‘It’s based on a comic book and they had hopes when making it of having it resemble, visually, the comic book style and I must admit they succeeded hands down’
Sin City, 2005
Directed by: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez
Starring: Jessica Alba, Benicio del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Elijah Wood
As part of my ThrowBack Thursday segment I made a point that all the films are to be presented in black-and-white; Sin City is the exception. It is black-and-white, but it uses colours throughout, and those colours beautifully enhance the visual presentation of this film. Sin City tells three separate stories (of revenge, of gang warfare and of love) with narrations in one of the most comic-book-appearing film ever. It’s based on a comic book and they had hopes when making it of having it resemble, visually, the comic book style and I must admit they succeeded hands down.
The acting is terrific throughout, and their narration perfectly captures what they are trying to tell. I also fell in love with the characters despite the fact I shouldn’t, and that’s a credit to their acting and the writing (their performance is enhanced by the presentation). As I mentioned there are some colours spread throughout Sin City; a lot of reds and blues that enhance the particular feature (such as a dress or a pair of lips). The heroes and villains are also never specifically stated that they have superhuman powers but they can survive a lot and their almost-immortality just sucks you in all the more (despite it having the potential to steer an audience away from a hero who cannot die).
Unfortunately, one of the stories is of a lesser quality than the others, and the whole nature of having three stories (one is broken up in two so there’s almost four stories) can be a bit distracting as you invest so much in one that it detracts from another. I had this effect from reading Moonstone, one of the first-ever crime novels, as we spend a large chunk reading through one character’s journey, a character we begin to like throughout our time with him, and then another character coming along just feels like they’re an imposter. In Sin City I invested so much into Marv’s (Mickey Rourke) journey that by the time I had to watch Dwight’s (Clive Owen) I just wanted Marv back. That’s a general negative against all films like this, and while I like Sin City overall, it did feel like multiple stories, of varying intrigue, meshed together.
An absolute gorgeous film, cleverly recorded in colour and turned black-and-white in post while leaving colours around, with solid acting throughout and entertaining scenes, made all the crazier form the comic-book style presentation they utilise.
Personal: * * * Acting: * * * * Writing: * * * Presentation: * * * * *
Steve James 