Sin City
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Movie Reviews of Sin City
Movie Review: If Loving This Movie Is A Sin...
Summary: 5 Stars
Rest assured, "Sin City" is like no other film you have ever seen.
"Sin City", directed by Robert Rodriguez ("From Dusk Till Dawn" and "Spy Kids") and Frank Miller (the creator of the graphic novels the film is based on) tells a number of stories, which share characters and themes. A cop with a bad heart (Bruce Willis) attempts to save an eleven year old girl, Nancy, from the sadistic killer, Junior (Nick Stahl). Marv (Mickey Rourke), a gangster, trawls the streets looking for the person who killed the hooker he slept with last night. Another gangster (Clive Owen) leads the abusive ex-boyfriend (Benicio Del Toro) of his girlfriend (Brittany Murphy) into Old Town, an area run by hookers.
Each of these stories pays homage to Film Noir, a type of filmmaking prevalent in the late 40s and early 50s. Every so often a filmmaker will take a stab at recreating the genre, with mixed results. Rodriguez appears to have been inspired by the source material, because this is not only one of his best films, but also one of the best modern takes on Noir. "City" has all of the trademarks of classic Noir; black and white cinematography, heroes and heroines trying to live in a corrupt society, villains trying to maintain control and desperate, desperate people.
Like much of the "Spy Kids" films, Rodriguez shot most of "City" in front of a blue screen. Basically, he filmed the actors in front of a blank wall and added the backgrounds and special effects later. Many films use this technique for part of the process, but "City" appears to have been made using primarily this process. Almost all of the film is shot in black and white. This might be problematic for some, but I completely forgot about the lack of color, until he used brief glimpses of color. The backgrounds are richly detailed in shades of black, white and gray. They also appear to be consistent, helping to create a believable world. Because I believed in the setting of the film, I didn't miss the color. Color is used as a punctuation point. In some scenes, the red of blood appears, in others, the gold of a woman's hair. This creates a unique, interesting visual style, which appears to be inspired by the source material. Rodriguez also moves the camera to replicate graphic novel angels, making us believe that we are in a living comic book. Normally, all of these `tricks' would serve to draw the viewer out of the story and universe. In "City", it all serves to draw us in.
The unique visual style is only the first element necessary to make us believe. The second, and perhaps most crucial element, are the actors. Frequently, in a movie based on comic books or similar material, all of the work is put into the visual. The actors walk through the story, spouting their lines. In "City", every one of the actors, and there are many, portray their characters in a serious way, as though they were in a run of the mill crime drama. No one lets on to the fact that they are basically in a live action graphic novel. Because they believe, this helps us believe, adding further to the creation of "Sin City" as a `real place'. It is difficult to say there is a lead in the film, but Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Benicio Del Toro, Rosario Dawson and Jessica Alba all take on meatier roles in the interconnecting stories. They are joined by Elijah Wood, Rutger Hauer, Powers Booth, Nick Stahl, Carla Gugino, Michael Clarke Duncan, Josh Hartnett, Michael Madsen and a collection of young starlets. In any film with different stories, and this many actors, each person needs to make an impact and make one fast or they get lost in the shuffle. A lot of this has to do with how central the character is to the story; if they have a lot to do, they will be on screen more. Also, in Noir, the stories are usually accompanied by voice over narration from the lead character. In each of the stories, the main characters provide voice over, giving us insight into their thoughts. Hartigan, played by Willis, is steely, determined and effective. Marv, played by Rourke, whose plastic surgery is covered with enough make-up to make him resemble a Dick Tracy character, embarks on a memorable journey. Owen and Del Toro are also effective as they battle each other in Old Town, with the help of a number of very deadly hookers. All of these actors do a great job of helping to make "Sin City" all the more engaging.
