Sin City – Review

Carol and I went to see Frank Miller’s Sin City last night. I was curious to see whether or not the Hollywood treatment of such unflinching stories would be bold and accurate or completely watered down to please the censors. I was hopeful that with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s help Frank Miller maintain his vision for the stories while making the leap from the pages of his pulpy graphic novels and comics to the big screen.

There were no punches pulled in the making of this movie.

The beginning of the film reminded me of Blade Runner’s bleakness. Nice. I could just see Harrison Ford as Deckard on the next roof over. As BR is one of my favourite films I was hooked in pretty quickly. Sin City is a visually stunning, gorgeously shot black and white film with splashes of colour thrown in, just like the graphic novels. Not one shot of this movie appeared untouched by computer and a lot of the film’s scenery and action was shot on green screen and rendered later on. This gave the film that comic book feel the stories so beg for.

The acting was great. Some people are born to play certain parts. Mickey Rourke for example was perfectly amazing as Marv the ugly anti-heroic ex-con on a quest to avenge a death. The rest of the talent in the film were on their games as well. All were cast exactly where they belong and did a bang up (literally) job. We were pleasantly surprised by the usually ditzy Britanny Murphy.

This movie is one of the most violent I’ve ever seen and I have seen some very violent films. Though not as disturbing as Irreversible, but still extremely violent. It earned it’s 18A rating. One reviewer said he found the film rather ‘misogenistic’ in it’s treatment of females and lacking a ‘moral center’. This reviewer missed the point entirely. It’s a pulp graphic novel not Shakespeare. Get over it boob. Not every film has to have redemption and happiness as it’s denouement. Where’s the artistic freedom in that? More of this please. Audiences need a change from the ‘riding happily off into the sunset’ shit we usually see from Hollywood.

Well done Mr’s Miller, Rodriguez and Tarantino. We loved it. Two big grins from Carol and I. We’re glad we paid to see this one on the big screen.