Review: Sin City

Director : Robert Rodriguez

Main Cast : Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Benicio Del Toro

First of all, let me make clear that other than my daily dose of Calvin & Hobbes, I'm not really a comic 'person', and prior to this have never before heard of Frank Miller. Therefore, this review on Sin City would be based entirely on its merits as a film, and nothing more.

I was really excited when I first found out that Sin City would be Robert Rodriguez' latest project. Along with Tarantino and Tim Burton, Rodriguez is one of my favourite 'fun' directors, as can be seen in films like Desperado, From Dusk 'Til Dawn, Once Upon A Time In Mexico and the Spy Kids trilogy. One thing about him is that he simply adores CGI and digital film-making, and embraces it with arms wide open. In fact, the Spy Kids films were actually his 'experiment' on the wonders of this new technology.

Sin City is based on 3 in a series of graphic novels (comics) penned by Miller, about 3 very separate yet inter-twining stories, ala Pulp Fiction. First we have Mickey Rourke as a seemingly indestructible ex-con avenging the murder of "the best laid he ever had". Then we have Clive Owen helping a town run by S&M-attired prostitute amazons defend their town from the local Mob. And last but not least Bruce Willis as a cop on a mission to catch a pedophile. Yup, it's that kind of film, and together with its nudity and graphic violence I very much think that the only way Malaysian viewers would get to see Sin City is via the neighbourhood DVD seller.

With its anti-heroes, voiceovers, echoing dialogue, night-only scenes and saxophone-filled soundtrack, Sin City is certainly classic Film Noir. It's set in black-and-white with splashes of colour here and there, much like chilies would make any bland plate of "mee goreng" look nicer. This certainly makes a major contribution to the film's uniqueness and ultimate cool-factor. Sin City also retains much of its comic roots in its visuals, certainly the best since Dick Tracy.

Sin City probably has one of the biggest ensemble casts of the year. Besides Rourke, Owen and Willis, there’s also Jessica Alba (in the first of her two blonde comic characters this summer), Elijah Wood, Benicio Del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Josh Hartnett and Nick Stahl. Though honestly I just don’t dig the idea of Mr. Frodo Baggins himself, Elijah Wood, as a cold-blooded cannibal.

As I mentioned earlier, there’s certainly a lot of graphic violence in Sin City, with severed limbs literally flying in all directions. The last time I saw so much blood was in the superb Kill Bill Volume 1 by Tarantino. Speaking of which, QT himself is a guest director on Sin City, directing the conversation that Clive Owen has with the “dead” Del Toro in the car. It was his idea in fact for Del Toro to change the way he speaks because of the large slit in his throat.

After watching the film, I came across a bookstore in London that had copies of the Sin City comics by Frank Miller. I flipped through the first few pages of one, from which one of the stories in the film was based on. And guess what: every single angle, dialogue, pose, costume and expression was exactly the same as it was in the film. I later read that Rodriguez actually used the comic as his storyboard while making the film. No wonder he sacrificed his place in the Director’s Guild of America (DGA) just so that he can have Frank Miller’s name as co-director of the film. Rodriguez also indicated that he had to leave certain scenes from the comic out as he had to fit three stories into a feasible running time. However, when the official DVD comes out later in the year, we should be able to watch each of the 3 stories IN FULL. Now that’s something to look forward to.

There are rumours going around that Rodriguez plans to make two sequels. I honestly see this happenning, as there are after all another 4 as-yet-unfilmed Sin City comics, and Rodriguez has this knack of making trilogies. I certainly hope that he does make those sequels, as Sin City certainly lives up to its billing as the coolest film of the year, and may even be the coolest film since Pulp Fiction. Watch Sin City if you have the chance, ‘cos it’ll be a sin to miss it!