If you’ve never taken a trip to Sin
City then you’ve missed a location
rife with grief, drama, crime and death. It’s not a location most would choose,
but the characters in author/artist Frank Miller’s highly acclaimed adult comic
book series have no choice. Their lives and loves fit the city and all if
offers. It’s a black and white world where there are few good guys and even
those end up tainted before long. When word came out that the series was being
turned into a film fans went wild.
That first movie came out nine years ago and did amazingly
well. Directors Robert Rodriguez and Miller brought the page to life by
shooting the entire movie using the green screen process where everything is
shot on a soundstage before a green screen with all backgrounds and some props
inserted by computer. It worked well. Images from the page were literally the
exact same on screen. The crispness of the high contrast images was stunning.
Sadly it took 9 years for the sequel to come out, SIN CITY:
A DAME TO KILL FOR. Unfortunately the magic just doesn’t quite feel the same.
As any fan will know there isn’t a single story involved in
these movies. Here we have a lead in story featuring fan fave Mickey Rourke as
Marv, the ham fisted, violence prone, hard drinking, scarred boogey man of the
city, someone to walk around when seen if not across the street. Marv’s story
of finding well to do college kids lighting homeless men on fire and taking
vengeance sets the tone for the movie. As the title moves from the screen, the
next story begins.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Johnny, an amazingly lucky gambler
who’s come to Sin City
to make his mark and to take down the evil and corrupt Senator Roark (Powers
Boothe). One should never pull a tiger by the tail and the eventual outcome of
this confrontation will not be pretty. Josh Brolin takes over the role of
Dwight from Clive Owen, here trying to stay above the fray but drawn back in by
the one woman able to seduce him to do her bidding, Ava (Eva Green). Now the
wife of another man she draws Dwight back in only to inflict damage on him both
physically and mentally. Lastly Jessica Alba returns as Nancy,
haunted by images of her defender the deceased Hartigan (Bruce Willis) as she
seeks vengeance against the same Roark Johnny set his sights on earlier. Aided
by Marv the end result won’t be pretty.
This combination of tales from the pages of the comics
should play out well on screen, equaling those of the first film. But something
just doesn’t quite feel right here. The look of the film is done well but
perhaps too well. Or maybe it’s been too long since I watched the first film.
Here it feels overused and at times far too stylized for its own good. It’s
still amazing to see and offers some great moments.
I’ve watching it through twice now, once in the theater and
now on DVD. This time felt better than the
first but still, different from the original. Two reasons seem to stand out in
my mind looking back at both viewings. One was the over use of film noir
narration, a raspy whisper that comes from almost every character on screen.
It’s as if one person were telling each story but using a different voice that
always sounded similar. Eventually it becomes monotonous.
The second was the fact that it felt like much more attention
as paid to sexuality here than in the first film. It did exist in the first but
the amount of screen time spent on sexual escapades feels over done here. I’ve
begun to wonder if Eva Green can be involved in any film that doesn’t require
her to disrobe every so often. She can be a talented actress but with this film
she seems as interested in taking off her clothes as she does at delivering
lines. It doesn’t enhance her character but actually becomes boring.
On the whole the movie does deliver a couple of good stories,
some much better than others and unfortunately the worst taking up most of the
screen time. The actors involved all turn in solid performances and while
Rourke as Marv is seen in two of those stories you still find yourself wishing
he had more time. Brolin’s take on Dwight doesn’t quite equal Owen’s but he
still shows he’s become a great actor.
Well done, well made and well acted, the movie is better
than some and worse than others, one I can recommend to fans of the first. This
is one trip to a bad town that will be more fun for some than others but in the
end it’s like a trip anywhere; it’s never quite the same once you’ve already
been there.
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