Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Sin City

I've had the privilege of watching Sin City way before it opened local cinemas because I got hold a DVD of it,but I held off talking about it until it hit our shores.I seriously did not expect this movie to be shown in Singapore because of its violent content.This is a movie when you see Bruce Willis rip out someone's testicles (it's actually not as bad as it sounds...somehow when you see it,it just a little surreal),a dog chow a living person's severed limb (again,strangely,it's not as gross as it sounds) and erm,Benicio Del Toro almost have his head cut off...

Now,the movie itself.Anyone who has read the review will know that the movie is based on Frank Miller's much celebrated comics series of the same name and the three segments are based on three of the stories in the series,namely "The Hard Goodbye","The Big Fat Kill" and "That Yellow Bastard".Characters in these three segments actually weave in and out of each other's stories.They essentially exist in the same universe and at some point,occupied the same space and interact...but their stories are separate.

The movie starts with a sequence that,I thought,was a little irrelevant.Based on the story,The Customer Is Always Right,Josh Hartnett and Marley Shelton acted a nice little scene that is a slight foretaste of what is to come...because immediately after that,Robert Rodriguez went on to set the stage for his last tale "That Yellow Bastard",starring Bruce Willis,Michael Madsen and Nick Stahl.And the violence...oooh...Willis essentially blows away Stahl's right hand and blasts his testicles into pieces and then gets himself pumped full of holes by Madsen...and as a little taster of what is to come,despite getting tens of dozens of bullets pumped,Willis actually doesn't die!Wow...hard man eh!

Anyway,on to the first tale,"The Hard Goodbye".This is also my favourite story of the three.Mickey Rourke stars as Marv,a super tough (and believe me,this guy is so tough,Batman and Superman can't touch him) street-fighter who spends a night with a prostitute,Goldie (Jaime King) and then wakes up to her dead by his side.Having never experienced such kindness before,he then sets about finding the killer of his "one,true love".

The way he went about doing this is extremely violent,of course but it's actually also kind of funny and cartoonish.The way that Rodriguez goes about shooting the whole,it actually looks kinda fun.Anyway,so on and so forth,Marv's trail leads all the way to a cannibalistic killer by the name of Kevin (Elijah Wood).I leave the rest for you to find out.

Mickey Rourke arguably gave the best performance in the entire film.Sure,he was covered under layers of grotesque latex but Rourke's mannerisms and demeanour is spot on.Elijah Wood is really creepy here.Throughout his screentime,he never utters a word.He just puts on this strange,creepy and serene smile like nothing in the world could hurt or bother him...even when he is being eaten alive by a dog...Jesus.Oh well,I just got to mention this,Miss Carla Gugino illuminates the screen with her beauty (and erm,ahem,her body...unlike Jessica Alba...the only stripper in the world who doesn't strip) in this segment.Pity we don't see more (am I being literal here?) of her before she gets killed off.The sequence where Marv breaks into her house and looks intently at her butt (she's a lesbian) while telling her "She's the best" is one of the funniest lines in the movie.

Next up is "The Big Fat Kill".I liked this tale alot less than either "The Hard Goodbye" or "That Yellow Bastard"...maybe it's the actors,I don't know.But for the first time,after viewing this movie,I could see what the fuss about Clive Owen is all about.This man is very masculine and very ruggedly handsome.He actually reminds me of a young Sean Connery.Is that why he was mooted for the James Bond role?I think he'd make a good Bond.Benicio Del Toro is as usual,excellent as Jackie Boy.I liked his villain role a lot better than Owen's Dwight,especially the part where he tries to retrieve a psitol from his severed hand.The things that follow are equally funny,including him blowing the pistol in his own face.It may sound violent here but on screen,it's really funny...maybe because things are filmed in black and white and the action is SO over-the-top.I don't really have an impression of the other characters,not Rosario Dawson,Brittany Murphy nor Michael Clarke Duncan although I must say Devon Aoki's Mihi is one of the coolest characters I have seen in the movies.She just slices and dices everyone to pieces without saying a word.What a cool chick...I don't mind a girlfriend like that!

The final tale,well...is a continuation of the Bruce Willis story.The movie starts with Hartigan (Willis) rescuing a twelve-year-old girl,Nancy Callahan,from paedophile killer,Roark Jnr (Stahl) but was betrayed by his cop partner Bob (Madsen).Hartigan gets arrested,healed and beaten up pretty bad in prison because Roark Snr (Powers Boothe) is a Senator,one of the most powerful men in Basin City.Hartigan then goes to prison to prevent Roark froming harming Nancy...fast forward,seven to eight years and the young girl named Nancy blossoms into Jessica Alba,the stripper who doesn't strip.Anyway,Roark Jnr morphs into Yellow Bastard and seeks some kind of revenge on Hartigan for turning him into a freak...and the rest is bam,whack,smash,pound and grab yours balls and tear them off...literally.

With a galaxy of stars servicing the stories,Sin City is certainly fun to watch,as is it's cartoony violence.Is there a sub-text to all these crazy actions?Nope,I don't think so.It's just a series of stories about very hard men and very beautiful women living their lives and surviving on the very mean streets of Basin City,full of violence,love and sex.And it's a blast.

8/10