SIN CITY SCHOOL REVIEW!

UnitedStates, 2005
U.S. Release Date: 4/1/05 (wide)
Running Length: 2:03
MPAA Classification: R (Violence, nudity, sexual situations, profanity)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Cast: Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, CliveOwen, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Jamie King, Brittany Murphy, Benicio DelToro, Nick Stahl, Elijah Wood, Michael Clarke Duncan
Directors: Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller, Quentin Tarantino("special guest director")
Producers: Elizabeth Avellan, Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez
Screenplay: Frank Miller & Robert Rodriguez
Cinematography: Robert Rodriguez
Music: Robert Rodriguez, John Debney, Graeme Revell
U.S. Distributor: Dimension Films

Sin City is the most visually inventive comicbook adaptation to make its way to a movie screen. While other directors haveattempted to remain faithful to the look and "feel" of their sourcematerial, Robert Rodriguez has taken things a step further, by using FrankMiller's graphic novels as storyboards and immersing the audience neck-deep inthe noir currents of Miller's den of iniquity. It's easy to get lost in SinCity. There's something to appreciate around every corner - the grittycharacters, the uncompromising story, and, most of all, visuals to astound andamaze. "Eye candy" doesn't even begin to describe what Rodriguez hasaccomplished.

Black-and-whiteis the best format for film noir, and Rodriguez recognizes that - not thatanyone would mistake this picture, with its kinetic energy and restless camera,for a relic of the '40s or '50s. However, what the director offers here isb&w with bells and whistles. Sin City is full of color flashes - thered of a dress or a woman's lipstick, the blue or green of someone's eyes, theblond of a hooker's hair, the orange of fire, or the yellow of a lowlife'sskin. Then there's the blood - and there's a lot of that. Blood is eitherrepresented as a florescent white or, more frequently, in its natural color. Infact, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to describe Sin City usingthe old cliché, "black and white and red all over."

With amovie of this ilk, where the style trumps substance, it's easy to come up withsomething that engages the eyes more than the mind. Fortunately, that's not thecase here. Rodriguez and Miller give us a rogue's gallery of memorable heroesand anti-heroes, and make sure that all three of the film's primary episodesare fast-paced and engaging. There's a little of Pulp Fiction in Sin City, both in the hipness andthe sense of discovery. Pulp Fiction provided a bigger jolt, but SinCity isn't far behind.

Aside fromthe decision to shoot in black-and-white, there are plenty of things toannounce Sin City as modern-day noir. There's a running voiceovernarrative that's about a pulpy as one can imagine, right to the frequent use ofthe word "dames" to describe women. (Sin City exists out oftime, in a world where elements of nearly every decade of the last century arerepresented in one way or another.) Ties and coats flap in the breeze, with thelatter billowing behind running men like bat wings. And nearly every coolcharacter in the film drives a convertible (unless a "flat-top" isspecifically requested) and smokes without concern about the health risks. (Ofcourse, for characters that get shot six or seven times, then come back formore, conventional medical issues don't pose much of a problem - althoughHartigan has angina.)

The movieattracted an impressive array of talent, including some of the biggestup-and-coming names in Hollywood, as well as a few established stars, and onehas-been on the comeback trail. A lesser movie with this kind of high-octanecast could have become bogged down by the "spot the star" syndrome,but Sin City engrosses to the point where we're no longer watchingactors with names, but the characters they are playing. For example, when wesee Elijah Wood, we're not thinking of Frodo Baggins. And Bruce Willis isn'tJohn McClane. More than anything else, that's a testimony to how well Rodriguezdoes his job.

There arethree lead male characters - one to anchor each of the trio of episodes thatform Sin City's structure. For the most part, these individuals do notcross over and invade each other's stories, although the same cannot be said ofthe other personalities inhabiting Basin City. Bruce Willis plays Hartigan, atough-talking cop at the end of a career in a place where honest guys like himare hard to find. Before accepting his pension, however, Hartigan wants tosolve one last case and save an 11-year old girl from the clutches of a serialmurderer/rapist (Nick Stahl). He succeeds, at least to a point, but pays aterrible price in the process.