The interconnecting stories will probably bring "Pulp Fiction" to mind for many. When a major star appears in the first five minutes of the film, you get the feeling that their character will return at another point, probably the finale. The interconnecting stories share timelines and characters, creating a larger more interesting portrait. I find it interesting to watch a filmmaker's career and trace the `ancestry' of their films. In "Sin City", Rodriguez uses the digital technology that he used effectively in the "Spy Kids" trilogy, but takes it to another degree. He combines this with the sort of violent story that he has told well in previous films like "From Dusk Till Dawn" and "Once Upon A Time In Mexico".
"City" is hard-boiled Noir. As I mentioned, color is used sporadically throughout. There is a lot of violence and, thankfully, Rodriguez only occasionally shows the blood in color. More often it appears as a milky white. He uses red as a punctuation point, drawing our attention to the actors or action; occasionally, red appears in a pool of blood, or in a person's shoes, or in a hooker's dress. This doesn't diminish the effect of the violence, it enhances it. Nudity also has a place in Sin City and it is the most gratuitous element of the film. Somehow, this is also fitting. You would expect nudity to be fairly common place in a town known for its sin.
"Sin City" is one of the most visually interesting and challenging films I have seen in a long time. It has a dazzling visual style all its own, combined with a hard-boiled story and some very good performances, "Sin City" will be remembered for years to come.
Movie Review: Free your mind and your *** will follow
Summary: 5 Stars
Sin City is definitely one of the must-see movies for this century, but be warned, this is not your regular kind of movie. If you want to see pedestrian, boring fantasy movie making, or trite, one-dimensional moralizing, stick to the horrendousness that is the Star Wars Prequels.
Frank Miller's Sin City is far, far more than just a splatter-fest although it's got violence a-plenty. If violence worries you at all, then DON'T GO. However, if you can dig it, then I'll say this: the physical violence in this movie is deliberately cartoonish, and therefore much less psychically scarring than say "Silence of the Lambs". There's other kinds of violence in Miller's creative work, however and on that I'll say more later.
The movie is visually beautiful. It is _very_ much in keeping with Miller's graphic novels, but whilst the graphic novels were completely black and white, Sin City the movie is actually super-saturated dark blues and grays. There is very little real black in the movie except Rosario Dawson's outfit (what little there was of it anyway).
This point has also been made before but it's worth saying again: The movie is NOT meant to be realistic. This is the key to Frank Miller's whole visual style (of which more below). If you like your movies literal and simpering then STAY AWAY from this movie. You won't like it, and you don't belong in the movie theater.
As many, many other people have pointed out, the movie is _meant_ to be stylized, so the acting, the dialog and the visual style are all meant to be larger than life. Good grief. Have we become so blinkered, mentally-enslaved and unimaginative as a society that people can't even figure that out? What stylization does is allow the ideas and emotional contours in the movie (and in Miller's graphic novels) to become more salient. As with other non-realist forms of art, the deliberate break from naturalistic images allows us to see past the images to the ideas and feelings beneath them, and that's what a lot of people seem to have missed.
On the subject of the acting, yes Mickey Rourke and Benicio did great jobs, but they also had the best lines. I think the WOMEN in this movie acted their asses off, especially given the limited amount of talking they had. What this meant was that a lot had to be conveyed by physical movement and facial expression. Dawson did this wonderfully as Gail, the leader of the Second Amendment -hoisting prostitutes, and Jessica Alba did a pretty good job too although she hid way too much behind her "Little Nancy" persona. This, I think, gave her much less to work with and so Alba's Nancy wasn't nearly as interesting a character as Dawson's Gail. Personally I thought Devon Aoki's Miho was great. No emoting, but then she wasn't supposed to. Before the movie came out, I had read some fan-boy stuff about how Zhang Ziyi would have been a better choice for Miho, but I don't think so. Ms. Zhang is far too given to facial histrionics. Ms Aoki was perfect. Also excellent was Brittany Murphey as Shellie the waitress, this was a spot-on casting decision, as Shellie has Murphey's Jersey Girl persona written all over her.
