Sin City Review

        With Robert Rodriguez finishing out his Spy Kids and his Mexico trilogy, it only made sense for him to do something different. And to put it into perspective, comic book films were coming back to popularity. With the success of Spider-Man and the X-Men films, it only made sense for Rodriguez to find a unique series to adapt, and boy did he find one. This is those rare instances where the creator also has the co-director title. This was Frank Miller’s first directorial work, albeit with some help. 

1. Sin City

        Before we talk about this film, it’s important to establish who Frank Miller is. Among comic book circles, he’s the writer and artist who’s responsible for reinventing Marvel’s Daredevil and DC Comics’ Batman. His influence is still felt with the character’s stories and in their various media adaptations. 

        This is also during the time where he started to experiment more on moviemaking, albeit in the screenwriting phase. His first rodeo was in the Robocop sequels, until having a hand with co-directing his creation. So, with all that out of the way, one would think that the film would be about following one protagonist in the city that is appropriately enough full of crime. 

        Well, it’s not quite like that, what we got is an anthology film. Now anthology films have been a thing. Specifically, they’re mostly used in horror movies such as in Creepshow and in thrillers like Pulp Fiction. Sometimes this type of film gets easily confused with hyperlink cinema. Or multiple stories that are told from a different angle of a central story such as in the Mexican film Midaq Alley.

        With everything cleared up, we have about four stories that takes place in Basin City. If you take away the two first letters, it’s very apropos. It’s kind of hard to talk about these small stories since I don’t want to give anything away as far as plot details. So, what I’ll try to do is condense it within the confines of characters and the way the film looks. 

        To begin with, the first story we kick off with a hitman killing a woman in a penthouse. We can assume that the woman was wanted and the hitman flirts with her. Right at the start that section has a very distinct look to it. The overall movie is imbued with it, but I’ll get into it a little later. 

        The following stories focus on three people who get involved or dealing with corruption that is plaguing the city. One, the only good cop called Hartigan, who’s assigned to rescue a young girl from a rapist. The second is about a former convict looking for revenge after being framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Lastly, a gang member’s boyfriend tries to settle a turf war between gangsters and mercenaries. 

        The key thing that the film has going for itself is its distinct look. I hate to tease but the visual effects of the movie look so good. Especially when it’s in higher quality when you can really appreciate the detail that went into it. Impressive even was that the whole film was shot with green screen. Now, I can tell from the start that there’s a great way to use it and the worse way to use it. Just look at the Star Wars prequel trilogy, it’s a prime example of using green screen at its worst. 

        With Sin City, the entire effect is used to its absolute fullest. Right down to simulating a car chase and have the violence be completely creative in terms of showing off the fights and gunfights. Having it be adapted in another way without its distinct style would be a massive disservice. Since it pays tribute to a pastiche of the classic film noir movies. 

        The dialogue as well feels like a product of that bygone era. To me, it has that distinct use of prose where most of the dialogue is spoken and whenever a character is in some sort of danger, has the thoughts be heard. Like it works for this movie since we’re following the main characters, since everything is exaggerated in the right degree where it doesn’t sound ridiculous. Now I can talk about it’s look. 

2. Black and White

        Watching it is like watching a comic book come to life. Well, the film manages to copy that style, but not include any sort of comic book panel. Instead, Rodriguez’s own filmmaking style helps with delivering the anthology feel to it. The use of black and white is creative enough, there are moments where the two colors are used in very contrasting ways. 

        I think the best moments of using the monochromatic look is whenever it’s raining. Just seeing the rain in one section looks like paint splatter. Even in the moment when one character is falling through a lake of tar. It looks great for a background cover on a computer. So when it comes to the fights, the color red is used sparingly. Refreshing is one way to describe it, whenever a character is shot or has something ripped off, the use of white shows that it looks like the part is erased. 

        Despite the film being black and white, there are moments when actual color is being used. Sometimes the use of color is used whenever we see a woman’s clothing or in their eyes. There were moments when the women’s eyes would transition from gray to either green or blue. I think that when it does that something would happen to them. Another one is when the characters arrive at a saloon where the whole place has a light brown to it. To me, I can interpret it as being clean, since I think the use of black and white can be that the whole town is dirty. 

3. Legacy: Style over Substance

        The film was a success and I believe that it’s one of Rodriguez’s best adapted works. Only someone as talented as him can take a very niche graphic novel and faithfully adapt it as only he could. Well, that is until he made a prequel that got absolutely destroyed by critics and audiences. I think his style brought upon what I call the stylized comic book film. The only comparison I can think of is when Zack Snyder adapted Frank Miller’s other work 300 and the other comic book series Watchmen. 

        For Frank Miller, he went on to direct and write his adaptation of the golden-age hero The Spirit. He mostly implemented the style that worked with Sin City to his next film. It, was a complete piece of crap. Talk about taking one style and applying it to a hero where it’s a complete butchering. Right down to the dialogue being equally awful and just not interesting to look at. It’s the only complaint I can think of when discussing the stylized comic book films where you can’t have the style take center stage when it’s a mostly character film. 

4. Overall

        Sin City is an underrated comic book film that pays tribute to a bygone era of films. It’s a great adaptation and an enjoyable one.