Sin City
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alexis Bledel, Devon Aoki, Frank Miller (II), Jessica Alba, Robert RodriguezBrand: Buena Vista Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Unknown
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 124 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-08-16
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Dimension
Movie Reviews of Sin City
Movie Review: A BIG FAT THRILL!
Summary: 5 Stars
Finally, after 13 years of waiting, Frank Miller's homage to the hard-boiled pulp novels he enjoyed as a youth have come to life on the big screen in the respectful hands of Robert Rodriguez. Sin City won't be for everyone because like many films, they won't know what they will be seeing. So far, friends of mine who have never read a Mickey Spillane novel or watched a Bogart film think the dialogue's too fast, the dialogue's too over the top and the actors were over acting. This film was made in the film noir style of the 30's and 40's but by using modern technology they have tranformed it into a magical world that only exists in the pages of Frank Miller's graphic novels. If you understand the pallet that Miller and Rodriguez used to make this film, then you might just appreciate it for the masterpiece that it is.
Frank Miller started out in comics back in the late 70s, first making his landmark with his famous run on Marvel's "Daredevil" series in the early 80s where he created one of the most beloved female assassins of all-time...Elektra. After this, he moved over to DC where they gave him the opportunity to do anything he wanted which produced his first self-titled graphic novel, "Ronin" the story of a samurai from ancient Japan teleported into the future. Then came the big one, DC gave Miller the reigns to the character that first inspired him to get into the business...Batman! Frank Miller produced "THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS", the story of an old Batman who has given up. Bruce Wayne has been retired from crime fighting for ten years but a swarm of gangs and violent crime in a Reaganomics Gotham City causes the Dark Knight to return and show these punks that you don't mess with Gotham! But this time, the police aren't so willing to accept the vigilante actions of old Bats.
Moving on, The Dark Knight Returns brought Miller a lot of publicity which led him to Hollywood to write the two Robocop sequels. But he soon learned that being a screenwriter is the worst job to have in Tinsletown. His scripts were cut up and flipped around so badly that he lost all hop of ever doing movies again. So Miller returned to comic book land and decided to draw what he wanted to draw. Taking his love of Dashiel Hammet, Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane novels, Miller created Sin City. There would be tough guys, sexy women and classic cars. The books are like a Spillane novel on steroids...as hard-boiled as you can get. Filled with constant violence, nudity and hard dialogue.
Robert Rodriguez first became famous for making El Miriachi in 1991 for no budget and really shot into superstardom with his follow up, "Desperado". After a few other films that included "Four Rooms", "From Dusk Till Dawn", "Roadracers", "Once Upon A Time In Mexico" and the 3 "Spy Kids" movies, Rodriguez started to persue a work of passion. A massive fan of Sin City, Rodriguez literally stalked and hunted Frank Miller and begged him for the rights to make the movie. Miller had been so disillusioned from his past experiences in Hollywood that there was no way he was giving up his baby unless he could direct it. Rodriguez went out and got Josh Hartnett and another up and coming actor to film a test to show Miller what kind of film he was going to be making out of Sin City. He filmed the three page short story "THe Customer is Always Right" which is the opening of the released film. Miller loved it, and agreed to let Rodriguez direct the film but only if he could co-direct it. Rodriguez agreed to this, but he was kicked out of the Directors Guild for doing so.
Rodriguez decided to translate three of Miller's graphic novels to the film to give the world a good idea of what Sin City was. The first story is "The Hard Goodbye". The story revolves around a modern day barbarian of a loser named Marv (Mickey Rourke), who is seduced by a beautiful hooker named Goldie (Jamie King) to protect her from an unknown serial killer (Elijiah Wood) who has killed five of her friends. After a night of amazing sex, Marv wakes up next to Goldie who is dead. He's been framed, and he will go on a violent path of vengeance to find the people responsible for killing the only woman who was ever nice to him. The second story is "The Big Fat Kill". The story follows Dwight(Clive Owen), a man who is wanted for killing his wife. While sleeping with his current girlfriend Shelley (Brittany Murphy), they are interupted by her ex-boyfriend Jackie Boy (Benecio Del Toro) who is banging on the door with four of his drunk buddies. Dwight wants to take them all down but Shellie pleads with him that it would be trouble. Jackie Boy and his friends leave for Old Town, a section of Sin City where the hookers and the police have a truce. The cops stay out, and the girls get to enforce their own laws and punishment. Fearing Jackie and the boys might hurt someone or maybe even kill someone, Dwight follows them into Old Town to warn his old flame Gail (Rosario Dawson) of their drunken states...only to find the girls are already waiting for them to make a mistake. A mistake that will threaten the way things go down in Sin City and especially Old Town.
