SIN CITY A film review by David N. Butterworth Copyright 2005 David N. Butterworth
***1/2 (out of ****)
It took three directors to direct it--impresario Robert Rodriguez (the "Spy Kids" franchise and other films starring Antonio Banderas in which a lot of things blow up), Frank Miller (on whose original graphic "Sin City" novels the film was storyboarded), and "'Bill" killer Quentin Tarantino (whose contributions as "guest director" are cited as "special"). But "Sin City" the movie is no spoiled broth as a result of this creative collaboration, just a rich, substantial, and extremely tasty stew.
The additional personnel don't merely stop with the directing credentials mind you. Just take a look at that cast list, a veritable honor roll of up-and-coming newcomers coupled with the occasional long- in-the-tooth thespian: Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Rosario Dawson, Clive Owen, Nick Stahl, Jessica Alba, Elijah Wood, Rutger Hauer, Powers Boothe, Benicio Del Toro, Jaime King, Brittany Murphy, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carla Gugino, Devon Aoki, Alexis Bledel, Josh Hartnett, and Michael Madsen. And those are just the significant roles.
"Sin City," based on three Miller comic books ("The Hard Goodbye," "The Big Fat Kill," and "That Yellow Bastard") has a look all its own. Since it's a pulp noir it's mostly "shot and cut" (according to Rodriguez's credit) in stark, high contrast black and white, with occasional highlights--or flourishes--of color: a dame's bright lipstick here, a villain's spilled blood there (and not always the obvious color). It's highly stylized and mostly theatrical, with every shot exquisitely framed and staged, and almost everything voiced over. It looks and feels just like a comic book--it's supposed to, of course-- from the larger-than-life villains to the curvy, large-breasted broads to the ubiquitous ultra-violence.
Take heed. "Sin City" is extremely violent, gloriously, sickening so. Imagine the most glorious, sickening images you can from a deranged comic book and it's up there, on the blood-soaked screen, cartoon violence made carnal, all-consuming, adult.
"Sin City" merges three separate stories into a free-flowing and (almost) coherent whole. Willis is an honest cop at the end of his career who finds himself being framed for the rape of a young girl; an unrecognizable Rourke is a brooding, animal-like killer bent on finding- -and chastising--those who killed his one-time lover, Goldie; and Owen is a wanted man who hooks up with some Basin City hookers when they accidentally kill a sleazy cop (Del Toro).
Needless to say hands, legs, and ears quickly suffer separation anxiety in all three episodes and the blood flows freely, sometimes red, sometimes white.
So take a trip to "Sin City." It's comic and it's sexy and it's super violent and between the three of them Rodriguez, Miller, and Tarantino show, stylishly and entertainingly, just how much fun sinning can be.
-- David N. Butterworth dnb@dca.net
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