The wait is over, 'Sin City' reviewed!

Sin City
The best comic to screen translation ever


What can I say? It lived up to the hype for the most part. Is it the best comic to screen translation ever? Yes. Is it the best movie ever? Well, let's not go that far. Now I did my fair share of research before going to see this one. I read Frank Miller's 'Batman' comics and I read two of the three graphic novels featured in this movie. I also watched the 'El Mariachi' Trilogy from director Robert Rodriguez to get familiar with his work.

The movie starts off with The Salesman(Josh Hartnett, in his one good movie ever) talking on a roof with a lady in a red dress. This story plays out and we are taken to what may possibly be the greatest opening credit sequence ever. Yeah, I was even impressed by the credits. After the eye candy credits we get started with the "That Yellow Bastard" storyline. Hartigan(Bruce Willis) only has one hour to go until he hangs up his badge and retires from the Basin City PD forever only he has one more thing he has to do; rescue skinny little Nancy Callahan from the Senators son Junior who happens to be a pedophile. After much grief from his partner Bob(Michael Madsen), he knocks out Bob and proceeds with the mission. He gets there in the nick of time and punishes Junior. This is when we really get a glimpse of how violent the movie will be. I read the source material and I knew it was going to be violent, but it didn't hit me until I saw a ear blown off. Anyway Bob steps in and we are then transfered "The Hard Goodbye" storyline.

Let me take this break in story to give you this little PSA. People, if you are at the movies, turn your friggin' cell phones off. During this movie I had to experience not one, but TWO cases of cell phones going off. Not only were the calls annoying but when the people would flip open there nifty little annoyances, the light would illuminate the entire theater to the point where I felt as if I was watching the sun come out of the person's hand! So yeah, turn your phone off.

Now back on track. Marv(Mickey Rourke) has been framed for murder. His true love Goldie(Jaime King) has been killed while they slept. Naturally the police are there to try to get Marv. Marv then embarks on a journey to find out who killed Goldie. He goes to the local watering hole to try to find answers but doesn't really find any. This is when we get our first glance at stripper Nancy(Jessica Alba) who will play a bigger part later on in the second part of the "That Yellow Bastard" story. Anyway Marv just goes around tearing up the town for information. He goes to his parole officer Lucille(Carla Gugino) for information and eventually he finds himself in a confession booth in church. He then pumps a priest(Frank Miller) for info and then pumps him full of lead. If priest murder offends you, don't see this movie. He finds his way to the Roark family farm and then we get to meet Kevin(Elijah Wood). Yeah, after you see our little hobbit friend as Kevin, saving Middle Earth will become irrelevant. He is extremely creepy and effective as Kevin. Without spoiling this story, I will say it is great. Everyone in this part is great and you will feel for Marv as he tries to avenge his love.

Now the next part of the movie, that follows the storyline on "The Big Fat Kill," isn't the best in my opinon. I would not have shed a tear if they would have left this one out completely and just focused on "Hard Goodbye" and "Yellow Bastard." They put it in though and I watched it. In Olde Town, the hookers run the show. They are the law because of a truce that they have with the mob and the police. Jackie Boy(Benicio Del Toro) is trying to get into Shellie's(Brittany Murphy) house as this story starts out. Shellie has a house guest though in the form of Dwight(Clive Owen) who puts him in his place to say the least. After being humilated Jackie Boy decides to try and buy some lovin' down in Olde Town. Him and his crew pull up next to Becky(Alexis Bledel) and try to pursuade her to do stuff but they are denied. Dwight is hot on his tail though because he knows what he will do to the girls. He gets there only to be stopped by Gail(Rosario Dawson) and is reassured they can take of themselves. We are reassured when Jackie Boy pulls a gun and is then completely beaten down by the deadly Asian Miho(Devon Aoki). Gore aplenty in this section of the movie but we find out that Miho just killed a cop. Apparently Jackie Boy is a hero cop and that this could destroy the truce that the hookers and cops have. They try to dump the bodies but mercenaries show up and try to stop them. Manute(Michael Clark Duncan) randomly shows up as well but it's kinda pointless. The climax of this is a let down to say the least. Thankfully we still have one more story to wrap up and tie everything together...sort of.

Now the "Yellow Bastard" story is my favorite of the three stories in the movie. Anyway, after the encounter on the dock, Hartigan is in the hospital and is visted by Senator Roark (Powers Boothe) and is told he will be charged with the abduction of Nancy. Framed for abducting little Nancy, Hartigan is sent to jail. They try to get him to confess but he refuses to. He get's a letter from Nancy every Thursday for eight years straight then suddenly they just stop coming. One day a yellow man shows up, knocks Hartigan out, and leaves. When he comes to, he finds the same envelope that Nancy uses with a finger in it. He confesses to everything and is let out of jail with time served. He tracks Nancy to the Saloon where she dances and realizes that he screwed up. We get a cool car chase between Hartigan and Junior, who is now horribly disfigured from all the surgeory he went through. This all leads to the best part of the movie; The Hartigan/Junior showdown. The end of this is the most violent part in the movie and it made me cringe like a little girl.

Now after reading all of that, you'd assume I would just give this movie a 5 without giving it a second thought. Well you know what they say about assuming. This movie is not without it's flaws. One of the main flaws is the pacing. I felt like we were just rushing through the Marv storyline at the speed of light. Also character development wasn't the high point of the movie. Sure our main characters are fleshed out pretty well but one case seriously irked me. That case was Manute. Where did he come from? What does he want? The other flaw lies with some of the effects. I felt some of the CGI looked, and felt like, I was watching the old Adam West 'Batman' show. The part that stands out in my mind is when Wendy is trying to run Marv over. Also not every line in the comic had to be translated. Some lines belong to stay on the pages of the comic and do not need to be said out loud. Also, and my biggest gripe, was some of the acting; two cases in particular. One of those cases was the girl that played little Nancy Callahan. She was just, to say the least, awful. Get Dakota Fanning, she can do anything. Even for boy roles. Little boy in the Ring? Fire him, get Dakota Fanning. Seriously, Dakota Fanning should play every child role imaginable. And the second case of bad acting, Brittany Murphy. And one line really did it for me in her case. The line was "come any closer and I'll cut your little pecker off." Not only did that line not need to be translated to the movie, but she didn't need to be saying it.

Did it live up to the hype? Yes. Is it the best comic to screen movie ever? Yes. Is it the best movie ever? No, but that doesn't mean it isn't one incredible experience. Even with it's flaws you will still love every minute of it. Be forwarned though, this movie is the eptiome of violence. At one point I actually said, out loud, "Oh my sweet Jesus" as a man was impaled in the head with a hatchet. If you can take violence, you'll love it. Just make sure you turn off your phone....

Final Score
4.5/5