Sin City review.

[roguem]

Just got back from my second viewing of Sin City.

I do love this movie, and I'll be buying it the second the 2-disk edition is released, not bothering with the collectors-cover though. Anyways, this movie is visually stunning. Kind of weird to say that about a mainly black'n white movie, but it's true. The few colours that pop up just add to the gritty feel of the movie, and help draw attention to the simple things we might have missed... like Dwight's shoes. ;)

The stories are simple, and I don't know if I would have enjoyed it as much if they were taken out of the CGI/black'n white/gritty setting, and each segment made in to a separate film. It's the style and the feel that this movie delivers that kept me in my seat and enjoying myself... that and the really cool characters.

First up is two short stories, one with Josh Hartnett, and the beginning of Bruce Willis' story. Don't think it lasts for more than 10-15 minutes in total, before the first main event. The Hard Good-Bye.

 This is my favourite story out of the three main ones, because of the fact that Marv is a very cool character. He's demented, deformed, and does some horrible things to various people, but he's also funny, sweet and would go on a murder spree for someone he cares about. Mickey Rourke does a great job, seems like he's found his part.

The two women; Jaime King and Carla Gugino do their jobs well. There's not really that much to say, because I didn't really to focus on them, half naked women aren't exactly what draws my attention.

I really liked Elijah Wood's character. Kevin. Though I wish they'd done more with his character, it's over oh-so-soon, five minutes of sceen time is not enough. I know they followed the comics frame-by-frame, so I'll have to give Frank Miller the blame for that. It's not just that it's Elijah, it's the fact that Kevin is a cool character.

This is a tale of revenge, and I like stories like that.

The next story is The Big Fat Kill.

This is my second fave chapter. I liked Dwight as a character as well, and I think Clive Owen did a good job. I'm starting to like him as an actor as well. Anyways, this story is good as well, maybe a little bit more fragmented than the first, this time it's about a man protecting his girls from an evil man and a shaky truce.

Must admit I found it rather amusing that Alexis Bledel was cast as a hooker, and the short moment she's holding a gun doesn't look quite right. I guess to me she'll always be Rory Gilmore. She does an ok job, her role isn't really that different from Rory, personality wise...

Now, I'm not a big Benicio Del Toro fan, I don't really like him much to be honest, but I thought he did a good job in this film. Maybe I feel that way because some of the things that happen to his character, but I did enjoy his portrayal of Jackie Boy, the sleasy woman-basher. He is the x-boyfriend of Shellie, who is portrayed by Brittany Murphy, who without a doubt delivers the worst performance in the film, and maybe even her carrere. She has some kind of southern accent going, that she has no control over, and seems to be approaching the role from the sunday-morning-cartoon side. This is especially evident in her first propper scene, where she has a conversation with Jackie Boy.

Anyways, Dwight  follows Jackie Boy to old town, where he hooks up with Gail, portrayed by Rosario Dawson and her girls. I'm not the biggest Gail fan, but she's okay. I actually liked Miho better, a silent samurai-killer-lady, portrayed by Devon Aoki. I seem to like the silent-killers.

It's a cool story, and I'd recommend it to people who like exoplotions.

The last story is That Yellow Bastard.

 A good story, but my least favourite one of the three. There is a short squence at the beginning of the film setting up the story, and after the two main events, we rejoin this story to see what happens to the people involved. Hartigan struggles to protect 'skinny little Nancy Callahan' from Roark Jr./Yellow Bastard.

There are two scenes where I'd expect all the guys watching the film to cringe... hehe. I thought Nick Stahl did a great job as Roark Jr./Yellow Bastard. I was totally disgusted by him, and I was so hoping he'd get what was coming to him. Seriously. Ugh.

Bruce Willis was Bruce Willis, he did a good job, the kind of job I've come to expect from him. He was well cast in the role and there is a scene between him and Nancy in a motell where I could see the torment, was a good scene. Nancy Callahan is portrayed by Jessica Alba, who did an ok job.. but I know she can do better, I don't know what it was, but she was missing something, it was hard to believe that this was the same girl that did Dark Angel, she was better in that series than in this film.

I guess this is the tragic love story, maybe why it's not my fave part. Not a big fan of the luvy-ducy stuff.

Bottom line; if you haven't seen this film yet, run out and see it as fast as you can!

Think that covers it, there's still more I'd like to write, but it's getting late and I need sleep. Catch you on the flip side.

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Comments

Walk down the right street in Sin City, and you can find anything.

[roguem.livejournal.com]

Happy you liked th film. Am getting the DVD! Lookin' forward to it. Have a pretty good downloaded vrs on my laptop for now. :)

Kevin didn't freak me out, think it might have been better/worse if they'd shown him eating someone. I will have to do research and see if he pops up in the other comics.

Number 2 is coming in 2006.