Lastly, one of the defining themes in Miller's writing career from "Batman: the Dark Knight Returns", through "Ronin" and "Daredevil" to Sin City, is his profound contempt for the hypocrisy and self-servingness of those in authority. Those who are attracted to order and paternal moralism will hate this movie because these are exactly the things that Miller has his characters take on. One of the things that Sin City and Dark Knight share is the stark distinction between violence you do while doing the right thing and violence done while going along to get paid, or because you enjoy using your authority to prey on others. _This_ is the difference between the villains and the heroes in this movie.
Violence then, in Miller and Rodriguez's world becomes a way for the dispossessed to reclaim their dignity and agency. It's fantasy, it's id-laden but it's meant to be a work of fiction not a blue print for social justice.
Note that Miller does not say that violence is 100% successful: Both Marv and Hartigan must die at the end of their respective vengeance quests. In fact, the only male figure who survives is (interestingly) Dwight, the only guy who allies himself with powerful female characters (Rosario Dawson's Gail and Devon Aoki's Miho). Lone males, it seems, are more vulnerable than men and women working together.
Miller's Sin City is definitely less diverse and more androcentric than the Wachowskis' Matrix universe, but you don't have to be PC all the time to make a useful point. Sure the prostitutes were all female, and sure this leaves the whole business of who the sex trade is set up for to one side. But the prostitutes in Sin City were independant workers, running their own society without male bosses and profiteers (a very far cry from the real-world sex trade, of course) and their independance is what they were fighting to protect. For this reason, and because the real villains in this peice were all male. I think this is a far more complex movie than a lot of people want to think it is. Skimpy outfits and sex work does not simply equate to misogyny.
Go see this movie. It is a complex and compelling riff on morality, friendship, fighting city hall and (mostly) losing, getting old and getting by. The delighted vengefulness which imbues this movie comes from nothing so much as our own outrage when the suits and their toadying minions stomp down on the rest of us: "Kill him for me Marv. Kill him good."
Movie Review: Wicked, Dark, and Ominously Intriguing - Brilliant Film Noir
Summary: 5 Stars
Sin City takes place within a corrupt and criminal environment where evil and suspicious characters seem to rule the city. Daylight never seems to reach this place where human transgressions seem to be the norm, as shadows and darkness enhance the gloomy milieu in which the characters exist. This film is the very archetype of film noir as no one can trust anyone and death lurks around every corner. The film's heroes are less than perfect with either a dark past or they suffer from some terminal condition. Everything is perfect in regards to film noir, yet the world is as far as possible from an utopia as life is easily expendable and everyone is guilty of something.
In three of Frank Miller's graphic novels Sin City has generated the foundation for the films, as the audience get the opportunity to follow three disconnected adventures. These three adventures lead the audience into a dark place, an unwanted domain if it was real, but the black and white cinematography make it look and feel like the graphic novel that Miller created. This makes the film tolerable, as the violence is extreme, detailed, and intense. If Sin City was shot in the spirit of Spider-Man (2002) the film would be extremely gory, grotesque, and probably would not be allowed in theater throughout the United States. Thus, as mentioned, the black and white cinematography makes the film tolerable and viewable, but it also surpasses the cinematography from other graphic novels by light-years, as it displays brilliance.
The adventures are all divided up by the women in the story, which are an essential part of the atmosphere of the film. None of the women seem to be over the age of 25 while they all are prostitutes with daring clothing revealing more than covering. The prostitution and the sexually suggestive environment intensifies the sleaziness of the criminal milieu, which enhances the distrusting atmosphere. However, the women in Sin City are no feeble women. These women do not mind pulling the trigger when it counts, or swinging a blade if necessary. Nonetheless, these women also bring out the little good and human compassion, if one can call it that, which is a rare commodity in Basin City where the stories take place.
