Film Review: Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Finally got round to seeing Sin City 2 (had to wait this long because I have been busy at work) and I just had to write a review for it as soon as I could. This will contain some SPOILERS for the film and those who haven't read the graphic novel.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is the nine year waited sequel and is once again directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez and is split in to separate stories where the characters interact with each other across them.

Just Another Saturday Night: This is the opening to the film and is based of one of the Sin City short stories based on the same name. It stars Marv (Mickey Rourke) who tries to recall how he ended in a car wreck just outside of the Projects.

The Long Bad Night: An original story for the film which stars Joseph Gordon Levitt as Johnny, a cocky young gambler who has recently arrived in Basin City. He decides to enter in a very dangerous game of poker with Senator Roarke (Powers Booth) who does not take kindly to losing.

A Dame to Kill For: The main story of the film which stars Josh Brolin as Dwight McCarthy a photographer who wishes to forget his incredibly violent past. However he soon gets a call from his former lover Ava Lord (Eva Green) and is soon thrown back in a world he wanted to leave behind.

Nancy's Last Dance: Another original story which stars Jessica Alba as Nancy Callahan who is still dealing with the loss of John Hartigan (Bruce Willis) and wishes to have her revenge against Senator Roarke whose son terrorized her and Hartigan four years ago.


Just like the first Sin City this film is a near perfect adaption to the graphic novel but what really surprised me was the two original short stories. When I first read about this I wasn't too sure how much I would like it because I much prefer when adaptions follow their source material but when it doesn't it has to be just as good. An example of it done right is Game of Thrones; the majority of is straight out of the book while original stuff for the show is short and doesn't take away from the main plot e.g. the subplots with original character Ros, torture of Theon, Stannis going to Bravos for a loan etc. However examples of when it is done wrong is The Walking Dead (whole episodes are given over to long and boring original material and there are some dramatic changes to characters) and the ending to Watchmen (rest of the film is great but I really, really wished they kept the ending from the graphic novel).

So is The Long Bad Night and Nancy's Last Dance just as good as the Sin City graphic novel stories? The answer is yes! Nancy's Last Dance didn't have too much to worry about any way because it is a sequel to That Yellow Bastard but The Long Bad Night almost stole this entire film, for me it ties with A Dame to Kill For. The main reason for this is Joseph Gordon Levitt as Johnny; I admit I haven't seen much of him in other works (I know him best from Dark Knight Rises) but he was witty, charismatic and an all round well thought out original character who truly belonged in this film.

We also have many returning characters such as Marv, who is like the figure head for Sin City at this point and should be in every film, Nancy, Gail, Hartigan etc., however we also have several re casts as well with the characters Manute and Miho. Normally really do not like re casting characters in film and TV series however for Sin City 2 I will make an exception because for Miho, Devon Aoki was pregnant and couldn't act and Jamie Chung gave a great performance. As for Manute, Michael Clarke Duncan unfortunately died before production however Dennis Haysbert was a perfect choice for re cast because he is just a imposing and menacing for the role. We also have Josh Brolin for a re casted Dwight and he was great as the character too, he really looked like pre - facial surgery Dwight! I am also glad that Powers Booth returns as Senator Roarke because, as I mentioned in my review of the first film, he was underused but he is back as the main villain for two stories and I a glad for that.

However a stand out performance (just as good as Joseph Gordon Levitt) was Eva Green as Ava Lord. I have seen Eva Green in quite a few roles but this has got to be my favourite because she was just so sexy in this role. She also had no problems with a lot of sex and nudity (unlike Jessica Alba who is the stripper who doesn't strip) which is a plus for this role because anyone who read the graphic novels know that Ava uses sex as her main weapon. She is also manipulate and deadly, so hats off to Eva Green for her performance.

As for Jessica Alba I have always been unsure if she was the right choice for Nancy and that is because I didn't think she was committed enough for the role. I am not trying to be sexist in constantly saying she should "take it off" and not all films have to have nudity but in this 18 film full of violence, swearing and nudity and she is cast as a stripper, I just wished she showed more skin (her dancing was a lot better though). Eva Green seemed to have no problem with it so I just wish Jessica Alba didn't, however I must admit that the last part of her story really makes up for it. She undergoes a badass transformation and kicks some ass so they gave her that much at least.

Personally I really liked this film so much that I am not sure what I can criticize it for but if I had to not pick it would probably be that it is a lot more fast paced and rushed than I would have thought. An example of this is the subplot with Mort and Bob; that was over and done with so fast that it was a shame because in the graphic novel their investigation is in a lot more detail.

Overall this film is a perfect squeal to a great graphic novel adaption but it was a shame that we had to wait so long for it. I have read that this film has received mixed reviews so far because of the poor marketing and long wait but I think everything about this is just great and is an awesome watch. Fans of the first film will enjoy this and I really hope there is a third film based on Hell and Back!

SCORE: 9/10

Film Review: Sin City

Think the last time I did a film review was X men days of future past, so it has been quite a while. I thought I'd review the first Sin City because even though the second one has just been released I am a bit busy with a new job so I won't be able to see it for a few days. Since this was released in 2005 I will talk about spoiler scenes as much a I want because anyone reading this has bound to have seen it by now, so you HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Sin City is adapted from Franks Millers graphic novel series of the same name and I have got all of the books and it is my favourite graphic novels. Besides from Frank Miller this film is also directed by Robert Rodriguez and with Quentin Tarantino as a special guest director. Now have been a massive fan of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino for many years with some of my favourite of their films being Kill Bill and Desperado. These two know how to make a really damn good watch; they don't shy away from including a lot of violence but even scenes were its just talking between characters can be really gripping

The story of Sin City is split in to four stories, each one separate from the other but characters do cross over between the four.

