Directors: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino

Cast: Jessica Alba (Nancy Callahan), Benicio Del Toro (Jackie Boy), Brittany Murphy (Shellie), Clive Owen (Dwight), Mickey Rourke (Marv), Bruce Willis (Hartigan), Elijah Wood (Kevin), Rosario Dawson (Gail), Michael Madsen (Bob), Nick Stahl (Yellow Bastard), Jaime King (Goldie), Devon Aoki (Miho), Michael Clarke Duncan (Manute), Carla Gugino (Lucille), Alexis Bledel (Becky), Josh Hartnett (The Man), Marley Shelton (The Customer), Powers Boothe (Senator Roark), Rutger Hauer (Cardinal Roark)

Review by Lindsay Mayer

“Walk down the right back alley in Sin City, and you can find anything...” So narrates Marv, one of the principal characters in this stunning live-action adaptation of Frank Miller’s original graphic novels. Truly a unique film amongst those of its ilk, Sin City was not a popular, name-brand franchise of a comic, nor was its subject matter as universally appealing as something like Superman. Gritty, harsh, and incredibly dark, the Sin City series of 7 graphic novels nevertheless found a comfortable niche in the comic world. The novels’ engrossing stories were written and drawn by Frank Miller, who is renown for The Dark Knight Returns, a Batman series he wrote in 1982 that is widely credited for resurrecting the character from a fading and campy fate; it’s said that Miller’s new take on the tortured hero even influenced Tim Burton’s vision for the 1989 film.

Sin City is co-directed by Miller and Robert Rodriguez, known for far-ranging flicks such as Desperado and the Spy Kids films. This probably represents his darkest film to date, yet no less excellent. With a fast shooting schedule and a fairly moderate budget, Rodriguez has succeeded in creating what is arguably the most faithful comic book film adaptation to date. The co-director was so dedicated to bringing the books to literal life that he chased down Miller to help him direct it. Rodriguez even resigned from his membership in the Directors’ Guild so he could properly credit Miller as a co-director.

The action was very much worth it, in my opinion. Though I am far from a comic book expert, and greeted the film’s trailer skeptically upon first viewing it many months ago, I can now confidently say that this is an excellent film - if for entertainment purposes only! Real comic nuts probably appreciate the faithful adaptation more than I do, but I truly value when filmmakers go the extra mile for their work - and that effort is evident in spades here. Unflinchingly dark, twisted, and violent, the subject matter certainly isn’t for everyone, but even for relative wimps like me, the content only becomes oddly compelling; the film exudes a mood and a morbid fascination that sucks you in as it progresses further into the dark underbelly of Basin City - usually referred to without the first two letters for good reason.

In the graphic novels, Sin City is composed of 7 novels. This first film adapts book number 1, 3, and 4 - which are intercut with one another, and bookended by a short story called The Customer Is Always Right. The fourth novel opens and closes the film’s main subplots; titled That Yellow Bastard, stars Bruce Willis (Die Hard, The Sixth Sense) as Hartigan, a grizzled old “good cop” that saves Nancy, a young girl, from a pedophile with friends in high places. Though he severely wounds the suspect and endears the girl to him, the corrupt judicial system (and aforementioned friends) land Hartigan in jail as the accused. He spends eight long hopeless years locked away - his only glimmer of happiness coming from the weekly letters that Nancy sends him with the alias of Cordelia. But when the letters suddenly stop, Hartigan first puts it off as the 19-year-old forgetting about him. But soon it becomes apparent that something much more sinister is going on - especially when an oddly familiar, stinking mutant stranger starts “coming by” his cell. Eventually Hartigan bends to the will of the system and confesses to framed crimes in order to get out of jail on parole. He discovers that Nancy Callahan (Jessica Alba), formerly a soft-spoken little girl, has become the star stripper at Kadie’s, a seedy bar in downtown Sin City. But to his horror, he finds that the begrudged mutant stranger has followed him, and Hartigan has to act fast to pull Nancy out of danger once and for all…

The film’s second main story comes from the first novel, The Hard Goodbye (formerly entitled simply Sin City, but later re-titled to avoid confusion). The battle-scarred and streetsmart Marv (Mickey Rourke) spends a heavenly night with a beautiful blonde stranger named Goldie (Jaime King), only to find her quietly murdered the next morning. Filled with an overwhelming sense of injustice and outrage, Marv goes on a brutal hunt to find and kill Goldie’s murderer. He works his way up the line of powerful people in Sin City, until he’s led to a remote farm occupied by Kevin (Elijah Wood) - a stealthy, cannibalistic killer that even proves a match for Marv. Though eventually subduing Kevin, and horrifically torturing him to death, Marv doesn’t get any closer to Goldie’s real killer. Instead, when he finally finds those responsible and gives them their comeuppance, he suffers a similar fate as Hartigan - wrongfully accused and, unlike Hartigan, suffering very final consequences for it. The pinnacle of an anti-hero, Marv is nevertheless a fascinating character in a grisly version of a murder mystery, and his fate is no less tragic.

