K-SCORE: 79
Directors: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino
Based on: Sin City by Frank Miller
Starring: Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Benicio Del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett
Spoiler Level: Minor
“a piece of split-narrative brilliance”
Sin City is crack for the noir lover. The hyper-stylized shots are absolutely beautiful and mesh flawlessly with the bloody, gritty, sexy stories. With three short tales and a piece of split-narrative brilliance featuring Josh Hartnett in his second-best role ever (Lucky Number Slevin for those who are curious), Sin City accomplishes what it sets out to accomplish, which is paint a spectacular picture of the ever-moving, never-changing dark urban hive of crime and corruption. The three stories come together just enough so that you know they coexist one on top of the other, but not so much that they get in each other’s way. Any of them feature a half dozen clever lines and ancillary characters that will make you grit your teeth. Miho, especially, is gruesomely awesome. Of course, it should be noted that these are three stories that are all about middle-aged men defending/saving/avenging beautiful young women in the face of an institutional authority. Some might complain that it’s borderline sexist. For me, it’s more just a failure in creativity. Switch it up a little, huh? Maybe independently Miller, Rodriguez, and Tarantino all decided they wanted to direct the same kind of thing. Sin City is consistent, but not innovative, at least not in its plots. Though it’s great entertainment, about the only thing it convinced me of is that if Mickey Rourke says that you’re wearing a “mighty fine coat” then your life is about to get a whole lot worse.