Everything about "Sin City" is cool. The trench-coat-clad anti-heroes smoke with style and kill without any heed of the consequences, and the women are either lesbians or gun-toting dominatrix-style prostitutes. Frank Miller's tale taps into the subconscious of pop culture and extracts the very essence of what we colloquially refer to as "badass." Reveling in its own fatalism and absorbing us completely into its ghoulish atmosphere, Robert Rodriguez's exercise in style is a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience.
This is not a film about comic book superheroes, and the do-gooder philosophy of Spider Man has no place in "Sin City." This film is about the comic book heroes who would have been villains if they weren't up against foes viler than themselves. These heroes can also jump off buildings with nary a scratch, and they too are able to absorb more bullets than the average man. Yet they're not battling crime lords or busting green goblins; they are more likely to be on the bad guy's side instead.
"Sin City" has been widely described as "film noir on steroids," but it is not so much film noir as it is fully-realized pulp fiction with noir sensibilities. The characters of noir have been replaced by archetypes, and the violence has been kicked up a notch, with even the "good guys" capable of stomach-turning violence.
One such good guy is Hartigan (Bruce Willis), an aging cop who vows to save a little girl from the clutches of a sadistic pedophile (Nick Stahl). Hartigan's segment is compact and features fewer personalities than the other two segments, but this concision works to its advantage, as it allows for a tighter narrative.
Willis excels in the role, having done this type of character many times before. Unfortunately, Jessica Alba feels out of place as Nancy Callahan, the victimized little-girl-turned-stripper. Her unconvincing portrayal sticks out like a sore thumb, perhaps because it's hard to digest the idea of a stripper who doesn't take her clothes off in the world of "Sin City." However, the segment is strong enough as a whole so that this complaint becomes negligible.
Another story concerns Marv (Mickey Rourke), a hulk-like outlaw with a severely deformed face, who decides to exact bloody revenge for Goldie (Jaime King), a hooker who showed Marv a night of compassion and was subsequently killed in her sleep. Rourke, despite being unrecognizable under the thick layer of make up, actually manages to elicit sympathy for someone who specializes in decapitation. From a narrative standpoint, this is probably the film's strongest segment. Marv is a tragic character, a former brute who attempts to transform himself after receiving a single act of kindness. Cognizant of the carnage he inflicts on others and his own mental instability, Marv occasionally questions himself, wondering if he didn't just imagine the whole situation.
The scantily-clad prostitutes of "Sin City" feature prominently in Marv's segment, but their true capabilities are revealed in the story involving the ex-con Dwight (Clive Owen). Here, a shaky truce between the mob, the prostitutes and the cops is disturbed when Dwight helps the Old Town whores kill the corrupt policeman Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro). Owen plays Dwight with the same brutish, animalistic expressiveness that marked his role in "Closer," and he's particularly effective in one scene, when Dwight is riding in the front seat of a hardtop with Jackie Boy's severed head. Dwight's conversation with his subconscious, in the form of Jackie Boy with a gun lodged in his skull, is absolutely hilarious. His work here should leave no doubt that he's a superlative choice to be the next James Bond, assuming that he desires the role.
Technically, the film is very proficient. It is shot almost entirely in high-contrast black and white, with only sporadic explosions of color used to depict elements such as blue eyes, red dresses and a Yellow Bastard. When blood splatters in "Sin City," the dazzling whites spill out of the background and onto the screen. Deep-black shadows seem to have a life of their own.
The abyss-like blacks serve in part to hide the pervasive brutality, and yet "Sin City" is still quite possibly the goriest film since Tarantino's "Kill Bill" epics. The movie features multiple castrations, cannibalism, liquefied heads, violent pedophiles, militant hookers and an East Asian assassin who doesn't care much for cleanliness. The church-going audience may flinch. Pubescent boys will surely cheer.
The computer-generated digital vistas are breathtaking, and the level of detail onscreen approaches the detail of a comic strip ten inches away. Robert Rodriguez brings the manic, high-energy action of his "Spy Kids" features to the squalid streets of Frank Miller's fully-realized dystopia, and it's a delicious combination.
This is the first great film of the year. For those willing to brave the gore and bloodshed, "Sin City" is an intensely entertaining experience. You may not walk out feeling like a better person, but you will still be glad you caught a glimpse of this world of iniquity.
Moreover, you will probably never look at Frodo Baggins the same way again.
