Considering how excited I was about Sin City it’s a little odd that I didn’t manage to see it at the cinema and only got around to it when it came out on DVD. I think I was a little concerned that it wouldn’t be all that it was supposed to be. Having seen it now I can say that while it’s an exciting and interesting film, with a new direction for filmmaking, it didn’t completely sell itself to me.
For those of you who don’t know what Sin City is, it’s a film based on a series of comic books by Frank Miller about the individuals who inhabit the dark and corrupt Basin City. The film is an adaptation (or, as co-director Robert Rodriguez calls it, a translation) of three of Miller’s graphic novels. To say that the books and, hence, the films, are dark, would be putting it mildy, they’re film noir that’s so dark you almost need night vision to watch it.
Apart from being arguably the most faithful translation of a graphic novel to the screen ever invented, it was also something of a shift in how it was made. Sin City was filmed on digital cameras rather than 35mm film. This isn’t new, Rodriguez himself is a big fan of the format. The difference with Sin City is that, while shot predominantly in black and white (with colour used for effect, e.g. blood), it was shot without any real sets. The only real things in most shots are the actors and any props they have to interact with (cars, guns, etc), everything else is digital. This isn’t the first time this has been done though, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow attempted something similar, but Sin City pulls it off. How and why I’m not sure, maybe because graphic novels tend to be a distorted reality anyway, perhaps the low light levels and black and white hide the imperfections, but what didn’t work for me in Sky Captain works fine here. One benefit of this technique is that it mimics the original form of the comic, with background rendered less important and pusing specific elements to the forefront of the frame, making them stand out, while the background drops away.
The film is loaded with some of Hollywood’s hottest stars, old and new, partly because of Rodriguez I suspect, though the chance to star in something of this sort, both from a technical and narrative standpoint, seems to have sold many of them.
As for the story, well, it’s typical comic book fare and, I’m guessing, fairly boys own (I haven’t asked any women if they have seen it or what they thought though). Filled with bloody, OTT violence, murders-a-plenty, pneumatic women and hard, tough, uncompromising men, it’s certainly a far cry from reality. The male characters seem to fall into two categories: evil, sadistic, women beaters who enjoy torture and killing, and flawed, hard, determined to do the right thing even if it means death, go to any length to see justice done types. The women, all impossibly beautiful, seem to be either the tough, street-hardened type (typically prostitutes) or the damsel-in-distress, I need saving type. Either way they worship their respective men and seem to be searching for a hard but fair, strong and silent type to fall at the feet of.
Arguably there’s something deeper, an investigation into the darkest recesses of the human (at least, male) psyche, a look back at the animal instincts that we fought so hard to conquer and keep in check. It also maybe shows that from our deepest darkness the most noble of heroes grow, capable of huge acts of kindness and sacrifice, and that, as a species, no matter how bad it gets, we always seem capable of producing heroes.
It’s based on three of Miller’s novels and this shows because the narrative is really three loosely-linked stories that follow one after the other but only really share the occasional character. Each of the stories is based around one of our flawed heroes, tough, hard, twisted men who, though using methods that are against the Geneva convention of human rights, shine as white knights in the crap of the Basin City. These men, who would normally be arrested for all the torture they inflict, go to any length to defend the ones they love from the corrupt people who inhabit and run the show. The man-mountain Marv, a street fighter, is hunting the person who killed his beautiful Goldie, his only true love, so he can get revenge. Dwight is trying to protect the prostitutes (which includes the woman he loves) who run Old Town from, first, a sadistic cop who likes violence, and then from the mob and the police by covering up the death of the cop he’s help kill. Hartigan saves an 11-year-old girl from the clutches of Roark Jr., the son of the guy who runs Sin City, who likes to rape and murder young girls. He saves the girl but ends up in prison for 8 years, when he’s out he realises that Roark Jr. hasn’t forgotten him, or the girl, and is using him to find, and then kill, her.
I enjoyed the film, and the stories, but then, while not a big fan of comics, I always was a sucker for the good guys overcoming the odds, fighting off the odds and, if necessary, making the ultimate sacrifice to save the beautiful girl (you notice how they’re all stunning, why does no one save the ugly ones?). If you don’t mind the sick (though cartoonised) level of violence, the cliches and the general feeling of rankness, it’s definitely worth a look.
Fans of DVD extras will be a little disappointed though as the only thing they’ve bothered to add is a quick behind-the-scenes video, which, for a movie shot on digital and from a movie lover like Rodriguez, seems a strange oversight. You can see the DVD website, with some downloadable extras and trailer here.
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