SIN CITY
Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Miramax
Grade: B+
Directed by: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez
Written by: Frank Miller, graphic novel by Frank Miller
Cast: Rosario Dawson, Elijah Wood, Jessica Alba, Bruce Willis,
Benicio Del Toro, Michael Clarke Duncan
Screened at: Loews 34th St., NYC, 4/2/05
During the late 1940's early 1950's when paperback books were
only a quarter and had a reputation for being little more than
pulp fiction, the favorite author of my circle of friends was
Mickey Spillane. His "I the Jury," "Vengeance Is Mine," "Kiss Me
Deadly" and My Gun is Quick" were Spillane's early novels,
which we savored not only for the violence but because in those
repressed times his stories had "the good parts" that we turned
to before seriously reading from the beginning. Robert
Rodriguez's "Sin City," in which graphic novelist Frank Miller is
credited as co-director, is based on Miller's graphic novels, but
for those of us who did not search what are sometimes
pejoratively called comic books, Spillane's stories are the
closest approximation. As rendered faithfully per three of Frank
Miller's stories by the team, "Sin City" has even more violence
and sexual situations than the "Pulp Fiction" whose structure it
evokes. Though the stories get repetitious in a movie that runs a
bit over two hours, Miller and Rodriguez succeed in sucking an
audience into the scene, perhaps more for style than substance,
but still, "Sin City" is a welcome ride.
In each of the three stories, viewers can get their fill of such
nasty practices as a decapitation (of a rogue cop whose head
talks up a storm hours after its separation); cannibalism (by a
guy who eats women's bodies and stores their heads like so
many moose on his wall); suicide (in which a guy points a gun to
his head while his body is conveyed as a white profile);
dismemberment (by a vengeance-seeking dude who slices off
both legs of his victim, keeps him alive via a tourniquet, and lets
the wolves gobble up the meat); castration (of a man who looks
like something out of "Lord of the Rings" whose vital parts are
literally yanked out from under him).
Women in the audience, in particular, might find the violence
distasteful and close their eyes–which they'll do quite a bit–but
they may also be put off by the way women characters are
portrayed. They tend to be sparingly clad, choose the oldest
profession to make money, slide up and down poles in strip
joints, or dress up as cowboys swinging a rope as though about
to pull in a man as readily as she might go after a runaway
horse. Nonetheless the particular hookers in Sin City are a
tough breed, women who have paid off the cops and, armed
with AK-47's, pistols, bow and arrows and a mean dagger-like
tool shaped like a swastika, easily drive out their enemies.
Judging by the length of time each character appears on the
screen, Bruce Willis has the edge as an honest police officer,
Hartigan, on his final day working. His heart is giving out, his
partner, Bob (Michael Madsen) is corrupt and gunning for him,
and his final job is to save an eleven-year-old girl, Nancy
(Makenzie Vega) from a sadist. The girl, eight years later, has
become an absolute knockout (Jessica Alba), in love with the
man who saved her despite his being old enough to be her
grandad.
Another story features Mickey Rourke in the role of Marv, an
ape-like creature whose face could win a prize for the make-up
team and is consistently bandaged and bloodied from a
succession of battles. He has had the night of his life with the
pretty Goldie (Jaime King), whom Marv finds murdered when he
awakens. Determined to avenge the insult, he goes after the
Sin City police force, whose cops save for Hartigan are as rotten
as a 3-day-old Krispy Kreme.
In yet another tale, Clive Owen performs in the role of a private
eye who winds up with the vicious police officer called Jackie
Boy (Benicio del Toro), a cop who among his various talents
can hold a conversation though missing all body parts below his
chest.
The most interesting folks are the women who operate as
hookers, doubling as the sole government of their
neigthborhood–keeping out the pimps and victimizers with an
assortment of weapons. These women include Rosario
Dawson, Carla Gigino, Alexis Bledel and, playing the double
role of Goldie and her twin sister, Jaime King. While the women
dabble in no-nonsense babes, the men spout Spillane-style
dialogue, such as "She smells like an angel" (by Michael
Rourke's Marv talking about the death of his Honey).
While the major flaw of the movie is the repetitiveness of
dialogue and actions, the stylization makes it compulsory
viewing: white blood spills from characters, at times the only
color in a scene is a woman's red lipstick. Strangely enough, it
is possible to enjoy both "Sin City" and its cinematic "antidote,"
"Fever Pitch."
Rated R. 124 minutes © 2005 by Harvey Karten
harveycritic@cs.com
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