Movie Review: Sin City

Based on the graphic novels by the same name, Sin City was released in 2005. It was both written and partially directed by Frank Miller along with Robert Rodriguez and guest director Quentin Tarantino. The film starred Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Brittney Murphy and Rosario Dawson. Supporting cast includes Devon Aoki, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Clarke Duncan and Elijah Wood, fresh off his stint as "Frodo" in Lord of the Rings trilogy. The setting is Basin City, a fictitious town, presumably in the future as there is no timeline either in the book or the movie. I say presumably because of the setting of Old Town, part of Basin City which is a blocked off area for gambling, prostitution and other vices.

Sin City is actually three stories that are supporting the main theme of the movie which is about human corruption. All three stories tie together and cross each other at various points but come together to form an end point. The three supporting stories are about Marv, an ex-con street fighter who gets caught up in the corruption trying to avenge his one true love; Dwight, a photographer who happens to accidentally assist in killing a crooked but hero cop; and Hartigan, an ex-cop incarcerated because of the corruption he had uncovered while doing his job. All three stories have characters that intertwine in each other forming the actual plot of the story. The cardinal, who is a secret cannibal turned out by Kevin (Elijah Wood), of Basin City and his senator brother are the center of the main plot as they control all of the vice and the police in the community. The cardinal has his own secrets that are exposed by Marv when he comes to avenge the murder of his love, Goldie, who also happens to be, along with her twin sister Wendy, the head of the hooker union. Dwight, after protecting his girlfriend from being raped by the corrupt but hero cop, Jack Rafferty (played by Benicio Del Toro) chases him to Old Town and eventually assists the girls disposing of his body once he is killed by Miho (Devon Aoki). Hartigan escapes his jailers and tracks down the son of the senator who is the reason he has been incarcerated in the first place. All three stories come together at the end showing that love of power, not money, corrupts.

The performances by the three main actors, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke and Clive Owen were all very good. They gave a range of emotion that the audience could relate to as well conveying the fear and rage their characters felt. However Elijah Wood as the cannibal Kevin, who justified his feasting as being the closest to his god, was a little on the unbelievable side. It was hard for me to separate the forever optimistic and good Frodo from the incredibly evil Kevin. The best performance, in my opinion, was from Mickey Rourke, a B actor whose last hit was in the mid-80s before I was even born. As Marv, an ex-soldier, ex-con and physically mutilated street fighter, showed a range of emotion that went from the gentle manner that he embraced the delicate Goldie to the blind rage he had in confronting both Kevin and then the Cardinal.

This was a visually beautiful film. It was in the film noir genre filmed in black and white with touches of primary colors such as the red heart shaped bed, the yellow color of the senator's son's skin and the blue of the headlights and sirens of the police chase through the back alleys of Basin City. Music from the film was a synthesized track mostly composed by the main director, Robert Rodriguez, which was not very memorable. Perhaps it was just a long continuous compilation of a series of notes, dramatic at the points where they needed to be but otherwise not memorable. To tie the three stories together, camera had to see it from each of the main character's point of view. This was quite a feat and earned the film recognition from the visual effects community but not from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. All scenes were filmed before a green screen with the backgrounds added later by digital artists. While not really groundbreaking it was the first time this technique had been used for an entire film. All of the film's elements came together to form an on screen story true to graphic novels, thought provoking and visually stunning.