Sin City [MA]

In Sin City, nothing is sacred and nowhere is safe. Retiring cop, Hardigan, saves eleven year-old Nancy from being brutally raped and murdered. Now eight years later, he’s still trying to protect her. Marv is a mentally frail misanthrope who is set on a bloody mission when his newly found true love is murdered. And Dwight, a clandestine man and lover of a barmaid named Shellie, finds himself bound to Gail and her pack of Old Town prostitutes, protecting them and their neighbourhood from the cops, the mob, and Jackie; a tough man with a penchant for violence. 

This movie fucking great! It’s so overdone and so bloody and violent that it’s just funny! Boasting a stellar cast as well as being hugely indulgent in the dark side of humanity being directed by Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller, and featuring guest director Quentin Tarantino, Sin City is a fantastic movie based on Frank Miller’s series of graphic novels. 

In Sin City, nothing is sacred and nowhere is safe. Retiring cop, Hardigan, saves eleven year-old Nancy from being brutally raped and murdered. Now eight years later, he’s still trying to protect her. Marv is a mentally frail misanthrope who is set on a bloody mission when his newly found true love is murdered. And Dwight, a clandestine man and lover of a barmaid named Shellie, finds himself bound to Gail and her pack of Old Town prostitutes, protecting them and their neighbourhood from the cops, the mob, and Jackie; a tough man with a penchant for violence. 

Films such as these, based on those delightfully dark and decadent graphic novels really are in a league all their own. Not that dissimilar to The Spirit, the essential word that can best describe this movie is “violent”. Absolutely everything about this film is harsh and brutal! Filmed in very harsh black and white, so much so that it even becomes animated at certain points, and with only one or two colours splashing onto the screen, mainly bright crimson blood, or red lipstick, or bright blue eyes, Sin City’s editing was really masterful as it so greatly captures the vibe and atmosphere of a graphic novel, just like Hulk captured the feel of a comic book. 

The other thing that I like about this movie is the fact that it is horribly violent, I mean really brutal, but quite a lot of the worst blows become animated, either with animated silhouettes, or the blood spurting out white. Because the use of colour is so limited and when it is used, it’s so striking and unnatural, the violence of the movie is no as squirm or cringe-inducing as some of these guys’ other films are. 

As well as being a fantastic bloodbath, the film also boasts a good script, equally balancing the mindless violence with angry and passively passionate monologues from the three central “heroes”: Hardigan, Marv, and Dwight. I like a movie that relishes in the power of words. 

Starring Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Devon Aoki, Alexis Bledel, Powers Boothe, Benicio Del Toro, Carla Gugino, Josh Hartnett, Jamie King, Michael Madsen, Brittany Murphy, Nick Stahl, and Elijah Wood, Sin City is a pretty fucked but epic movie literally bursting with action, violence, bloodshed, explosions, great special effects, determination, and testosterone. It’s pretty damned awesome, though obviously not everyone’s cup of tea. I enjoyed its sickness and twistedness  greatly though.