Movie Issues: Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is the sequel to the 2005 film Sin City. Co-directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller. The script is written by Miller and primarily based on the second book in the Sin City series created by Miller. Staring Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rosario Dawson, Eva Green, Powers Boothe and Bruce Willis. New and returning cast members come together for one more hard time in roughest city around.

After the successes of the first film a sequel was sure to be on its way. But years of being stuck in development hell and waiting for “the right time” it was starting to look like the sequel wasn’t going to happen. But with enough perseverance Miller and Rodriguez’s vision was soon realized. This new film would be a prequel and a sequel with interlinking stories both before and after the first film. Bringing back old cheaters and new characters to mingle together for new stories being told from the world of Sin City.

What is noticeable is how in the last ten years since the first film is how far the green screen technology has come. This new movie looks great. The striking monotones to color splashes we’ve now seen in other movies have come a long way. Looking better than it has ever looked before. The digital medium really lends in usefulness in adding color or decreasing color depending on what mood or effect the filmmakers need. Sin City still manages to be one of the few comic book inspired movies that actually looks like the comic it’s taking queues from.

The movie works like a sequel/prequel moving along with three new stories that mix in old and new characters, each crossing paths at least once. The problem with using old characters from the first film is if you haven’t watched the first film in awhile it takes an awhile to remember who’s who and what’s they did, especially with Josh Brolin’s character of Dwight who was played by Clive Owen in the original movie. Never try to figure out the Sin City time line, it just makes things more confusing. Just sit back and take the stories, as is, your mind will thank you later.

The main story and the most interesting of the three is where we follow Josh Brolin’s character, Dwight. He’s being unknowingly used by his ex-girlfriend, Ava Lord, played amazingly by Ave Green, to kill her husband. This story mixes in characters Marv (Mickey Rourke), Manute (Dennis Haybert reprising the character Micheal Clark Duncan originally had played), Gail (Rosario Dawson) and little Miho (Jamie Chung). As Dwight gets pulled in deeper into Ava’s web of pain and sex he kills her husband then learns just how deep he’s fallen as she turns the whole world on him. Thus leading him back to his roots with Gail and her prostitute army they take the fight to Ava’s doorstep.

The second story we follow takes Johnny (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to Sin City to play a high stakes poker game against the evil Senator Roark (Powers Boothe). After Johnny wins and embarrasses Roark, the senator decides to make Johnny’s life hell. Johnny is broken, poor and without hope. After getting a little help, which never happens in Sin City, he’s back on top and once again take the fight back to Roark for one final poker game.

The final and least interesting to the movie would be the story, which brings back Nancy (Jessica Alba). She is having trouble making sense of her life after the events from the first movie. She keeps seeing the ghost of John Hartigan (Bruce Willis) reminding her of the pain, which Senator Roark caused her. She’s becoming a lose cannon: talking to her self, drinking and cutting her own face up. She finally has enough and teams up with Marv to kill Roark no matter what it takes.

The movie isn’t terrible, but is tiresome because it is just like the first movie. The two stories (Josh Brolin’s and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s) are interesting and done well but the last story (Jessica Alba) is boring and really pulls the movie down. The pacing of the film seems to be all over the map not having a clear direction. One wonders if the movie had been cut differently if the impact would be stronger? Who can say?

Over all the movie is exactly what you think it’s going to be: full of sex, lots of blood and striking imagery. It’s works on the level of being a sequel/prequel and if you were a huge fan of the first one or of the book series then you’ll most like love this too. But if you’re just a passing fan, you may wonder why this is even coming out. But at the end of the day the movie is a decent extra piece to a story we’ve already seen many times before.