Sin City (2005)

A film that explores the dark and miserable southern town Basin City and tells the story of three different people, all caught up in the violent corruption of the city.

Directed by
Robert Rodriguez

Genres
Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Cast
Jessica Alba, Devon Aoki, Alexis Bledel, Powers Boothe, Cara D. Briggs, Jude Ciccolella, Jeffrey J. Dashnaw, Rosario Dawson, Jesse De Luna, Benicio Del Toro, Jason Douglas, Michael Clarke Duncan

*****/*****

Guns, dames and castrations abound in director Robert Rodriguez’s (Planet Terror, Once Upon a Time in Mexico) stylish and totally faithful adaptation of Frank Miller’s comic-book series. Specifically, the film adapts four of Miller’s short stories: it begins with “The Customer is Always Right”, a short little ditty (featuring a surprisingly well cast Josh Hartnett) that sets the tone for the awesome, hyper-charged neo-noir that is to come. Sin City then moves on to tell the first part of “That Yellow Bastard”, featuring Bruce Willis as Hartigan, a hard-boiled cop trying to save the irresistable Nancy Callihan (Jessica Alba) from a well connected pedophile played by Nick Stahl (Terminator 3). From the film moves to “The Hard Good-bye”, where a nearly unrecognizable Mickey Rourke plays Marv, a dimwitted but goot hearted street fighter seeking to avenge the death of Goldie (Jamie King) - the only woman who was ever nice to him. “The Big Fat Kill” features the perfectly cast Clive Owen and the girls of Old Town (Rosario Dawson, Alexis Bledel, Devon Aoki and more) facing off with corrupt cop Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro). Finally the film moves back to finish “That Yellow Bastard” for a rousing, if somewhat dark finale.

Of the four stories told in Sin City, Marv’s is probably the strongest, but the entire film is pure entertainment in the fine tradition of hyper-masculine film-noir. It looks and sounds great, and the DVD is full of great special features and deleted scenes. Watch for an extended sequence guest directed by the one and only Quentin Tarantino