Directed by: Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller (Guest director by Quentin Tarantino)
Written by: Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez
(Adapted from the Sin City graphic novels by Frank Miller.)
Starring: Bruce Willis (Hartigan), Mickey Rourke (Marv), Jessica Alba (Nancy Callahan), Clive Owen (Dwight), Nick Stahl (Rourk Jr./Yellow Bastard), Powers Boothe (Senator Rourk), Rutger Hauer (Cardinal Roark), Elijah Wood (Kevin), Rosario Dawson (Gail), Benicio Del Toro (Jackie Boy), Jaime King (Goldie/Wendy), Devon Aoki (Miho), Brittany Murphy (Shellie), Michael Clarke Duncan (Manute), Carla Gugino (Lucille), Alexis Bledel (Becky), Josh Hartnett (The Man), Michael Madsen (Bob), Makenzie Vega (Nancy, Age 11)
(Rated R for graphic violence, nudity, and sexual situations. Distributed by Dimension Films.)
Hartigan (Bruce Willis) was on his way out one way or another. It was his last day on the force. And he had a bad heart – a ticker, he called it. And it was winding down.
All good heroes have a flaw, an ailment, and Hartigan’s might as well have been his heart. Being on the force for so many years in Sin City, caring for folks the way he did, knowing the things he knew and not being able to do anything about it, you can understand that his heart would ache to the point of breaking, failing.
But when we first see him, driving home in the dark, pelting rain, with that scar on his head (the one that looks like Christ’s cross fallen down) shining as if it had been touched by angels, Hartigan decided that he’s not going home. Instead, he was going to go against the instructions of his own department and go out and rescue little Nancy Callahan, the 11-year old girl who had been kidnapped by a pedophile who was being protected by the police because his dad was the Senator. If there were any loose ends he needed clearing up before he retired, this was that end. He’d die trying to save this girl.
Robert Rodriguez’ incredible film Sin City has many more anti-heros and heroines just like Hartigan, good-hearted folk who get thrown into situations they have to clear up before they get framed for it or end up dying for. After all, simply knowing about someone you should not know about was just as good as a ticket to the morgue in this town.
The gladiator-sized Marv (Mickey Rourke) is another such anti-hero. His story is the second in a series of three. When we first meet him, he’s just had the time of his life (literally) with Goldie, his goddess. You see, he’s such a big, ugly man that no woman had ever paid him even a glance. That is until Goldie saw him that night in the bar. She seemed to need protection and he was willing to be that man for her.
But when Marv awoke the next morning, Goldie was dead. And as if on que, at the break of dawn, the police began breaking down the door to his apartment. He was being framed. But he vowed to Goldie that he would find the murderer and avenge her death. On his journey, Marv finds a serial killer and uncovers the gravest of secrets that goes all the way to the high priest of the Catholic church in town.
The third story of Sin City is a two-edged tale about strong-willed women, hookers who have learned to fend for themselves, govern their side of town. It is also a story about Dwight (Clive Owen). His new love, Shellie (Brittney Murphy) was threatened by her ex-boyfriend Jackie Boy (Benicio del Toro). Dwight overheard his threats from the bathroom.
When Jackie Boy excuses himself to use the toilet, Dwight meets him there and nearly drowns him in the toilet. Dwight threatens Jackie and Jackie leaves with blood on his mind. Realizing the monster he had created, Dwight decides to go out and stop Jackie Boy before he kills anyone who crosses his path. What transpires is a battle for Old Town between the hookers who rule it, the mob who would love to govern it, and the police. And believe me, this portion of the film is Kill Bill meets Pulp Fiction. (Oh, and Quentin Tarantino directs a scene in this story.)
Yes, Sin City (adapted from Miller’s graphic novels Sin City, The Yellow Bastard, and The Big Fat Kill), is about good cops, very bad cops, a serial killer, a pedophile, a crooked Catholic priest, a crooked senator, hookers that control their side of town, and vigilante-ism that on one hand deals justice to those who truly deserve it and on another becomes the creed for a self-righteous psycho to rid the world of hookers.
Sin City is an amazing feat of filmmaking. Period. One critic called it visionary. They're absolutely right.
Sin City is a black and white graphic novel come to life. It has the look-and-feel and script of an old Spencer Tracy crime show or the Dick Tracy movie. The script was many things at different times: light, corny, comic book-like, and yes, even poetic. I loved the cyclical nature of the story and even of the script. For example, when Marv begins his narration, he opens describing his love for Goldie. At the end of his tale, he ends with the same lines.
The violence is toned down to a degree, employing the use of the color of white to display blood. The film isn’t devoid of color, however. People’s eyes are blue or green. A beautiful lady in the opening scene wears a brilliant red sequined evening gown. And the most ruthless of villians, Yellow Bastard, is yellow, of course. But don’t get me wrong, just because they tone down the blood, Sin City is an unabashedly violent film at heart. It's full of characters as sick as those in Silence of the Lambs, The Cell, and Memento. But I have to admit, it was hard for me to refrain from cheering every time one of these crooks met their violent end.
In closing, I couldn’t help but feel that Rodriguez created an allegory of and for our times with corrupt establishments and maniacal zealots at its heart.
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