Sin City

It’s hard to rate a movie consisting of several chapters, so I’ll have a stab at good old average. The Hard Goodbye: The first and, at the same time the best chapter tells a tale of revenge. Marv (the excellent Mickey Rourke) wakes up one morning only to find out that the woman he loved like nothing else on earth was murdered right next to him while he slept. So he goes in search of the murderer and his path is paved with a sea of bodies. This amazingly gloomy and all-round pretty dark story scores points on all fronts. The best, well.. “positive" protagonist (Marv), the best negative character (Kevin), best chapter and mainly the most fun. *****. The Big Fat Kill: Now follows the weakest chapter. It’s still pretty decent, but not as entertaining like the first two. It has a pathetic villain and Clive Owen is rather lackluster. And the only really excellent scene is the work of Tarantino (the dialog in the car). *** That Yellow Bastard: The second best chapter. Despite being such a “grandpa", Bruce Willis is still amazingly awesome, just like he used to be and the villain is good and slippery, disgusting and yellow. The only thing that is a little shaky is the romantic subplot, where Jessica Alba does more harm than good for the story. She is a sight to behold, no discussion, but the movie should leave it at that. Nevertheless, very strong ****. Rodriguez transferred the entire comic book to the movie almost frame by frame, occasionally succeeding, occasionally not. Let`s hope that he will hone this into perfection for part two. (14/09/2006)

Black and white paper cut-outs in action. So far the most faithful, but unfortunately not the best ever comic book adaptation. Unlike the hard copy version, this lacks atmosphere. The extreme imbalance between all parts of this adds to the disappointment - especially the fluctuating quality of separate tales and of acting performances are particularly frustrating. What works in the comic book looks at best “interesting" here, if it doesn’t actually annoy you (for instance the monologs - less is more or, put otherwise: why repeat what killed the original version of Blade Runner?). Up until the end of “The Hard Goodbye", there isn’t much to fault, but then things go haywire, and everything turns 180 degrees. It’s certainly worth watching, the creators did it their way and, if they learn from their mistakes before the sequel, next time it really could be what we are waiting for. (17/04/2005)

After the not-so-great Spy Kids trilogy, Robert Rodriguez reached for the comic book source material and, in collaboration with Frank Miller and Quentin Tarantino, made one of his best, if not his best film. The visuals are absolutely perfect, wonderfully capturing the raw atmosphere of the comic book. There are no issues with the cast either – Rourke ("That there is one damn fine coat you're wearin’.") Owen, Willis, Del Toro... What’s more, the individual stories are told with a reasonable amount of hyperbole, so it's nice that Sin City doesn't take itself too seriously. And that's part of the reason I’m giving it 5 stars – the film doesn't mess around, it's a faithful copy of Miller's comic, it impresses with elaborate visuals and a more than pleasant cast, and the direction does exactly what is expected of it. The few apt dry lines are just icing on the cake. 95% (27/03/2009)

What a great experience! Captivating comic-book stylisation, great characters and a very entertaining story. With someone dying almost every minute, there’s a constant parade of new characters, but it doesn’t come with the problems associated with the need of introducing someone new all the time, it comes at neck-breaking speed. I don’t know why I postponed watching this film for so long. 9/10 (06/06/2009)

Probably the most faithful comic book adaptation in a live-action film. Zack Snyder tried a lot with "Watchmen", but it just didn't work there. In this case, neither did it. Frank Miller illustrated the comic cinematically and Robert Rodriguez understood that and simply brought the individual frames to life, gave faces to the characters with famous actors, and created a contemporary noir. Or maybe even the future. Beautifully stylized, beautifully gritty, and incredibly fun. Yes, I have a weakness for Rodriguez, just like I do for Tarantino, and his action B-movies are simply captivating. Until next time. (22/01/2014)