Directed by: Frank Miller & Robert Rodriguez
Written by: Frank Miller
Starring: Jessica Alba, Benicio del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke
Rating: [3.5/5]
Bringing a comic book story to life on the big screen comes with some concessions on how it must adapt to utilizing real people and settings that can at least mimic what appears on the page. In live-action, these adaptations naturally lose the distinct style of the comics, but in Sin City, we get a film trying its darndest to visually replicate it all making for a striking film diving deep into the depravity of this world.
Trying to pursue a serial child killer, Officer John Hartigan (Burce Willis) learns the culprit has connections as the son of a senator. Still delivering justice by taking him down, it puts both him and the girl he saves in danger while Marv (Mickey Rourke) awakens from a one-night stand to learn the woman he slept with is dead and he’s being framed for her murder.
Whatever anyone thinks about the substance of Sin City this film first and foremost deserves plenty of praise for what it does on a visual level. It manages to create something so striking and reminiscent of how it appears in the source material almost allowing everything else to fall away. From the shading of characters and the background, it proves something wholly unique when looking at these characters and how they navigate the world around them. This approach cinematically then allows us to dig into this horrific world where some of the worst people you could ever imagine inhibiting split amongst several hard-hitting stories.
This feature operates as an anthology in the way it breaks its runtime down between several stories with each of them continuing some tangential connection via a character or two. Each of them carries their own merit with each audience member most likely having their own personal favorite. The ones receiving the most airtime naturally bring more intrigue, but one demanding the most of my attention was “The Big Fat Kill.” This particular story stars Clive Owen, who I will never complain about when he appears on screen, and how he teams up with sex workers who run the Old Town/Red Lantern District. The entire idea of creating a city where one portion could be ruled by these fierce women who suffer no fools makes for such an engaging idea, especially when they evidently prove they hold their own in a physical altercation. It really explores the fragility of truce arrangements and gets right to the root of misogyny in men, especially in this world, and how they see women.
With a title like Sin City, you can imagine this world contains plenty of debauchery and you would be right as each story has its very adult themes either in sexual explicitness or some horrific villains. I mean you have “The Yellow Bastard” storyline with a prominent child killer who just so happens to rape his victims beforehand. Some truly shocking stuff but it presents what challenge these “good guys” need to take on in order to have some level of sanity in this depraved and unforgiving world. It all culminates in a very adult comic book story that certainly stands out amongst the more family-friendly PG-13 fare that has dominated popular culture for a few decades now. This feature really sticks out amongst the rest.
Consisting of this anthology setup, this feature comes in with an incredibly robust cast of characters comprised of so many great actors. It turned the viewing experience into a game of pointing and saying “Wow, that person is in this too?” On top of Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, and Mickey Rourke you have Devon Aoki, Rosario Dawson, Benicio del Toro, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carla Gugino, Michael Madsen, Brittany Murphy, Nick Offerman, Elijah Wood, and so many more. Some certainly receive more than others but each of them certainly gets something to do as they fill in the rest of the borders of this story. Certainly some spectacular casting choices here.
Visually unique and striking in its presentation and morbidly intriguing in its narrative, Sin City provides such a refreshing experience while redefining how a comic book story can be adapted for live-action storytelling. We receive a series of stories each getting into the grittiness of the world and showing exactly what these characters need to contend with in order to simply survive as debauchery reigns and each person must fend for themselves.
Films with Josh 
