Sin City

"Excellent"

Sin City Review


You typically have to maintain low expectations for a comic book movie. For every Spider-Man, you get a bunch of Elektras and Daredevils. So really, what can you expect from one with a huge, B-list cast and three directors?

Surprise! Sin City is a mega-violent, highly potent vial of noir crack. And judging from the riotous burst of applause at the end of our screening, one that's destined to be a Matrix-style mass-cult classic.

Okay, so Sin City isn't really a comic book movie - it's a graphic novel movie. And in spite of the title, the locale isn't the tourist-friendly and brightly-lit Vegas strip but "Basin City," a noir Nowheresville, a mid-century L.A. with snow flurries and dark sewers, enveloped in permanent midnight.

Frank Miller, the creator of the Sin City graphic novel series, retained creative control and even gets a co-directing credit with Robert Rodriguez, inventing a 2.5-dimensional world of crime, jealousy, revenge, and counter-revenge. While Quentin Tarantino is credited as "special guest director" (as if this were an episode of ER), the movie's got his bloody handprints all over it. Sin City features the most extreme and constant ultraviolence to assault multiplexes since Kill Bill, and its structure has a more than a whiff of Pulp Fiction (and not just because Bruce Willis plays one of the few men of honor in the movie).

The three intertwining storylines are nothing special, but the performances and pacing keep them compelling. A dying cop (Willis) tries to protect a young girl from a sadistic madman (Nick Stahl) who's also the son of a senator. A disfigured and seemingly unkillable brute (Mickey Rourke) seeks to avenge the murder of a prostitute he loved. And a murderer (Clive Owen) on the lam supports a well-armed hooker mafia in a street war against corrupt cops, vicious pimps, and Irish mercenaries.

Along the way, faces are bashed, crotches are blasted, limbs are severed, heads are stuffed and mounted, and a bad guy gets "turned into a Pez dispenser" with a long blade. No one - man, woman, even child - is spared the pain. Against a mostly black-and-white digital landscape, blood splatters and gushes in white, red, and yellow like it's the Texas paintball massacre. Sin City's look is remarkably true to the graphic novel form, with bandages that glow through the darkness and green eyes and red dresses that leap from the colorless backgrounds.

If you can handle all the sadism and brutality, there's a thrilling and sprint-paced movie to be enjoyed, populated with dangerous and marvelous anti-heroes. Rourke is especially enticing under a heavy coat of scar tissue, narrating savage money lines like, "I love hit men. No matter what you do to them, you don't feel bad." The female characters, especially Rosario Dawson as the madam of the hooker mafia, are as rough as the men but almost illegally hot.

For noir fans whose sensitivity to violence has gone the way of the PG-rated action movie, Sin City is worth a whole gaggle of viewings. It's a meticulously-crafted weapon of a movie that will please, disgust, and inspire loyalty among comic fans and strong-stomached general audiences alike.

Oddly for such a beloved film, the DVD includes only one extra: A making-of featurette.

X marks the spot.



Sin City

Facts and Figures

Genre: Action/Adventure

Run time: 124 mins

In Theaters: Friday 1st April 2005

Box Office USA: $74.0M

Box Office Worldwide: $158.7M

Budget: $40M

Distributed by: Dimension Films

Production compaines: Dimension Films, Troublemaker Studios

Reviews

Contactmusic.com: 4 / 5

Rotten Tomatoes: 78%
Fresh: 190 Rotten: 55

IMDB: 8.1 / 10

Cast & Crew

Starring: as Hartigan, as Marv, as Dwight, as Nancy Callahan, as Kevin, as The Salesman, as Goldie/Wendy, as Cardinal Roark, as Jackie Boy, as Gail, as Manute, as Miho, as Becky, as Shellie, as Senator Roark, as The Customer, as Roark Jr./The Yellow Bastard, as Bob, as Lucille, as Nancy (11 Years), as Priest

Contactmusic


Links


New Movies

Star Wars: The Last Jedi Movie Review

Star Wars: The Last Jedi Movie Review

After the thunderous reception for J.J. Abrams' Episode VII: The Force Awakens two years ago,...

Daddy's Home 2 Movie Review

Daddy's Home 2 Movie Review

Like the 2015 original, this comedy plays merrily with cliches to tell a silly story...

The Man Who Invented Christmas Movie Review

The Man Who Invented Christmas Movie Review

There's a somewhat contrived jauntiness to this blending of fact and fiction that may leave...

Ferdinand Movie Review

Ferdinand Movie Review

This animated comedy adventure is based on the beloved children's book, which was published in...

Brigsby Bear Movie Review

Brigsby Bear Movie Review

Director Dave McCary makes a superb feature debut with this offbeat black comedy, which explores...

Battle of the Sexes Movie Review

Battle of the Sexes Movie Review

A dramatisation of the real-life clash between tennis icons Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs,...

Shot Caller Movie Review

Shot Caller Movie Review

There isn't much subtlety to this prison thriller, but it's edgy enough to hold the...

Advertisement
The Disaster Artist Movie Review

The Disaster Artist Movie Review

A hilariously outrageous story based on real events, this film recounts the making of the...

Stronger Movie Review

Stronger Movie Review

Based on a true story about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, this looks like one...

Only the Brave Movie Review

Only the Brave Movie Review

Based on a genuinely moving true story, this film undercuts the realism by pushing its...

Wonder Movie Review

Wonder Movie Review

This film may be based on RJ Palacio's fictional bestseller, but it approaches its story...

Happy End  Movie Review

Happy End Movie Review

Austrian auteur Michael Haneke isn't known for his light touch, but rather for hard-hitting, award-winning...

Patti Cake$ Movie Review

Patti Cake$ Movie Review

Seemingly from out of nowhere, this film generates perhaps the biggest smile of any movie...

The Limehouse Golem Movie Review

The Limehouse Golem Movie Review

A Victorian thriller with rather heavy echoes of Jack the Ripper, this film struggles to...

Advertisement
Artists
Actors
    Filmmakers
      Artists
      Bands
        Musicians
          Artists
          Celebrities
             
              Artists
              Interviews