The Customer is always right: Staring Josh Hartnett as The Salesman/Colonel and Marley Shelton as The Customer. This is segment is only five minutes and serves as the into to the film.

That Yellow Bastard: Staring Bruce Willis as John Hartigan; an honest, aging cop on the verge of retirement who wants to put away Roark Junior (Nick Stahl), a serial child rapist and killer, for good. Junior however is the son of the powerful Senator Roark and the Roark family basically rules Basin City. However when Junior kidnaps his latest victim, Nancy Callanhan (Makenize Vega/Jessica Alba), Hartigan stops at nothing to put a stop to Junior in a story that spans right years.

The Hard Goodbye: After a one night stand, street smart thug Marv (Mickey Rourke) awakens to find Goldie (Jamie King) dead besides him. Because she is the only women to ever show him kindness Marv makes it his mission to hunt down those responsible but soon finds out he may have bitten off more than he can chew when all of Basin City is against him.

The Big Fat Kill: When his girlfriend Shelly (Brittany Murphy) is suffering at the hands of her abusive ex Jackie Boy (Benicio Tel Toro), Dwight decides to step in. However Jackie Boy soon makes the mistake of entering Old Town; a section of Basin City controlled by the prostitutes who work there and who cannot tolerate two things; to those who don't play by their rules and cops. Dwight teams up with his old friends in Old Town to put a stop to Jackie boy but he just can't shake the feeling that something is awfully wrong.........

What I really liked about Sin City when I first watched it was how faithful it is to the original material, it is probably the best adaption of a graphic novel to the big screen. It even perfectly copies moments of the from the graphic novel in the film e.g. Marv swimming through the sewer, Lucille (Carla Gugino) reaching for her gun, Dwight jumping through the window etc. It is not so much that I am watching a film, more so that I am watching a motion comic.

All this is helped of course by the heavy film noir style which was what the graphic novel novels was heavily influenced by in the first place. This means the use of colours such as the whole film done in black and white with the exception of important colours like blood, Kevin's (Elijah Wood) glasses and the Yellow Bastard's skin to name a few, it also has stark, black backgrounds, heavily contrast white. Also it barely changes any of the words used from the graphic novel such as its sometimes strange metaphors and they keep all the character narration as well. All this gives the film high marks in my book because it is like I am watching the graphic novel down shot for shot and I always think it is a let down in most adaptions when they change to much for film (I really liked Watchmen for example but I didn't like that the ending was so different, may do review on this)

We also have some great casting choices for all of the roles here, with the stand out being Mickey Rourke as Marv. He was the perfect choice here, they did a lot of makeup on him so he really looked like Marv, and his voice was great for the narration as well, he was also really imposing/menacing when he wanted to be but still be a likeable character. It would take me long to go over the others so a top three other stand outs for where Elijah Wood as Kevin and Benicio Tel Toro as Jackie Boy (Especially Benicio Tel Toro, he kills it as Jackie Boy!) and also Nick Stahl as Junior. The rest where all great, even minor characters and ones he don't have much screen time as the other; would have liked to have seen more of Rutger Hauer and Powers Boothe.

However two that I have to mention, and not in a good way, are Bruce Willis as John Hartigan and Jessica Alba as Nancy Callanhan. First off I really liked Bruce Willis, I am glad he is Hartigan but I wished they gave him some make up to make him look more like a sixty year old (sixty eight after time skip!), he was a great choice but they made Mickey Rourke and Benicio Tel Toro look more like their characters. As for Jessica Alba I think she was a real miss cast in this because, aside from not looking much like Nancy from the graphic novel, she wasn't sexy enough for the role in my opinion. It annoyed me that in they made the Kadie's strip club seem PG - 13 because Nancy wasn't topless in any of it (she is in the graphic novel). We have some great women roles in this film e.g. Devon Aoki as Miho, Rosario Dawson as Gail and Carla Gugino as Lucille, especially Carla Gugino because she wasn't afraid to have that great nude shot where she grabs for the revolver. All in all just think Jessica Alba could have been more committed as a stripper and her overall acting as Nanacy could have been better. (I hear she is better in Sin City 2 though)

This film is also a great and fun watch because, thanks to its directors, it doesn't hold back on any of the violence. This isn't a film for the younger audience because we have got limbs flying about all over the place her lol, it is even interesting that they have kept most of the blood white like in the graphic novel also. Quentin Tarantino is also has credit for one of my favourite scenes in the film which was Dwight and the almost decapitated body of Jackie Boy having the conversation in the car. It was really smart that whenever Jackie lifted his head his voice gets higher because of the damaged vocal cords, they don't do that in the graphic novel but it was really cool to see. Shame they cut out a lot of the dialogue between them.

Overall this is the best is one of my favourite films of all time and the best graphic novel adaption ever. It does a perfect job of bring this gritty, dangerous , bleak fictional city to life for the big screen. I can't really choose a favourite segment because the are all just so damn good.

SCORE: 9/10

Can't wait for Sin City 2!