Sin City or how I learned my brain can orgasam!

[Mr_Vindictive]

Saw it last night - Amazing.

Rating 10/10



Summary
Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller bring Miller's Sin City graphic novels to life - frame for frame. Three stories about love and revenge ensue.

Review
I saw Sin City last night and something happened when I walked out and sat down in my car. I blinked. My contacts immediatly stuck to my eye lids like glue.

I realized I hadn't blinked for most of the film.

This film is beautiful. I can't say it any other way. It's mesmerizing and hypnotic from it's opening with a bittersweet murder that plunges us into the world of Sin City.

The first story is all about Marv (Mickey Rourke). He spends one night with the beautiful Goldie (Jamie King) and when he wakes up with a hangover, she's dead. To make things worse, the cops are knocking at the door. Marv decides he's going to kick some ass and punish whoever did this to Goldie. This story is by far the best in the film. It's like riding a roller coaster of blood, cheesy dialogue and cannibalism. This story is pure gold, and WELL worth the price of admittance.

And then comes story two. Although it holds it's own extremely well, it's just not as good as Marv's sad story. This one revolves around Jackie Boy (Bencio Del Toro) and Dwight (Clive Owen). You see, Jackie Boy is a bit imbalanced. He goes out with his buddies to Old Town in Sin City trying to pick up a hooker. When he pulls a gun on one, Dwight and the gun carrying hookers are out to take him down. As with everything in Sin City, it all goes wrong and leads to some of the most comedic scenes in the film. Once again, well worth the ticket price.

The final story is about Detective Hartigan (Bruce Willis). He saved young Nancy Callahn (Jessica Alba) when she was a child but was put in prison under false pretenses. Now, he's out and someone is after Nancy again. This story is a bit slower than the first two in the film, but it's still entertaining as hell. Watching Bruce spit out over the top noir cliches was fantastic. I couldn't imagine a better person to play Hartigan.

The acting in this film overall is superb. It's so damned nice to see Mickey Rourke out there again. This guy is channeling Marv, I swear. It's like the man was possesed by the character's spirit. Just more proof we need Rourke in more starring roles! The rest of the cast does quite well. I have to mention Elijah Wood though. I've never been a fan of the kid, but his performance here blew me the hell away. I've NEVER been so creeped out by one character in a film. Screw Michael Rooker in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Elijah Wood is hands down the creepiest bastard to ever grace a theater screen.

Which brings me to another point. This film is damned violent. And, I'm not talking about just gun shots. I'm talking about people being eaten, extremely bloody gunshots, murders with hatchets, decapitations, people getting shot in the balls, a guy literally getting his junk ripped off ON CAMERA. It's not for the squeamish, but if you like your noir with an assload of gore, then this is for you.

By the end of this movie you feel worn out and envigorated at the same time. It's a non stop thrill that'll keep you completely engrossed and entertained throughout it's runtime. I'm ready to go see it again RIGHT NOW. If you do see it and you have contacts, just remember to blink. That s**t hurts.





Side Notes:

Look out for Frank Miller as a corrupt priest in Marv's story.

[BeyondTheGrave]

Skaboi I saw it on opening day and enjoyed every mintue. You summed it  up pretty well. The stories are done well faithful to the comic. Even if you don't read it this movie is just a great stand alone. Its dark, gritty , sometimes over the top film noir. I loved it. I will leave you off with my favorite quote from the movie "Old man dies young woman lives".


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You can’t give it, you can't buy it, and you just don't get it!-Aeon Flux

[odinn7]

So Skaboi...I can't tell, did you like it?

[nobody]

I could never get into the Sin City comics. A friend of mine kept trying to get me to read them, but for some reason I just didn't like them. I saw the film, anyway, because I thought the visual effects were outstanding- the first film of it's kind. But while I still enjoyed the visuals all the way through, I didn't enjoy the movie overall. I think it was the over-the-top comical violence that killed it for me. I was expecting something more serious. But since I never really read the comics I can't exactly complain. All I can say is that I'm still glad I saw it- but I wouldn't see it again. I look forward to seeing the director's next film, though, and I'll be checking out IMDB soon to see what else he's done (if anything).

[Steven Millan]

          You practically took the words right out of my mouth on this one,for it looks like Quentin Tarantino has some major(but friendly) competition from Robert Rodriguez with this film,which is pretty much Rodriguez's own personal "Pulp Fiction".

[dean]

Robert Rodriguez has been making pretty entertaining, quality stuff for a while now [with perhaps the exception of the Spy Kids trilogy, which I don't intend to hold against him since I haven't seen them]

So I'm greatly looking foward to seeing this film, though it doesn't come out here until May 17th, so I think I'm going to bury my head in the sand until it does come out, because I don't want to hear too much about it!

So go away all of you... I'm not listening.... I swears it!

[Mr_Vindictive]

As Dean said, Rodriguez has been pumping out quality stuff for years.  El Mariachi, Desperado, From Dusk Til Dawn, etc.

I haven't seen any of the Spy Kids flicks either, and I didn't care for Once Upon A Time In Mexico.  It seems that Rodriguez has said if Sin CIty makes enough bank then he will go on to make more in the series along with Miller.  It opened at 30mil this wkend, twice as much as any other film.