The third story is "That Yellow Bastard". John Hartigan (Bruce Willis) is one of the best cops on the Sin City force but due to his angina he is forced into early retirment...but there's one case he isn't walking away from. A child rapist/murderer (Nick Stahl) has kidnapped an 11 year old girl named Nancy and Hartigan is going to take this scum out even if it kills him.
But the killer is the son of a power Senator (Powers Boothe) and the corrupt cops are protecting him...including Hartigan's own partner Bob (Michael Madsen). Nothing will stop Hartigan from saving the little girl, even multiple gun wounds. After blowing the killer's hand and genetalia away, Hartigan is gunned down by Bob but saves Nancy. He is blamed for the kidnapping of Nancy and the murders of the other girls and is sent to prison for 8 years. The little girl he saved, Nancy, sends him letters every week...but two weeks go by without any letters and when he finally gets one, there's a severed finger inside. Fearing they may have gotten to her, Hartigan gives in and confesses to the murders to get a release so that he can save the now nineteen year old Nancy (Jessica ALba) from the mysterious Yellow Bastard that keeps following him.
The movie is the most accurate and loyal adaptation of a comic book ever made. It is literally word for word, shot for shot, Miller's graphic novels. Filmed on green screens, the backgrounds were all animated giving the film a magical look, almost as if we are not in a real world. The technique we first saw in "Sky Captain and the World Of Tomorrow". At one point, I felt like I was watching the opening of The Wizard Of Oz during the tornado. The cast is almost too perfect for the roles they play. Mickey Rourke gives the best performance of his career. Bruce Willis is more than perfect for the role of Hartigan, and Elijiah Wood delivers a frightening performance as Kevin the cannibalistic serial killer.
Look for the scene directed by Quentin Tarantino between Benecio Del Toro and Clive Owen. Rodriguez and Tarantino first met on the film festival circuit in 91 while they were showing their first films El Miriachi and Reservoir Dogs. The two became good friends and even collaborated on two films, From Dusk Till Dawn and Foor Rooms. Tarantino directing a scene for Sin City started back on Kill Bill Vol. 2 when Rodriguez agreed to score the film for $1. In return, Tarantino directed a scene for Sin City for $1.
Sin City is a film that really breaks new ground. It is just as beautiful as it is ugly. The violence is constant and brutal at times but easy to handle due to the comic bookish technique used by the director. The nudity from the books was toned down. There's really only one word to describe Sin City, "COOL." It's probably one of the coolest films since Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction". Like Pulp Fiction, some people have been confused by the films order. You have to remember that these storylines sometimes take place at different times, so it won't be strange to see characters from other stories make an appearance in another story, even if they're dead...kinda like John Travolta in Pulp coming back at the end of the film. Lord knows how many times I had to explain to people that the end of the film happens before Travolta is killed by Butch. I've gone on long enough...Sin City is a tribute to the work of Frank Miller and in my opinion it's taken too damn long. Frank Miller is one of the best comic book writers of all time and Sin City is as hard and as tough as they come. It was worth the 13 year wait!
Summary of Sin City
SIN CITY - DVD MovieBrutal and breathtaking, Sin City is Robert Rodriguez's stunningly realized vision of Frank Miller's pulpy comic books. In the first of three separate but loosely related stories, Marv (Mickey Rourke in heavy makeup) tries to track down the killers of a woman who ended up dead in his bed. In the second story, Dwight's (Clive Owen) attempt to defend a woman from a brutal abuser goes horribly wrong, and threatens to destroy the uneasy truce among the police, the mob, and the women of Old Town. Finally, an aging cop on his last day on the job (Bruce Willis) rescues a young girl from a kidnapper, but is himself thrown in jail. Years later, he has a chance to save her again.
 Read our interview with Frank Miller. |
More Sin City at Amazon.com
 The Graphic Novels and Books |  Films by Robert Rodriguez |  From Graphic Novel to Big Screen |
 The Soundtrack |  Films by guest director Quentin Tarantino |  Crime on DVD |
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