After the film's opening the audience is introduced to the cop Harrigan (Bruce Willis) who is about to make his final arrest before retirement. This arrest attempt leads Harrigan to reveal the location where he can find a psychopathic killer that sexually lusts for torturing young girls. He is also aware that the pedophile has recently kidnapped a young girl named Nancy. However, this psycho-killer is not unknown to him, as he has slipped his grasp many times before. The psychopath is the son of the mayor, and this could lead to some major difficulty for Harrigan through the mayor's influential powers.
Following Harrigan's case, the audience gets to follow Marv (Mickey Rourke), an ex-convict with delusional tendencies and a beautiful parole officer. Marv has just met and had his best intimate moment with Goldie. When Marv awakens from his sexually exhausted slumber he discovers that Goldie is dead and the cops have already been tipped. Angry and vengeful Marv escapes the trap in order to find the true identity behind Goldie's killer, which leads the audience into a blood splattered river that flows from Marv's path.
Shellie's (Brittany Murphy) ex-boyfriend Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro) instigates the third adventure where the freedom of the girls in the Old Time comes in jeopardy, as the truce between the cops, the mob, and the prostitutes is crumbling. The hero in this tale is Dwight (Clive Owen), a criminal with a recent face job, who turns into the knight in shining armor, but much better than in King Arthur (2004). This sequence displays the strength that the women possess when they decide enough is enough, which of course turns very bloody.
There are several elements in the film that make this film brilliant, but one must begin with expressing gratitude to the casting directors Beth Sepko and Mary Vernieu who put together a splendid cast. The cast consists of actors such as Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Benicio Del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Clive Owen, Elijah Wood, Nick Stahl, Rutger Hauer, Powers Boothe, Jessica Alba and many others. A couple of the highlights are Rourke's performance as Marv, as he brings out the dirty and nasty in a delusional criminal who is on a murderous destructive path while Del Toro's performance as Jackie Boy is simply excellent.
Robert Rodriguez who has directed several action films is a perfect choice to lead this project, as he also had help from Frank Miller and Quentin Tarantino. The scenes are full of speed, action, and nitty-gritty violence, which intentionally goes over the top with high frequency. This exaggerated violence often seems humorous and will occasionally force the audience into laughter. However, laughing at mutilation is hardly acceptable, which suggests that the audience is as guilty to the crime as the perpetrator. This is a cleverly incorporation of the visual theme that no one is innocent, as all are guilty, even the audience members. Furthermore, the heavy use of cerebral character monologues enhances the audience's cerebral participation in the film, as little is left for the imagination, yet it leaves the audience contemplating moral values.
Movie Review: Rodriguez's Vision Is Stunning, An Incredible Film Noir
Summary: 5 Stars
MOVIE: In an interview, Robert Rodriguez stated that instead of bringing the world of graphic novels to film, he wanted to bring film to the world of graphic novels. Boy, did he hit the nail on the head. Rodriguez has all the respect I can give to him because he is a conservative filmmaker who churns out epic products. His first film was made for $7K, and ever since he really tries to make movies for less. Rodriguez recently entered the world of digital filmmaking, his last film, Once Upon A Time In Mexico, was shot entirely in HD using digital cameras, no film. He raves about how easy it is to edit, just plug it into the computer and badabing! Sin City was shot all digital and it aided Rodriguez in accurately capturing Miller's vision. The movie uses three story lines from three seperate novels by Frank Miller. One is called "The Hard Goodbye", which follows a man's journey for revenge after a cannibal rapist who killed his one true love. The interesting part is that this one true love was a hooker that he spent the night with for the first time. Marv is played to perfection by Mickey Rourke and Elijah Wood is absolutely menacing as the cannibalistic killer. The second story is called "The Big Fat Kill", in where Dwight (Clive Owen) tries to protect the prostitutes of Basin City from a menacing sex starved guy but ends up sparking a war between the cops and the hookers who previously held a truce. Finally comes my favorite