Sin CIty

Sin City

Starring:
Josh Hartnett
Bruce Willis
Michael Clark Duncan
Jessica Alba
Brittany Murphy
Rosario Dawson
Michael Madsen
Mickey Rourke
Elijah Wood
Rutger Hauer
Powers Boothe
Alexis Bledel
Clive Owen
Benicio del Toro
Nick Stahl
Jaime King
Carla Gugino
etc (I'm not making links for all those)

Special Features:
Movie with commentary from Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller
Movie with commentary from Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino
Movie with Austin, TX audience reaction

Sin City is basically awesome. The film focuses primarily on 3 of Frank Miller's Sin City sotrylines, The Big Fat Kill, The Hard Goodbye and That Yellow Bastard; but also uses the short story The Customer Is Always Right as way to introduce the viewer to Basin City. If you are a fan of comics you who Frank Miller is. (The dude made The Dark Knight Returns for god's sake.) And chances are, if you know who Frank Miller is you know about Sin City.

My opinion is that you either love Miller or you hate him, I've never heard anyone shout in the middle of a Frank Miller discussion that they had no strong feelings one way or the other. Personally I think he's a great writer and I'm fond of his art too. When it comes to comic book art I like anything that stands out from the pack. (Guys like John Romita Jr., Bill Sienkiewicz, Kelley Jones and Sam Keith come to mind.) And as much I want to go all comic book nerd at this point I'll move along. (Incidentally, I always considered my self pretty well versed when it comes to comics, but every time I talk to SYSM about them I feel like a kid playing ball with the pros. I'm way out of my league but it's a learning experience.)

The film does a good job of capturing Miller's noir-style art and it looks really tremendous on Blu-ray and a TV with a high contrast ratio. CG was pretty heavy but it was used in such a way that it enhanced the comic feel of the story. You are, after all, watching a comic book movie. But it wasn't all frames and weird transitions like Ang Lee's Hulk. (which I maintain is pretty awesome, but I digress) The point I'm trying to make is that if there was a better way to capture the look and feel of the Sin City comics in film, I don't know how they would have done it and kept it live-action. It's pretty amazing to look at and it doesn't hurt that they included a Frank Miller-level of T&A.

The movie has a great score and which adds a lot to the whole film-noir thing. Great sound effects and intense dialog are fully realized in 5.1. Good stuff all around.

This film would look and sound pretty good on DVD and a higher end TV, but it really comes to life in a comic book sort of way on a big screen in 1080p. If you have a Blu-ray player but have shied away because you're not really into comic book movies you should give this a shot. The story is compelling; this isn't cape and tights superhero stuff, this is a gritty crime drama brought to life. If you have shied away because of the huge amounts of gory violence or gratuitous T&A then... well, I have no counter argument. Because, damn, they be gruesome murders and hookers and titties and cannibalism all up ins. But I like that kind of thing in my movies.

Audio: 8
Video: 10
Story: 9

I will give it 4.5 headless prostitutes out of 5. One of the best comic-based movies out there.

Next up: The Fall