Sin City

Sin City

Frank Miller’s original graphic novels upon which this movie was based were considered masterpieces in their time, and this 2005 release actually managed to replicate the look and feel of those stories perfectly with an outstanding cast. Director Robert Rodriguez broke a bunch of rules in the process, bringing Miller on set and giving him credit as co-director, while also enlisting Quentin Tarantino to come in and direct just one(!) scene, and crediting HIM as “Special Guest Director”, unconventional actions that enraged the DGA and ultimately resulted in him being expunged from their ranks, not to mention the fact that the actual script was literally the original comic book itself! The best way to describe the imaginary world that Sin City depicts is that of one being completely overrun and controlled by cynicism and corruption, with the three separate heroes of the three main stories being men who would probably be considered villains in real life, but considering the overwrought and unjust system they’re faced with here, do just fine in making us root for them. Various characters drift in and out of the three stories and with the exception of a prologue and epilogue featuring Josh Hartnett as some sort of hitman who only kills women, the world comes together rather seamlessly while being so visually sumptuous that you can’t take your eyes off of it. The first story features Bruce Willis as a near retirement cop who rescues a young girl from a monstrous serial killer (Nick Stahl) before grievously wounding him. Problem is, the sicko is the spoiled son of an ultra powerful Senator (Powers Boothe), so powerful in fact that the scumbag is allowed free reign to commit his heinous crimes while actually being given bodyguards and henchmen to watch his back as he tortures and murders children! So when Willis brings him down, the crimes are pinned on him as he does eight years in prison before being released so he can track down the girl he saved to make sure she’s alright, before finding out she’s an ultra sexy stripper played by the ultra sexy Jessica Alba. Problem is, she’s madly in love with him after all these years since he saved her life. And this paradox, along with the now deformed killer’s reemergence, is what gives this story such incredible power with its poignancy and pure heart, as Willis realizes this girl he’s come to love and wanted to protect as almost an adoptive daughter has such strong feelings for him that he must learn to come to terms with doing the right thing, beautifully played off by Willis and Alba and almost matched by Stahl as the mutated, yellowish killer (The Yellow Bastard). The second story features a mega powerhouse performance by Mickey Rourke as Marv, a thuggish brute with seemingly superhuman fighting abilities who in a rare moment of his life is picked up and seduced by a beautiful blonde named Goldie (Jaime King), only to find her murdered the next day by an even more twisted serial killer named Kevin (Elijah Wood), a seemingly teenage boy who never talks and enjoys killing and eating whores because he thinks it brings him closer to God. Only now Marv is being set up to take the blame for HIS crimes, and while holding a deep affection for the departed Goldie in his heart, sets off on a mad murder revenge spree while aided by Goldie’s twin sister (also King) leading him to plow not only through Kevin but also his benefactor, an incredibly powerful religious leader (and brother of Boothe’s Senator) played by Rutger Hauer. Rourke easily takes the cake for best performance in the entire film (and was heavily in the running for an Oscar nom), bringing his own brand of misanthropic poignancy to the table and peppering the film with so many moments of coolness that one soon loses count. Then we come to the third story, definitely a downgrade from the first two for having the least effective hero as played by Clive Owen, but for also having more of a loose, anything goes, grab bag feel to it with fewer characters that we care about, save for Owen being upstaged by the amazing villain performance of Benicio Del Toro playing a monstrous woman beater with his own so called “troops” who wanders into Old Town, a sort of special district run and even policed by the hookers who live and work there led by Owen’s love interest played by Rosario Dawson. All hell breaks loose of course when Del Toro brings on an ambush after Owen follows him in, and the resulting effort in the aftermath for the girls to protect their little own corner of the world brings on first a gang of Irish mercenaries and then some mob henchmen led by Michael Clarke Duncan, but everything seems a bit perfunctory in its storytelling, save for Del Toro’s wild-eyed turn such as in the Tarantino directed scene between he and Owen and then there’s the incredibly deadly female Asian assassin Miho played by Devon Aoki. Some people questioned the political correctness of the film’s portrayal of women as solely either being strippers or hookers, with the added element of them being generally considered hunted prey by evil men in this world, but these factors are what brings the cynical elements to the table in spades, adding to the atmosphere that no one is truly innocent in this world, and it’s those with just a bit more decency than usual that have to truly fight to survive. Some could even argue that might apply to our own world itself, though just not as exaggerated as what we see here. As for Rodriguez, with Miller at his side, he produces a nonstop, thrilling rollercoaster ride that never lets up and never gets boring, regardless of what you may think of the quality of one story over another, no surprise since Rodriguez isn’t known for producing boring work. And the almost exclusively blue screen, digital, high definition look of the film makes it a thing of wonder to behold, with no movie even since coming close to replicating its feel, at least until the long awaited and long delayed sequel comes out. In the end, one of the best works of pure entertainment we’ve seen in the 21th century, a perfectly executed conception from start to finish that changed the game of cinema…

10/10

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