Sin City (2005)

Directed by: Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller, Quentin Tarantino | 126 minutes | action, drama, thriller, crime | Actors: Bruce Willis, Josh Hartnett, Benicio del Toro, Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy, Rosario Dawson, Elijah Wood, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Devon Aoki, Alexis Bledel, Powers Boothe, Cara D. Briggs, Jude Ciccolella, Jeffrey J. Dashnaw, Jesse De Luna, Jason Douglas, Michael Clarke Duncan, Tommy Flanagan, Christina Frankenfield, Rick Gomez, Rutger Hauer, Nick Stahl, Michael Madsen

You can’t get much more postmodern than ‘Sin City’. It is a “noir”-esque film that is faithful to a “graphic novel” of the same title, which was again inspired by the film noir genre. A unique recycled work that meets the current need for “coolness” in the form of ‘Kill Bill’-esque ultra-violence, naked and (quasi-) witty dialogue in an ultimate way. No wonder hip director Robert Rodriguez has settled in the director’s chair for the film, flanked by the comic’s creator Frank Miller. Also colleague in “cool”, Quentin Tarantino (himself a regular reuser of old forms and genres), stopped by to direct a scene.

All these creative and like-minded minds together must almost guarantee an inventive and dazzling film. And that’s right. The messages are true: ‘Sin City’ is a visually breathtaking and groundbreaking film. The original graphic novel has not been “simply” adapted into a film, no, the comic has been transferred to film almost in its entirety. We see moving images instead of static images, but otherwise the design and style of the comic have remained intact. The original pictures have even been used directly as storyboards. The actors had to act in front of a so-called “green screen” for the entire film (shoot) (and were filmed with digital cameras), because the world of (Ba)sin City, based on the storyboards, appeared completely via computers. has been conjured up (this happened before in such advanced fashion in ‘Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow’).

The film opens on a balcony where two lovers approach each other. The man, played by Josh Hartnett, makes us witness his thoughts through a voice-over, as he approaches the red-dressed lady: “She shivers in the wind like a leaf on a dying tree.” Moments later, they hug each other closely, and… he shoots her dead. The camera zooms out, showing us an overview shot of Sin City. The title of the film appears on the screen, accompanied by a Peter Gunn/Blues Brothers-esque tune. The tone is set. “Ladies” (pronounced in English), pseudo-poetic dialogue, and ruthless killers. That’s what we can expect for the next two hours.

The presented world and its inhabitants are largely shown in black and white, but with sporadic color accents. Green glowing eyes, a red dress, (gold) blond hair, red blood spatter, blue light strips in a car: it creates attractive contrasts. This use of color is most interesting when it is used for narrative or accentuation, which is usually the case. The movie itself is an amazing spectacle. We see white silhouettes against black backgrounds; cars that “jump” at us over bumps; heroes and villains who jump through walls with the greatest of ease, are thrown from cars, and take out opponents in various, gruesome ways; extreme camera angles; and of course lots of rainy and dark film noir locations.

There are also all kinds of extravagant characters in ‘Sin City’. There is the “yellow bastard”, a violent pedophile with rubbery (yellow) skin and round, inhuman shapes. And Jackie Boy (Benicio del Toro), a dirty cop who has to walk around with a gun barrel in his head for a while. But the most memorable villain is probably Kevin, a bizarre, cannibalistic, cat-like figure with a sardonic grin and nerdy glasses, played by Elijah Wood. As an (anti-)hero, it is mainly Mickey Rourke who stands out as Marv, a kind of hulk with a square Frankenstein head, who rages through the city like a kind of devastating storm. The story in which he figures is (then) also by far the most amusing. Rourke steals the show with his toughness, resilience and funny comments. When he visits his lesbian, (half) naked probation officer (Carla Gugino) he talks about her girlfriend, who is a psychiatrist: “She tried to analyze me once, but got too scared.”

And then the ladies. These are very prominent in Sin City. The (visual) “use” of the women’s bodies in the film is somewhat ostentatious (not always “functional”), but it is not a symptom of a derogatory attitude towards women. Moreover, if the film is unfriendly to women, then it is also unfriendly to men (and therefore rather unfriendly to people), because (also) no constructive picture is painted of this gender. Although the women are usually eventually rescued by the men, and often parade around naked or scantily clad, they are (often) not really submissive. Especially the second story, in which it is about a bunch of organized whores, who call the shots in their area, shows a nice portion of “girl power”. Rosario Dawson in particular is very feisty as Gail, the leader of the group. But the non-speaking samurai chick Miho (Devon Aoki, from ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’) is also a (deadly) force to be reckoned with.

The biggest problem with the film is that there is often little effective driving force behind the motivations of the (very one-dimensional) characters. Combined with the very monotonous revenge stories, this creates a somewhat empty, distant feeling during (and after) watching the film. There is hardly a character, good or bad, that we as viewers get to know and invest in. The first story makes this somewhat less relevant due to its infectious exuberance and humor, although the lack of content is also a problem here. Only at the end of this segment do we really know (and feel) why the murdered hooker meant so much to Marv, and why he went on such a large-scale killing spree. This investment in the character would have been very welcome early in the story, and now it comes too late. The second story has the same problem of uninteresting characters or a disinterest in their central actions. It’s not until halfway through this story that some (dramatic) background starts to come in, which makes the story a lot more interesting (perhaps that these problems are less bad with a possible second viewing). It is also unfortunate in this story that the funny dialogues and situations are not always (or often not) as funny as they are intended. The humor is often just a bit too forced or artificial. This artificial aspect applies to the entire film, and partly has to do with the faithful transfer from comic to film. The same comments have been kept intact, and inserted in the form of voiceovers. The pseudo-reflective or melodramatic comments are all read in the same gray, dark voices, and the stylistic nature of these too often keeps the viewer at a distance, when just the opposite should be true. The dialogue is also a bit funny at times. And sometimes it just takes too long, or it is unnecessary telling (for example, when the story is shown at the same time [of kan worden]).

The final story, which centers on Hartigan and his “relationship” with the girl (Nancy) we saw him save early in the film (now grown up to be a sexy stripper (Jessica Alba), thankfully has some heart and drama, where we actually care about the characters and/or events. Only Hartigan as an (anti)hero here comes across a bit dull compared to the exuberant types we met before, and the story is a bit simple. (well performed by an unrecognizable Nick Stahl) a nice addition.

The film’s groundbreaking comic book design is truly fascinating. In addition, the large star cast does its job excellently, and really manages to disappear in the colorful collection of unique characters. It is therefore a shame that the film ‘Sin City’ has stuck so slavishly to the graphic novel and tries to be so obviously hip. If the film had tried a little better to make it an attractive whole from a cinematic and story-technical level, which knows how to involve the viewer (more) in the stories and characters, ‘Sin City’ could have become a (consistently) brilliant film. However, don’t let these caveats hold you back. The film is well worth the price of a movie ticket, assuming that the large dose of violence and the prominent “use” of the female body are not a problem.