Hopefully we'll see more Sin City

[Yaddo 42]

Saw it Monday night, consider me disappointed. I only know the comic by reputation, so I have nothing to compare it to. But on it's ownI just didn't enjoy it that much. I liked the dark humor of Clive Owen's interactions with Del Toro later in that story (you know what I mean). The visuals were much better than the stories, although I agree that Marv's story was the best, I certainly enjoyed it more than the others. I loved seeing Rutger Hauer prove yet again that he has aged into an excellent character actor. I liked the way his scenes looked like some weird mix of Brando's scenes in "Apocalypse Now" and say a black and white Bergman film like "The Seventh Seal". Hell, the bookends of the movie made me even not hate Josh Hartnett for once.

The violence didn't catch me off guard, between reviews, Miller's rep, and this site I was well warned. I just wish the stories had been better. The mood and visuals only carried me so far. But that's been pretty much the same problem I've had with every Rodriguez film I've seen so far. I know he specializes in genre/b-movies and even stinkers like "The Faculty" look great, I've never seen a film of his yet where the writing didn't leave me underwhelmed.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Yaddo,

Until you posted, I didn't even think about Rutger Hauer being Cardinal Roark.  Fantastic performance, I didn't even realize it was him.


I don't believe a lot of people that were in the theater with us really "got" the film.  People would clear their throats or groan in disgust when something over the top violent would take place while my wife and I were giggling like schoolgirls.

On a bit of a side note, my wife and I saw a mutual aquantice there.  He's about 40 or so and was there with his mother and another woman both in their 60s-70s.  Needless to say, they didn't seem to have a good time at all.

[trekgeezer]

Hey Skaboi, I'm turning 50 in 4 days and loved this movie!! The only thing that has to do with people not getting it is their mental age.  I'll be reading comics and watching stuff like this until they toast my ass and put me on the mantle.

Now, to the movie. I hear people griping all the time about film makers screwing up comics when they turn them into movies. These guys did a direct transfer and it was great.

I never read the graphic novels, but this thing had all the ingredients. Over the top acting, over the top dialog, and over the top violence. If this hadn't looked so much like a comic it would've been rated NC-17.

I've finally seen Mickey Rourke in something I liked. Bruce Willis was also perfectly cast. The Clive Owen/deToro story was probably the weakest (except for the lady's wardrobes).  I also liked Frank Miller's little cameo.

Hopefully without spoiling it I'll say the scene that made me laugh was Marv questioning the guy while driving down the road (if you've seen it you know what I mean). I was thinking to myself that can only happen in a comic.  Elijah Wood's part in this will make me shiver everytime I ever watch LOTR again.

Rodriguez is another guy I admire because he's calling his own shots. You will notice in the end credits that he is also the Visual Effects supervisor.

The Spy Kids movies he did for his kids. I think he has an animated kids film in the works too. I'm not going to hold that against him, I'm a Dad and I would probably be doing same thing for my  young kids (mine are actually grown now) if I were in his position.

[Yaddo 42]

There were about seven people in the theater besides me when I saw it, everyone seemed okay with the violence. Although one guy seemd to need his friends to remind him who Hartnett was in the movie. There were some giggles during some of Jackie's dialogue both before and after it all went to his head.

The guy sitting behind me seemed to really enjoy them, in between his frequent trips outside, I guess to the potty. Maybe he got a transplant of a little girl's bladder.

Between this and "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" that's two films where I've liked Mickey Rourke's performances. If Rodriguez doesn't have a stock company of actors for his films by now, maybe he should start to round one up. He's certainly gotten good work out of Rourke which can be hard to do.

[Neville]

Rourke was pretty good in his prime, and after some difficult years he's starting to churn out quite good performances as a supporting actor. Certainly I wouldn't mind hearing from him again in the future.

About the film, it won't be released here until the end of the month (or so I believe), but I've already decided I can't miss it. I have only read the first volume of the comic and it has to make a great movie.

[Yaddo 42]

I remember in the early 80s he was considered promising as "the next big thing" in movies like "The Pope of Greenwich Village" and "Diner". Even in the mid 80s he got attention (good and bad) from movies like "Barfly", "Angel Heart", and "9 1/2 Weeks". Then again he could get completely lost in crap like "Year of the Dragon" which seemed promising but just turns into a muddled mess that even a gritty shootout at the end can't save.

But between his attempts at a boxing career; his making news for lawsuits, minor jail time, or smacking around Carrie Otis; really bad hygiene; and making stuff like "Another  9 1/2 Weeks",  "The Last Outlaw" , and "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man" ("Godammit, Harley!") he seemed to be squandering his talents just for money to keep partying. By the time of forgettable straight-to-video fare like "Bullet", I had pretty much written him off. Figured he'd be turning up in David Heavener flicks soon.

So I'm glad he's doing better work and getting better roles, seemed like he got good reviews in "The Rainmaker" as well (haven't seen it). I just hope he keeps going and doesn't start making movies with Don Johnson or rappers again.

[Mr_Vindictive]

I'm a fan of some of Rourke's work.  Angel Heart is a classic, Barfly is great and The Rainmaker is above average as well.

Other than Sin City, there is only one film where his talents are at their peak -> Spun.  Rourke blew me away with his job as "The Cook" in Spun.  Fantastic acting, and his speech in the porno shop is priceless.

[Yaddo 42]

That's the one about crystal meth that gets mentioned here from time to time? I'll have to put it on my "to watch" list.