There are a million stories in Sin City

POSSIBLE SPOILERS - IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE GRAPHIC NOVEL. IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT, SHAME ON YOU.


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One advantage of being in law school is having friends who work at movie theatres, and who get you into an advance screening of Sin City. This is probably not contingent on being in law school, but I'll take what I get.

Everything you've heard about the look and feel of this movie is dead on; it is a comic book come to life. Whether or not that's a good thing I leave to personal taste. As for me, I liked it. Because of the hackneyed and cliched dialogue, lifted directly from the source, the visuals often overshadowed the words. However, the acting was strong throughout, and the dialogue, at least in my mind, is just a further indication that we're not in Kansas anymore.

We start with the usually craptacular Josh Harnett given a chance not to suck for once, and he more or less pulls it off. Featuring the best use of a red dress in a black and white film since Schindler's List, the opening serves two purposes. It introduces a character who won't be important until the end, and it shows off what an amazing world you can make with CGI (take notes Mr. Lucas, it's called atmosphere). To quote Marv, these are the all or nothing days.

The Marv/Goldie storyline is probably the strongest, and its place at the beginning of the film might set the bar too high. It doesn't help that Mickey Rourke is acting his ass off in the greatest role of his spotty career. This segment also features the acting debut of both Jaime King's and Carla Gugino's (mom from Spy Kids) breasts. I couldn't help wondering, as the movie wound down, how good it could have been if every segment was this strong.

Benicio del Toro might be the coolest man alive.

The action in the movie and the gore is remarkable. Severed limbs, white blood and all, look more real than their Braveheart/Lord of the Rings counterparts. Even though the movie moves like a comic book, the utter lack of irony makes the action seem more real. When Hartigan (Willis) shoots off Junior's (Nick Stahl) gun hand, weapon one, and then gets rid of weapon two (hand cannon to the crotch), I actually jumped a little.

Devon Aoki is a pretty good actress. When she doesn't say anything.

The least effective part of the Dwight/Gail storyline is the idea that Clive Owen would leave her for Brittany Murphy. How can someone look like trailer spawn in each and every role she plays? What we do learn, from what in my mind is the weakest segment, is that Benicio Del Toro and Clive Owen should act in another movie together. Perhaps a Bond movie.

The Hartigan/Nancy segment more or less bookends the movie, and Willis once again shows that no one can whisper like he does. Jessica Alba, for all the hype surrounding her casting, is the least believable stripper since Ben Affleck, and has about five lines total. By far the star of this storyline is Nick Stahl, former junior, current Yellow Bastard. In a movie populated with sick freaks, he might be the freakiest (Although it's a toss up. Elijah Wood eats people).

Overall this movie is just fucking bad ass. It drags in places and might have been made better by a 15 minute cut. On the other hand, Sin City is such a crazy place the more of it the better.

Twelve Lemon Meringue Pies Up!

posted by Thomas @ 10:11