), who trying to get to Nancy (Jessica Alba), an almost victim of his acts years ago, now a stripper working at Shellie's bar. John Hartigan (Bruce Willis) is the cop that stopped him that time and must Nancy again after getting out of jail. Hartigan's partner is Bob (Michael Madsen). This story is split during the movie and it works great, with Bruce Willis doing a great job in the lead as well as Jessica Alba.

Besides those three stories, there is an isolated opening scene consisting of a dialog between a salesman (Josh Harnett) and his customer (Marley Shelton).

I haven't mentioned, though it's easy to deduct from the trailers, that the movie has the same style of the books, being all in black and white with just some objects in color like blood, lights, shoes or hair to name some. This style looks amazing, and was filmed like last year's Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, with the actors working against a green screen and then Robert Rodriguez added the backgrounds using today's technology.

These excellent visuals, smart and violent action stories, and the great work by the entire cast, make Sin City the movie an excellent adaptation from the probably excellent books by Frank Miller. I can't wait to read them and watch the movie again.

Review by Hakeem