Movie Review: Dark and mature thrills await in 'Sin City'

- By Tony Robinson
KATU Movie Critic

Everyone knows I’m a sucker for comic book films. I can’t get enough of them. But the last year has been a rough ride for fans of comic book movies.

You’ve had triumphs such as Spider-Man 2 and utter junk such as Elektra. I’d count Catwoman in that category, but I actually liked it. Now before you start to flood my inbox with hate mail, I publicly admit that Catwoman was a terrible film. I just happened to like it despite its many faults.

We’re only three months into 2005 and we’re already on our third comic flick. After the disaster of Elektra and the near-miss of Constantine, Sin City is a reward to fans and stands as a new comic book masterpiece.

The film, co-directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, was based on Miller’s series of graphic novels about crime-ridden Basin City. The story is a comic fantasy film noir, filmed in black-and-white with splashes of color. It’s a tale of mobsters, thugs, detectives, prostitutes and villains of all sorts.

The cast reads like a who’s-who list of cool cinema: Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Mickey Rourke, Elijah Wood, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Carla Gugino, Rutger Hauer, Powers Booth, Michael Clarke Duncan and Nick Stahl. Let’s be straight though, this is not a comic book film you want to take your kids to. It’s rated R for a reason. People get shot, beaten, decapitated, sliced and diced. It features bloodthirsty prostitutes, cannibals, a child molester and I haven’t even mentioned the tremendous amount of nudity present in the film.

But it’s done all so stylishly. The movie is a direct adaptation of Miller’s work and fans will delight at camera shots lifted directly from the pages of the magazine. It’s no surprise when you consider independent auteur Robert Rodriguez’s enthusiasm for making the film.

Rodriguez insisted on giving Frank Miller co-directing credit and quit the Director’s Guild to do so. He even brought in film-geek pal Quentin Tarantino to guest direct a portion of the film. If you ever run into me on the street, ask me to tell you the story of Tarantino and Rodriguez acting like superstar fanboys at the 1995 Fangoria convention. There’s no doubt that these guys take their comic book collections seriously and they give Sin City’s source material a great amount of reverence.

If you’re an adult and you love serious comic book films that respect their source material, then you’ll love Sin City. If you’re just curious, but enjoy stylish, action-filled films, you’ll love Sin City. Check it out, take it all in, and relish in the super-cool style. Just leave the kids at home.

Sin City
Rated R