The last of the three main stories is titled The Big Fat Kill, and is based on the third novel. Dwight (Clive Owen) is a cop with feet planted on both sides of the force - walking the fine line between honor and corruption. He finds himself following a gang of troublemakers out on the prowl after they rough up Shellie (Brittany Murphy), a girlfriend of his. Though she tries to yell some warning at him before he goes after them, he doesn’t hear her. When the gang reach an area of Sin City called Old Town, they go looking for some fun. Old Town has its own gang of beautiful, yet deadly prostitutes. Led by Gail (Rosario Dawson), these are ladies trained in deadly combat - as tough as any other guy. So tough, in fact, that they have an uneasy truce with the city’s police - as in ‘you don’t bother us, we won’t bother you.’ The cops get a cut of the profits and free entertainment, and the girls defend their own turf. If cops blunder into the neighborhood accidentally, the girls kick them out, but always alive. That truce just about ends when the man Dwight follows, Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro), crosses the girls and finds himself, and his whole gang, dead within minutes. But going through Jackie’s pockets, Dwight discovers “an atom bomb” - a police badge. Shellie had tried to warn him, but that was the critical bit he did NOT hear. When Becky (Alexis Bledel), a newbie Old Town girl, betrays them to the cops, Dwight and the girls must scramble to find a way to keep the truce intact.

For all of its gray morals and blatant corruption, the film is a fascinating study in human nature - what rules are laid down, what it takes to survive in a rotten system, and how to lay down a different brand of justice that is no less effective. Though Sin City may not be to the taste of several, it certainly warrants some real acclaim and merit for its unique, unusual, and stellar methods of storytelling - in a technical sense, the film certainly is put together well! If one is not that averse to a sprinkling of stylized violence, this film is highly recommended for a rental, at the very least!
 

VIDEO and AUDIO

Ever the progressive thinker, Rodriguez filmed the entire movie using the best available high definition equipment. Employing such top-notch hardware as Sony HDC-950 cameras, Sony HDCAM-SR video tape, Sony SRW-5000 HD digital recorders, Fujinon E Series zoom lenses, and LCD HD monitors, Rodriguez was able to capture minute detail and sharp composition in the course of his faithful adaptation. Best of all, Sin City is virtually predetermined for the upcoming Blu-ray high definition disc format, since the film was captured at a 1920x1080 pixel size - the optimum capacity for Blu-ray presentation. So Sin City is already filmed, cut, and waiting at 1920x1080 - no additional tinkering needed. This means that, though the film looks spectacular now, it will look positively luscious in a high definition format!

Speaking of the film’s appearance on DVD, it is exactly as I just said… spectacular! With Miller’s original novels having an “inverted” appearance - characters outlined in white on a solid black background - a faithful film adaptation would prove a challenge. As a result, much of the film is very dark - not only in subject matter, but in appearance! So, of course, a lot could go wrong in the film’s home video release - but this DVD looks as good as one could hope for. Despite the heavy shadows, all the detail is preserved and shows up very nicely, and there’s little fading or bleeding of the blacks. To use technical terms, the average bitrate was 7 to 8 mbps. Overall, this disc boasts a very clean and crisp picture, which makes one all the more eager to see this City in high definition…

Though the video is hard to top, the audio keeps pace very nicely. Armed with both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks, this fast-paced action film (yes, it is that, too!) is sure to give your home theatre system a workout. The high amount of narration and voice-over doesn’t suffer in the least - every gritty reflection is heard is clearly as any explosion, gunshot, or blow to the face. The music blends in perfectly with the sound and dialogue - overall, an excellent balance, and a selection of audio tracks worthy of the visuals!

BONUS FEATURES

If there was a clearer indication of an upcoming Special Edition of Sin City, it would certainly be apparent in the selection of bonus features presented on the disc. Or lack thereof, I really should say. The only thing that keeps this single-disc edition from being completely barebones is an 8½ minute “Behind the Scenes” featurette. Consisting of interviews with the directors and primary cast members, the segment, with its glossy reflections on the film, really amounts to little more than a promo piece. Interesting, but not exactly in-depth, nor too engrossing.