plot, "That Yellow Bastard". This is what noir is all about, the story of a cop coming to the end of his run trying to protect an innocent girl from a pedophile madman, he ends up framed for the crime and after 8 years in prison he sets out to protect the same girl only she's 19 now rather than 11. Everything was done entirely with chroma key (Green Screen), and since it was in black/white it didn't feel cartoonish like Star Wars did. Rodriguez uses light to highlight faces and shadows that make an incredible effect. The only colors in the movie are red, blue, and yellow, which are the primary colors. Green is used twice, and I'm trying to remember if they incorporated the fact that blue and yellow make green, but I can't remember, so maybe I'm just over analyzing with the green. The movie has a lot of personal narration from the characters, and it's not narration of what is going on plot-wise but rather their personal thoughts to the action that is happening. One great line from Bruce Willis is after punching his partner in the face he says to himself, "Hell of a way to end a partnership". Although the lines are sleazy and obvious at times you have to realize that the kind of dialogue used here is a trademark of the noir style. "That Yellow Bastard" was definately the best story of them all because it had emotion to it, "The Hard Goodbye" was great too mainly because of the character of Marv, and "The Big Fat Kill" had some shining moments too but trailed off the radar a few times. The only problem I had was that the narration in Marv's storyline dragged a bit, but overall Robert Rodriguez's talent in film combined with Frank Miller's talent in graphic novels makes one hell of a tribute to film noir. This is pure entertaining filmmaking at its best, it's all style and one hell of an experience.
ACTING/DIRECTING: Bruce Willis and Mickey Rourke shine in full glory. They couldn't have gotten any better actors for these roles. All the characters in a film noir are hard-boiled and cynical, and these two played it to perfection. The ensamble cast is endless and everyone was top notch except for Jaime King as Goldie/Wendy, she just can't act. As it goes for the artistic vision, well, does it really need explaining? I mean, brilliant use of shadows and light, using the primary colors only when something needs to be emphasized, and capturing emotion through the setting. One of my favorite scenes was when Bruce Willis' character was framed and in jail for 8 years, he first says that he is alone. The jail cell seems to be floating in an endless darkness, it's all black around the cell. Then comes Quentin Tarantino, who is really only being used as a marketing technique, but you can sense that disturbing Tarantino style and wit during the movie. Rodriguez and Tarantino are best buddies, and really I admire their admiration for classic films and film styles. Tarantino's Kill Bill films were tributes to Kurosawa and Leone, while Rodriguez's "El Mariachi" trilogy is a tribute to Leone's "Man with no name" trilogy. Anyway, Tarantino stopped on the set one day and Rodriguez wanted to show him the digital HD way of film, and let him direct this one scene where Clive Owen and Benicio Del Toro are in a car and Owen starts imagining things in his head.
BOTTOM LINE: Robert Rodriguez is the man. He gave up his DGA (Director's Guild of America) membership just so that he could have Frank Miller as a co-director, he really wanted Frank with him at all times so that they could get this one done perfect to Miller's standards. In his recent films if you pay attention to the credits you'll see Robert Rodriguez's name pop up several times. He does his own music, his editing, cinematography, writing, and directing. With Sin City he directed, did the music along with John Debney, and did the visual effects. He takes the workload to make it good, and he knows how to make it good, so I'm not gonna argue
Movie Review: Sinfully Awesome
Summary: 5 Stars
I had been waiting to see this movie for months now, and I was afraid that it would disappoint me like some other movies that I have really looked forward to lately (namely The Phantom Menace and Matrix: Reloaded). So myself and three friends went to see it earlier, and when it ended, I thought one thing: WOW! This was such an amazing movie, with amazing visual effects, a perfect cast, and tons and tons of testosterone-induced action.
WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS!
Robert Rodriguez co-directs (along with Sin City creator Frank Miller, and with Quentin Tarantino as a "Special Guest Director") what is, without a doubt, the most faithful comic book adaptation ever. In fact, Rodriguez sees this film as a translation rather than an adaptation.
