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Sin City
4/1/05 - R - 124m
Bruce Willis - Hartigan
Mickey Rourke - Marv
Jessica Alba - Nancy Callahan
Director: Frank Miller & Robert Rodriguez
Story by: Frank Miller
Studio: Dimension
Official
Website
JEF
I know this sounds harsh but I borderline hated this movie.
First off a small R rated warning… this movie is rated R and pushes the limits of that rating. In the following review I may be referring to “R” rated subject material.
Storyline: There were actually two or three stories intertwined in this movie, but I’ll try to give you the small version… Sin City is a dirty gritty city, where (you guessed it) sin seems to rule. Criminals, Hookers, Dirty Cops, Murder, etc… The only glimmer of good is a cop, Hatigan (Bruce Willis) who is about to retire on his last day, but is determined to go on one last call to save a little girl. We also meet Marv (Micky Rourke) who is a whacked out (drugs or mental problem we’re not too sure), who is on a bloody rampage to revenge a death. Then we’re taken on a third tangent with Dwight (Clive Owen) who also wants to get revenge for his girlfriend who was treated poorly.
Well, I admit, it seems I’m in the minority here with my “red light review”. The movie seems to be getting great write-ups by both fans and critics. I actually checked yahoo movie fan reviews before seeing the film, and saw a lot of “A” ratings, so I was really psyched to see this one. Perhaps I was too psyched? It was just a huge let down.
Ok, Graphically, the film was amazing. Based on the graphic novels by Frank Miller, who has a distinct style of black and white, with splashes of color thrown in for highlights. The movie stayed true to this style and did it very well. In spite of this artistic style, it started to get old to me. It was nice to look at, and there were some amazing scenes (the car chase in the snow especially), but for the most part, this visual ‘effect’ started to wear off for me.
Although I enjoyed most of the acting, (especially Micky Rourke’s), the thing that bothered me the most were that they all tended to be the exact same character. Bruce Willis, Micky, Benicio, and Clive, all played the same ‘tough, gritty, low talker, whisper character. The character that seemed to be one of the most interesting was barely explained, and just sort of thrown in. (Elijah Wood as Kevin).
I think the movie was all supposed to tie in the same storyline, but to me the editing was too rough, and didn’t flow well. By the time we see Hartigan again, I had almost forgotten all about him.
Finally, the violence was extreme. Sure, it was done in this sort of animated style, but at times it almost was so over done that it seemed silly. (Maybe this explains why some twisted soul a few rows up was laughing out loud at some of the more gory parts). It got old to me. I don’t think there is much that a movie can do now-a-days to shock its viewers with violence. I would rather see the opposite effect, in “suggesting” violence, without seeing the “monty python” style of graphic spurting gore.
Well, I’ve complained enough about this one. Like I said, it seems that my thoughts on this one are in the minority, so take this review with a grain of salt I suppose.
Jef
