YOU’LL LOVE IT. YOU’LL HATE IT.
Sin City
Random Movie Review by Brendan Fleming
I have a love, hate relationship with the films of Robert Rodriguez. On the one hand, you have the guy who made history when spending seven grand to make his first film, “El Mariachi”. This film took The Sundance Film Festival by storm, and had a whole generation of filmmakers believing that if they would just pick up a camera and shoot, they could also make a movie. He was right and that’s what people are still doing today. “El Mariachi” then turned into a trilogy with Antonio Banderas returning as ‘The Mariachi’ for “Desperado” and “Once Upon a Time in Mexico”. These films are a lot of fun and I love re-watching them.
Then you have the other hand. Uuhhgg. This hand makes me mad.
This is the hand that makes way over the top, shock value violence, shotty dialogue, and thin plot points. Films like “Planet Terror”, “Machete”, and “Machete Kills” are films that I can’t recommend to anybody. How I feel about his movies can be summed up in his film “From Dusk Till Dawn”. The first half of the film is off-the-charts cool. Two bank robbers (George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino) have just pulled off a heist and need to get out of town. They kidnap a family (Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, and a random Asian kid) and their motor home in an attempt to get across the Mexican border. Everything from the start of the film until they cross the border is, as I mentioned, off-the-charts cool. The script is filled with high-tension moments, snappy dialogue, and good acting. But once they cross the border, all hell breaks loose – over-the-top violence of the wacky variety and bad dialogue with only the kind of acting that can come with bad writing.
So what type of film is “Sin City”? It’s a bit of both. The film is saved because Rodriguez didn’t write the script. The script was written by comic book legend Frank Miller, who also co-directs. Miller is best known for the classic DC miniseries, “The Dark Knight Returns”. I feel this is the Batman movie Miller would like to have made if given the chance. In this re-watching of the film, it has versions of Commissioner Gordon, Batman, Joker and Gotham City, though these versions are way more violent and insane.
“Sin City” was also a graphic novel that Frank Miller wrote and art designed. The film is based on these stories. Miller has a very specific style. His crime noir playground has very strict rules, and Rodriguez had to color within the lines and stay focused. Focus is what some of his other film lack.
It’s hard to say what “Sin City” is about. It’s not really about anything, and acts more of like a day in the life of living in Basin City (Sin City is the nickname for Basin City). Life in the world of Sin City is not like life anywhere else. At least I hope not. It seems that all the inhabitants here lost their moral compass some time ago, and have no interest in finding it.
The film begins with The Man, (Josh Hartnett) an assassin for hire. He’s at a roof top party where he strikes up a conversation with a young lady. He flirts, draws her in, and then shoots her in the belly. Everyone is up to no good in Sin City, and that’s just the way it is. There is one though. One person who has a moral compass so strong, all he thinks about is doing the right thing. Detective Hartigan (Bruce Willis) is Sin City’s good guy. It’s his last day on the job. His bad heart has forced him into early retirement, but on this last day he plans on solving a case that has been tormenting him. Three young girls have been murdered and a fourth is being held somewhere. Hartigan won’t call it quits until she’s found.
What this film has, and what keeps you from turning the whole thing off, is that the film is visually stunning. The whole thing is in black and white with bits of color here and there, which adds to the gloom and the danger inhabiting this world. The film slides and glides from scene to scene, and makes you feel like you’re inside the comic book. The characters internal-monologue their way through their stories, giving the audience a guided tour of the thought process and adding to the crime noir vibe of the film.
Hartigan eventually tracks the girl down as well as the killer. The killer is the son of Senator Roark (Powers Boothe). Roark Junior (Nick Stahl) has been able to do what ever he wants, and what he wants is to sexually assault and kill young girls. Senator Roark seems to be as insane as his son. He acknowledges that his son has a problem, but that’s about it. Hartigan knows that prosecuting Junior would be next to impossible, remarking “Yeah right, then I’ll go punch god in the face”. This sums up his feelings about Sin City’s existence.
A bar in Sin City called Kadie’s is the connector for the other characters. It’s also where the second story begins. Marv (Mickey Rourke) is an ex-con who frequents the bar to watch Nancy (Jessica Alba) dance. He meets a girl named Goldie (Jamie King) and takes her to a motel room. They make love and fall asleep. Marv wakes to find Goldie dead. Quietly murdered while asleep. Marv has been set up for the murder and the sirens can be heard as the cops come for him. Marv is not your typical guy to say the least. He’s much stronger then the average person, and is very hard to hurt. So hard in fact that falls from very high don’t faze him and getting hit by cars, or getting slashed in the face don’t do too much to him either. Marv beats his way through police and goes through the usual low life channels to find out who framed him.
There’s also a topless Carla Gugino and a ninja-like, sharp-clawed mute who, and this is where the film goes from crazy to bat-shit loony, is also a cannibal. Yep. A cannibal.
Back at the bar, we find Shellie (the late Britney Murphy) a career waitress who has her eyes on Dwight (Clive Owen) a career criminal with his heart in the right place. He’s the kind of guy that doesn’t go looking for trouble, but enjoys it when it finds him. Dwight goes home with Shellie for the hook up and everything is going well until her sleazy, sometimes boyfriend, Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro) comes by with his buddies to give Shellie a bad time. This storyline comes to a head with the mob and the I.R.A. (Yes the I.R.A.! W.T.F.!).
Nothing less than severed body parts, a deformed, smelly creature, suicide, a heart attack and man getting his face bashed into a soupy mess complete this storyline. As I said before, “Sin City” is a visually stunning film that is entertaining and chaotic. The black and white imagery with bits of color where needed are hypnotic and pull you into the world. This film is loaded with talented actors, and every one of them really go for it. This really is a comic book come to life, and something that I had never seen before.
Directed by: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez & guest director Quentin Tarantino
Release Date: April 1, 2005
Run Time: 124 Minutes
Country: USA
Rated: R
Distributor: Dimension Films