There really isn't a central plot; rather, the movie is about 3 seperate stories that share certain characters and all take place in Basin City, the most morally bankrupt town ever, which rightfully earns the nickname Sin City. To call this an all-star cast would be an understatement. Some of the many actors included in this film are: Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Benecio del Toro, Jessica Alba, Alexis Bledel, Devon Aoki, Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood, Britanny Murphy, Rutger Hauer, Powers Boothe, Michael Madsen, Nick Stahl, Carla Gugino, Jamie King, Marley Shelton, and Rosario Dawson (yeah, I know that's a lot), and while some of them have very small roles (Wood and Aoki have no dialogue, although neither of them have a small part), all of them are pitch-perfect in their roles.
The movie begins with a short segment entitled "The Customer is Always Right", with Harnett as The Salesman and Shelton as The Customer. Up next, is the set-up for "That Yellow Bastard", a story about Jim Hartigan (Willis), a cop with a bad heart who is trying to bust the son (Stahl) of a powerful Senator (Boothe) who likes to rape little girls. Next is "A Hard Goodbye", a tale about a huge brute named Marv (Rourke) who falls hard for a beauty named Goldie (King). They share a passionate night together, but Marv awakes to find Goldie dead in their bed. A search for "justice" ensues, with Marv beating the life out of anyone who has information on the hit. The story also has Gugino as Lucille, Marv's parole officer, Wood as Kevin, an amazingly gifted killer, Hauer as Cardinal Roarke (the brother of the Senator from "Yellow Bastard"), and Sin City creator Frank Miller as a priest. The second story is called "The Big Fat Kill". It deals with Dwight (Owen), an ex-photographer (this isn't explained in the film, but there is a graphic novel that sets up the Dwight character prior to the events of this story) and now a sort of mercenary who goes to Olde Towne to help defend Gail (Dawson) and her fellow prostitutes from Jackie Boy (del Toro), a deranged maniac with a penchant for violence against women. This segment also has Murphy as Dwight's girlfriend Shellie, Bledel and Aoki as fellow hookers Becky and Miho (deadly little Miho), and Michael Clarke Duncan as Manute, a hired goon for an unnamed mobster. Finally, "That Yellow Bastard" is the last major story. It picks up after the events of the previous part of the segment. Hartigan has been sent to prison, because Senator Roarke spun things to make it appear as if he raped little Nancy (played by Alba in her adult incarnation). Believing Nancy to be caught by Roarke's men, Hartigan gets out and seeks her out to protect her again from people who want revenge upon him for killing (?) Roarke's son.
These stories are extremely gritty, violent, and even a little depressing. (SPOILER)The only one with an ending that could be considered happy is "The Big Fat Kill". There are scenes involving shootings, stabbings, decapitation (or almost so), even cannibalism. One guy even gets his genitals ripped off. Also, there is a lot of full frontal nudity (although, from what I understand, nowhere near as much as there was in the books). So if you feel in any way uncomfortable with any of the above-mentioned things, avoid this movie. If not, then I highly suggest seeing this film.
As I said, the choice of actors for this film was perfect. I can hardly think of anyone else who could fill the roles of any characters in this movie. Although, I must say that Willis, Wood, Aoki, Dawson, and Rourke were the big standouts in my mind (even though, as I stated earlier, Wood and Aoki have no dialogue). Speaking of dialogue, under any other circumstances, the dialogue in this film would be terrible. However, the actors and situations make it awesome. Even though many lines are extremely cliched, and I hate cliches, the delivery is amazing.
The visuals are stunning. The film is shot almost completely in black and white. Although, every now and then, there are splashes of color (certain cars, Dwight's shoes, women's eyes and hair, one of the villains). Also, many of the shots mirror the panels from the comics.
With all that going for this movie, it all adds up to a great 2-hour thrill ride. Once again, if you don't mind excessive violence, I would highly suggest seeing this movie.