Elsewherein the city, the burly, ugly Marv (Mickey Rourke) finds comfort in the arms ofa beautiful blonde named Goldie (Jamie King), but when he wakes up the nextmorning, he discovers that she has been murdered and he has been framed for thecrime. Determined to avenge her, Marv pursues a violent, murderous course thattakes him to the heart of Basin City's power structure, and seals his fate.

Finally,there's Dwight (Clive Owen), a wanted man with a new face who helps out thecity's prostitutes when they accidentally kill a sleazeball cop, Jack Rafferty(Benicio Del Toro). Rafferty's demise threatens the uneasy truce that exists inOld Town between the mob, the police, and the hookers. Dwight agrees to hidethe body before the cops figure out what has happened, but a group of mobstershave other ideas, and kidnap Dwight's girlfriend, Gail (Rosario Dawson), as ameans to thwart him.

Anothernotable performer is Jessica Alba, whose career is in the process of going fromred-hot to white-hot, as the stripper Nancy. Although she shows less skin thaneither Carla Gugino (as Marv's lesbian parole officer) or Jamie King, herallure more than makes up for it. (Alba apparently attended the same stripper schoolas Natalie Portman - the one where the clothing stays on.) Model-turned-actressDevon Aoki has a role that doesn't challenge her thespian skills. She says narya word but does some nasty things with swords and other bladed instruments.

This isvery much Rodriguez's film - like most of his other projects, it was "shotand cut" by him. He is quick to give Frank Miller equal credit, indicatingthat although the camerawork was his, Miller's contribution was so great thathe deserves to be recognized as a co-director. The Director's Guild disagreed,and Rodriguez ended up resigning over the dispute. Quentin Tarantino is listedas a "Special Guest Director," whatever that means. Apparently,Tarantino shot one (or more) of the film's scenes, but I couldn't begin toguess which one. Any contribution by the Kill Bill filmmaker blends seamlessly into the overallproduction, never calling attention to itself.

Rumor hasit that some of the studio executives behind Sin City were looking for away to get the film a PG-13 rating. Having seen the final cut, it'smind-boggling to believe that such a watered-down version was ever considered.The violence in this movie may be stylized, but there's far too much of it forthe MPAA to consider a PG-13. Plus, there's plenty of nudity: Jamie King baresher breasts and Carla Gugino spends about 50% of her limited screen timewearing little or nothing. I'm glad Rodriguez stuck to his guns; a PG-13version of Sin City would have been a crime. The one that exists is apleasure.

"It'sgoing to be blood for blood and by the gallon - these are the old days, the baddays, the all-or-nothing days." That's a promise made good by MickeyRourke's street tough psycho in the brash, beautiful and breathlessly violentSin City. Frank Miller adapts his own graphic novels and co-directs with RobertRodriguez to produce this fiercely original crime anthology that hits rightbetween the eyes with a striking blend of old-school noir and newfangledcomicbook visuals.

A frayingsense of morality weaves together three tales: Rourke is a lonely lunkheadhell-bent on avenging a murdered prostitute; Clive Owen is an ex-detectivecaught between the law and a gang of hookers; and Bruce Willis plays a craggycop framed for raping the girl he's sworn to protect (Jessica Alba). This is aworld where the line between right and wrong is blurred and expressed in steelyshades of grey, occasionally broken by the ruby rich splatter of blood. It'sall at once seedy and seductive..

"HUMOURBLACK AS NIGHT"

Miller andRodriguez amplify the hardboiled style with point-blank dialogue and humourblack as night (at one point Owen chinwags with Benicio Del Toro'shalf-decapitated corpse). However, one snag of this high-concept approach isthe instant barrier it creates, softening the impact of routine butchery, butalso ruling out any chance of emotional involvement. Willis offers the mostsympathetic portrayal, as well as the least self-conscious, but the emphasis isdefinitely not on shaping complex characters. Instead Sin City offers anintoxicating supply of gui