Rodriguez’ mentality towards DVDs is similar to that of Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings); he enjoys using the format to its fullest capacity, which includes hours of extra features and production featurettes (of course!) as well as alternate or extended cuts of the film itself. Which is exactly what the co-director has in mind. Rodriguez and Miller decided to shoot the three stories in their entirety, then intercut them in editing. But come the imminent time that Sin City‘s Special Edition is released, Rodriguez plans on offering the three main subplots of the film in extended, separate stories; playing out as if you were reading the original graphic novel. In another parallel to Jackson’s extended Rings trilogy, the special edition DVD of Sin City will most likely not have the shorter theatrical cut of the film, so real completists will, simply enough, have to buy both editions.

If that weren’t enough, some of the known extras on the upcoming edition include a 20-minute Film School, director commentaries (apparently Tarantino is going to make a track strictly for his section of the film), and an interesting “theatrical experience” track recorded in 5.1 from an Austin, Texas theatre on premiere night - complete with ambient noises and audience reactions! Rodriguez is also known for a quirky segment on his films’ DVDs - a “Cooking School,” wherein he offers film-related recipes for home viewers to make themselves. For Sin City, the co-director will make something titled “Sin City Breakfast Tacos” - cuisine which most likely is reflective of his Méxican background. In my humble opinion, both the tacos and the new DVD sound wonderful!

MENUS and PACKAGING

For all of the DVD’s minimalism, it surely deserves some credit for creativity in design. There’s a great prevalence of comic art used throughout the menus - including the oft-seen Comic Sans dialogue font for the menu listings. In only the more obscure screens - the setup and sneak peek menus, for example - do you see any of the characters in their live-action counterparts. Even the selection highlights, as you scroll around the menus, have a darkly amusing touch of looking like various patterns of spilled and spattered blood. The main menu greets you with an excellent cycling sequence of several animated comic scenes, which are seamlessly cut with film sequences in an alternate fashion. The menu is accompanied by an energetic and catchy instrumental of “Cells” by The Servant - the music used in the film’s trailers. Ironically, as an aside, the trailers are not available on this DVD, nor is “Cells” available on the film’s soundtrack! Besides the animated main menu, alternating comic art is used for every scene selection screen - but all other menus are still and silent. The setup, of course, features selections for English DTS, English 5.1, or French 5.1, while English and Spanish subtitles are available, as well. The previews offered from the sneak peeks menu are DVD trailers for the action thriller Mind Hunters, as well as the TV box sets of "Lost", "Desperate Housewives", and "Spider-Man": The ‘67 Collection.

The DVD, contained in a standard black Amaray keepcase, comes with that most important of all DVD features - a cardboard slipcover. Though I’m not usually a fan, one of the typical gripes I have about slipcovers is happily alleviated here. Instead of a pointless repeat of the case’s cover - a group shot of Hartigan, Nancy Dwight, Gail, and Jackie Boy centered around a small and melancholy image of Marv - the slipcover instead focuses on two main characters; more or less to reflect the individual stories. In addition, the DVD comes with not one, not two, not three, but four different slipcovers - making an even greater challenge for completists! Each random slipcover features either Marv and Goldie, Hartigan and Nancy, Dwight and Gail, or Jackie Boy and Shellie. A simple folded insert inside depicts a repeat of the keep case cover on the front, a chapter selection on the back, and ads for Mind Hunter and various titles from Sin City directors on the two inner pages. So… if the packaging for the standard one-disc edition is this fancy, who knows what bells and whistles the super-duper Special Edition will bring? I, for one, can’t wait to see!

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Whether it suits your tastes or not, Sin City deserves any attention it can get for its unorthodox film presentation and risky investments - an obscure comic book film with an R rating? Oh, my word! Something like that is rarely seen in U.S. cinema, but those who chance a look are, in my opinion, quite richly rewarded. Rodriguez has announced a sequel to be released in 2006, and hopes to eventually make all 7 novels into film adaptations - with Miller right at his side. One hopes that studios may adopt Rodriguez’ zest and daring for filmmaking - because this film shows just how well it can be done, with a bit of gall! As it stands, Sin City certainly was an unexpected surprise in contemporary film, and for that alone, I enthusiastically recommend it!

More on the DVD / Buy from Amazon.com

As expected, Sin City will be re-released to DVD on December 13th as a 2-disc set. Sin City: Recut & Expanded will contain both the original 124-minute theatrical cut and a 147-minute extended version separated into four stories. The many bonus features will include two filmmaker audio commentaries and a track of audience reaction from the Austin premiere, 15-minute film school with Robert Rodriguez, 17 uninterrupted minutes of Tarantino's segment, trailers and teasers, bloopers, "Sin City Night at Antones" with cast and crew party, a "Sin-Chroni-City" interactive game, "the movie in high-speed green screen", featurettes on costumes, props, cars, and special effects, 10-minute cooking school with Robert Rodriguez, and the complete Sin City graphic novel The Hard Goodbye. You can now preorder Sin City: Recut & Expanded from Amazon.com.