By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.25
Director: Frank Miller | Quentin Tarantino | Robert Rodriguez
Starring: Benicio Del Toro | Bruce Willis | Elijah Wood | Jessica Alba | Mickey Rourke | Rosario Dawson
Country: united_states
Year: 2005
Running time: 124
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401792/combined
Hilary says: “If you’re looking for pure big-screen entertainment and don’t mind violence, however cartoonish and hyperbolic, check out SIN CITY.
“This flick appeals to both my inner film noir nerd and affection for comic book/graphic novel adaptations. I do not read comic books/graphic novels but enjoy seeing them on film. The translation of a two-dimensional medium into three appeals to my graphic sense. (I’ll go out on a limb and admit that I liked the first half of the disastrous HULK.)
“I’m terming SIN CITY neo-neo neo-noir.”
Howard says: “I absolutely loved SIN CITY as well. It is definitely a film to catch for its uber-geekedness. Beautifully shot and rendered. I say rendered because the entire film, while shot in Austin, looked nothing like the city I visited. And almost all the acting was spot on except for Michael Madsen who did not fit into this world in the least. Even Britney Murphy didn’t bug me as she usually does. Mickey Rourke and Bruce Willis were incredible (yes, I said Bruce Willis), but Elijah Wood completely nailed it for me without a single line of dialogue. He was perfectly cast and did an incredible job. Rutger Hauer and Rosario Dawson (who is this goddess?) really stood out as well.
“My biggest beef with Rodriguez’s films as been his scripts since he, as he claims, spends all of 3 days on them. They’ve never felt fleshed out. Here Frank Miller has supplied plot and dialogue for him and it’s a teaming that really works for this film. I haven’t read the graphic novels either, but a good friend who has said they literally splashed the panels up on the big screen. I’m looking forward to reading them now. 4 cats”
Thom says: “I swear to God, I had no idea that Quentin Tarentino had a director’s credit on this film or I never would have gone to see it. Coincidentally, I was recently asked for a Chlotrudis Profile and one of the questions asked was if I had ever walked out of a film. This one came this close to an early exit at least 8 times. A more disgusting, sleazy, unrewarding, loathsome, hateful, wrong-headed, revolting piece of trash you are unlikely to see in the next decade. This beautifully stylized adaptation of Miller’s comics has characters with no redeeming qualities at all. For example, the character played by Mickey Rourke is a hot-headed violent type who wants to revenge his girlfriend’s death at the hands of a cannibal who eats the entire body except the head which he keeps as a trophy. At one point in the film Rourke has been captured by the girl’s twin and is tied up and questioned by a gang of ruthless prostitutes, who think he is the killer. He is pistol-whipped horribly, and later we find out that he actually had already broken his bonds but didn’t retaliate because one of his credos is to never hit a woman. Later, after catching the cannibal, the twin wants to shoot the flesh-eater dead, but our ‘hero’ pummels her unconscious because he wants to torture the cannibal by ripping off his arms and legs and having a rabid dog eat the rest of him while he is still alive. I kid you not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is entertainment? For shame on these men for such despicable work. Tarentino needs to be dragged to every city center in the country and horsewhipped until he bleeds. Young Elijah Wood & Nick Stahl have fun with their hideously gruesome roles. When good is as bad as evil what point is there to go on living? These men have absolutely no sense of decency whatsoever. Makes OLDBOY look like a picnic. ½ CAT”