Movie Review - SIN CITY

You've never seen a film like this before. Combining groundbreaking technology and film techniques, risk taking directors, and a classic stories told with modern interpretations, Sin City will be remembered for a long time, and is the most fun I've had at the movies this year.

Sin City is a series of critically acclaimed comics and graphic novels by master story teller Frank Miller. It's a unique comic, ultra-violent and super sexual told in large blocky black and white art. Go to a bookstore and flip open a Sin City graphic novel and you'll see exactly what ends up on screen.

Attribute this accuracy to maverick filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. After wowing the festivals with El Mariachi in 1992, he helped shape the 90's crime-film resurgence with Desperado (1995) and From Dusk til Dawn (1996). Then he he decided to make some movies for his kids. The result was the extremely successfull Spy Kids (2001), Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002), and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003). In these films he pioneered green screen film techniques that would serve him so well in Sin City, a film shot entirely on green-screen, with no sets or locations. Earlier this year Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow did the same but with less ambition and style. Rodriguez was a big fan of Miller's work, but Miller had been reluctant to sell the film rights to Sin City. To get the job Rodriguez shot his own short film to show Miller. The gamble paid off and that short became the opening "Josh Hartnett" scene. Quentin Tarantino is credited as a guest director, but he only directed the "driving to the tar pits" scene. (Cameo: you also see Q.T. at the end of the film sitting next to Marv in the strip club watching Nancy dance! Rodriguez also makes a cameo in the bar wearing a white cowboy hat and Frank Miller shows up as a priest!)

The film is actually three separate short stories which take place during the same time in Basin City. I don't want to give away too many spoilers so the plot summaries will be short. After the Hartnett open, we start story one "That Yellow Bastard." Bruce Willis plays Hartigan, a hard-boiled police detective a day from retirement, chasing a senator's son (Nick Stahl) who is a murdering child rapist and has kidnapped a 11 year old girl. Hijinks ensue. He stops the crime and everyone gets shot up but he ends up taking the fall for the whole thing. Off he goes to jail.
Cut to story two, 8 years later: "The Hard Goodbye." Mickey Rourke is Marv, a hulking brute who hooks up with hottie Goldie (played by Jamie King and her huge breasts) and after waking up finds her murdered in bed next to him. Here come the police, Marv realizes a frame job is on, so he busts out kicks some cop-ass and swears to avenge Goldie's death. The shit that follows is stuff you thought you'd never see on film. It's brutal, it's sexy, it's funny. Wow. Marv kills a lot of people and the hijinks include Goldie's twin (also played by King), Kevin (Elijah Wood), a cannibalistic killing machine, Lucille (Carla Gugino and her huge breasts), Marv's dike parole officer, Cardinal Rourke (Rutger Hauer) and a hungry German shepherd.
Onward to story three: "The Big Fat Kill." We've got uber hottie Brittany Murphy as Shellie. (I think I love Brittany Murphy so much because she always plays slutty characters. Hey, who doesn't like a good slut every now and then?) Her new boyfriend is Dwight (Clive Owen), her old boyfriend is Jackie Boy (an almost unrecognizable Benicio Del Toro). Dwight, meet Jackie Boy. Jackie Boy, say hello to Dwight. Jackie Boy's head, say hello to the toilet you just pissed in. What a crazy world of hijinks ensue here. This story revolves around the uneasy truce between the hookers of Sin City and the Police. The hookers control their part of town and the Police leave them alone. We meet sexy boss hooker Gail (Rosario Dawson), nervous sexy young hooker Becky (Alexis Bendel), sexy ninja hooker Miho (Devon Aoki), and Michael Clarke Duncan as kingpin-like crime boss Manute. Some crazy shit happens here. Also the funniest scene involving and arrow through a thug's chest. There's no other way to describe it then "crazy shit."
Back to story one! Hartigan's been in jail 8 years. The 11 year old he saved writes him letters every month. Then the letters stop. He make a deal with the DA and the crooked senator (Powers Boothe) who's been holding him in prison and he gets out to look for the girl, Nancy. Well, now she's 19 and a stripper played by omega hottie Jessica Alba. But Hartigan's been set up to lead the senator's son to his victim from 8 years earlier. And we meet the Yellow Bastard. No, seriously, he's a yellow bastard. More Hijinks! End Film (Whew, that was the SHORT version!?!?!?)

Sin City is so accurate to the comics because the Rodriguez and Miller realized that in the form of the comics, they already had the film story-boarded out. There's no credited screenwriter, just "stories from the works of Frank Miller, shot, directed and edited by Robert Rodriguez." This was such a risky project that didn't want to be touched by a boring non-risk taking Hollywood, and it pays off HUGE! I can't stop thinking about the film, the coolest film of the year. It's currently the only film from 2005 on the IMDB top 250 of all time, sitting at #126 (OF ALL TIME!) and sporting an 8.3 out of 10 imdb user rating. See this film in a theater, but don't bring your children or your mom!

The Sneaky Cheetah's Grade: A+