This afternoon I went and saw Sin City.
Frank Miller's Sin City comics (the ones that this movie is based on anyway) came out in the early-mid '90s and they were great. His writing was lean and powerful, the stories were strong - hardboiled/film noir type themes - and his art style was unique. There's even a guy who does illustrations for the Sydney Morning Herald who has blatantly ripped off his style.
The movie is made up of three stories all taking place in the one city.
The first one deals with John Hartigan (Bruce Willis) a cop on the last day before his retirement (classic!) and he's chasing a sadistic freak who rapes, tortures and kills young girls. He is also the mayor's son so he gets away with it all. He's just abducted an 11-year-old girl called Nancy O'Callaghan and Hartigan is racing against the clock to stop him before he has his fun.
In the second story there's Marv (Mickey Rourke) an ENORMOUS tough guy with a Frankenstein-type head. A gorgeous girl called Goldie spends the night with him and he can't believe it because he is not a handsome devil, you might say. It's really a case of Beauty and the Beast, and very touching too. Aw, the big guy! But when he wakes up, Goldie is dead, yet mysteriously without a mark on her. He goes off to track down her killers.
The third story is Dwight (Clive Owen) who is now with a girl called Shellie. He's basically saving her from her ex-boyfriend Jack (Benicio Del Toro) who beats her up all the time.
The way this movie looks will knock you out, your eyes will pop out of your head. It's absolutely stunning. Mostly shot in black & white with colour here and there, like a car or a pair of shoes, or the evil stinking Yellow Bastard.
It is violent too. One of the most violent movies you will ever see for sure. But usually the violence is happening to the evil guys so you will find yourself laughing and cheering, but if movie violence makes you queasy, you better stay far away from this one because you will be sick for weeks.
Mickey Rourke's performance in this was the highlight for me. His face is truly monstrous. In real life he started a boxing career and got his face badly smashed up. I hadn't seen his face since hearing about that so first seeing him in the movie thought that this was really how his face looked now! Ha ha. But anyway, Mickey Rourke steals the show here hands down. Bruce Willis is excellent as well, along with Benicio Del Toro's awesomely sleazy performance. And I cannot forget to mention Jessica Alba (as the grown-up Nancy O'Callaghan) - heartbreaker!
It was also strange and funny to see Elijah 'Frodo' Wood in the role of ninja cannibal Kevin.
This movie was great. GREAT! It easily moves into my Top Five Movies of 2005 with almost zero chance of getting squeezed out.
The audience in the theatre was quiet and well-behaved. How boring! Boo!
6 comments:
I thought Sin City was excellent, too. And ditto on the violence. Still, so much eye-candy...
Sin City is the 1st time a comic book has been successfully transferred to the screen... i do not believe that a better job could have been done, (except maybe having it in cinemascope but that's just a nitpick!!) In my mind this is because the creator was co-directed, keeping everything in check... awesome cinema!! Like I always say, take the violence off the street and stick it back up the screen where it belongs!!
cherryripe: eye candy, you said it :]
aaron: i think you're right that it made a big difference Miller being co-director. he wouldn't let his baby out of his sight, and good for him. it really paid off.
and yes yes, you are right too about taking violence off the street putting it back on the screen. ha ha! good line!
this is a wonderful movie, i loved it as well. the coloring , the darkness and that it was fairly true to the comic. finally yes one comic that actually wasnt fucked by hollywood when turning it to a movie.:)
p.s. i fixed the comments things for you on my page now.:P
The character os Elija Wood was Harry Potter from hell. Dehumanizer
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