DVD/Movie Review: Sin City

 

Sin City is a movie from 2005 that is an adaptation of a very dark and violent graphic novel by Frank Miller. It was mostly directed by Robert Rodriguez, but a portion was also directed by Quentin Tarantino and a portion by Frank Miller. It stars Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Clive Owen, Alexis Bledel, Jamie King, Benicio del Toro, Elija Wood, Carla Gugino, Nick Stahl, Josh Hartnett, Powers Boothe, Devon Aoki, and Brittany Murphy. It tells essentially three separate stories that overlap and intersect occasionally with each other. It starts out with Bruce Willis, one of the city's honest cops saving a young girl (who later in the movie grows up and is played by Jessica Alba) who has been kidnapped by the son (Stahl) of a corrupt senator (Boothe), then shifts to the story of a brute played by Micky Rourke who is on a revenge mission against the killer of his "true love," a hooker played by Jamie King. Then, there is a story about the boyfriend (Owen) of a bartender ( Murphy) who is being harassed by a corrupt cop (del Toro) taking out said cop.

The original DVD release was very bare-bones. The only extra is a short behind-the-scenes featurette. The movie, like the graphic novel, is very violent, with beatings, dismemberings, and everything in between, but manages not to show a lot of blood by showing the blood basically as bright white against the black and white that the movie is (mostly) filmed in. There is also some nudity, mostly from Carla Gugino and Jamie King, but also have characters in various states of undress or skimpy outfits (including Alba, Rosario Dawson, and Devon Aoki), and a lot of swearing. Basically, this is something you are going to watch if you are in the mood for an action movie and you do not mind very violent action movies. It is definitely not in the vein of the superhero comic book adaptations that Marvel and DC have put out since this was released. It is much more in the vein of Kill Bill and Watchman. Chances are, if you like those, you will like this. But, if you hate movies like those, you probably are not going to be into this one either.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

 

A Dame to Kill For is the 2014 follow-up to 2005's Sin City. It was again written by Frank Miller and directed by Miller and Robert Rodriguez. It brings back many cast members from the original movie, including Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Powers Booth, and Bruce Willis. It also brings on several new cast members, including Josh Brolin, Eva Green, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ray Liotta, Julia Garner, Lady Gaga, and Jamie Chung, to name just a few.  As was the case with the original movie, A Dame to Kill For will not appeal to everyone. It is filmed to have the look of a comic book and has a lot of over-the-top violence. I call it a follow-up to the original movie because it is not a straight sequel. Similar to the original film it is made up of several shorter stories involving different characters. Some of those stories occurred before the events of the original movie and some occurred after. One of the earlier stories involved Micky Rourke's Marv, and you definitely have to suspend your disbelief because even under the makeup, Rourke looks a lot older than he did in the first movie (and he did not exactly look young then). The story that involved Nancy, Jessica Alba's character, is a sequel to the events of the original film. The titular Dame is Ava, played by Eva Green, who is involved in one of the prequel stories. She gives a wonderful performance and again shows off her acting range.

The Blu-Ray's A/V quality is outstanding. The movie looks and sounds great in the HD format, and even though a lot of it was shot against a green screen (the movie uses a mix of practical effects and CGI) and a mix of black and white and color, everything pops in HD. And it is hard to tell what is CGI and what was done practically. The Blu-Ray is definitely light on extras as there are just a handful. Those include a 15-minute high-speed edition of the movie, which basically shows the movie against the green screen background (and with the nudity removed), a 14-minute character profile feature, a couple of short features on the makeup/effects and the stunts, and then the trailers. So, not a lot, but what was included is good.

Overall, the movie is very good. Chances are, if you are not a fan of the original movie, nothing about this one is likely going to appeal to you. It does have a lot of violence, that as I said above, is very over-the-top and almost cartoonish. There is also some nudity (mostly from the stunningly gorgeous Green), and a lot of skimpy outfits on most of the other women including Jessica Alba and Rosario Dawson who reprise their roles from the first movie. The movie is well-written and acted. There are a couple of cast replacements with Dennis Haysbert replacing the late Michael Clarke Duncan and Jamie Chung replacing Devon Aoki. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Powers Boothe do a great job in their roles, as does Green and Alba (whose role is expanded from the first movie). So, if you are a fan of the first movie, this is definitely worth picking up.