Bryan Raiser
Special to The Chief
Sin City
Director: Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller
Cast: Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Rosario Dawson
I'm surprised that after Superman, it was almost 20 years before Hollywood truly began to exploit the formula of making movies out of comic books. It was only after the phenomenal success of X-Men that we began to really see the boom.
However, all we really saw was Hollywood taking much loved comic characters and putting them in movies. Recently The Hulk tried, unsuccessfully, to actually create the feeling of a comic book on the big screen.
Where all others have failed, Sin City has gloriously triumphed. Without a doubt it has achieved the very difficult task of creating the feel of a graphic novel in a movie. It helps when you have the brilliant direction of Rodriguez (El Mariachi, Desperado) working with the comic's creator, Frank Miller.
Staying true to its roots, the film is shot in black and white with limited creative use of colour. Funny enough, the effect this has on the violence is remarkable as the yellow and white blood almost makes it cartoony. The plot itself is divided into three stories loosely tied in but each holding their own with phenomenal performances. Most notable is Mickey Rourke taking the cake with a remarkable potrayal of a modern-day gladiator.
Bruce Willis is also consistent with his deadpan Pulp Fiction performance getting him through yet another film.
In conclusion, this film will go down in history as the first to successfully combine graphic novels and film. Even if you're not into the dark, 'bad vs. evil' plot lines, the film remains gorgeous to watch and although I've never seen better, in the end you know you've seen worse.
