Frank Miller's Sin City

When Sin City came out I had wanted to see it. It look really interesting and had a great cast but I never got around to it. I had no background on the story. I don't read graphic novels, (I get sick if I do- too much going on) so I wasn't exactly prepared for the gruesomeness of the film. The way it was filmed meant the large amounts of blood weren't as disturbing as they could be but it was still shocking. I got a Tarantino feel from all the blood but also a Time Burton feel from the gothicisc environment of Basin city, the film noir style and being shot in black and white.

No one could deny the film noir factor but it was like bad film noir and I'm not sure if that was done on purpose or not. Some of the dialogue was ridiculous or maybe its just film noir is so dated that it sounds strange to try and have a film noir detective now. Going back to watch old film noirs you get the same feeling of this horrible. Film noir is more about lighting and the woman than the dialogue.

Weaving the three stories together was actually done really well. I wasn't sure how they were going to achieve that or even if they were connected to each other. Using Josh Hartnett as a bookend was nice. Not enough can be said about that opening scene when you realize some things will be in color.

Because everything is in black and white the color is so stark. And you never knew when it would pop up. Her eyes as her cigarette is lit, Clive Owen's red converse, Alexis Bledel's blue eyes. The highly stylized look of the film was amazing helped with the fact that it was all done with green screen. It did really look like a comic book that remained intact throughout the film. I feel a testament to what can be done with technology. With that being said I think it was too dark for me and the dialogue was just horrible. Robert Rodriguez is definitely not my favorite director.