Review of Sin City (2005) by Kkl10 A — 05 Apr 2014

Sin City Extended Edition (2005) - 8,5.

4 little stories (one of them being a mini story) in the Neo-noir atmosphere of Sin City. I have mixed feelings about this movie. Not regarding the moral paradigma behind the stories of course, but about some cinematic aspects.. I really like the Neo-noir concept recreated here and there's a lot to apprecciate in this movie - the intelligent monologues of the protagonists, the noir atmosphere carved by the unique and interesting cinematography and colour treatment, the smart and mastertful way how the several plots develop, etc...

But... this is the sort of cinema that ideally transports the viewer into a different world, a fantasy, a dreamlike experience and this movie fails to do so (with me) on a consistent level and as a result it falls short of what I'd consider deserving of reverence. As I watched the movie I often found myself distracted and annoyed by an apparent amateurish nature and/or lack of skill in some technical aspects. I'm talking primarilly about some of the acting and sound work, things here could had been a lot more polished. For example, several characters didn't leave up to the demands of the movie, it seemed like some actors and actresses didn't give enough commitment or that they simply lacked the acting skills for their roles, they looked fake, forced, not authentic at all. The sound design and editing also lacked, in my opinion, as it often failed to immerse me into the Neo-noir atmosphere of the movie, I feel that this aspect was overlooked. Being a multi-plot movie, these shortcomings affected each story by different degrees and I felt that "The Big Fat Kill" was the worse case. It was by far the one I least cared for, pretty boring and little of interest, I often couldn't help but gaze away and sigh due to the lack of polishment in the aforementioned and several other aspects. The plot itself was also the least interestingly developed and the end was... well, uneventful and boring despite what it was... I just didn't feel like I was watching the same movie as the other stories at all... the character played by Benicio Del Toro was probably the only one remotely interesting to observe in "The Big Fat Kill".

"The Hard Goodbye" is a complete 180º turn though. I really liked this one, it was my favorite and if I had to score it alone, it'd be a solid 9. The main character is a brutal and amazeballs badass monster guy expertly played by Mickey Rourke, great work here! most of the acting in this story is pretty competent and the plot masterfully develops at the right pace and the sound design didn't let me down too much. This was definitely the immersive and dreamlike Neo-noir experience Sin City movie was supposed to be. The only oddity in my opinion was the character played by Elijah Wood... cmon man really?? so pathetic and amateurish looking!, it could had spoiled it all, but fortunately the overall work in "The Hard Goodbye" was solid and high quality so this nuissance didn't detract my enjoyment so much, but still it's the only stronger reason why I wouldn't give this single story a 10 if I had to.

On a general note special effects also looked excessively weird and unpolished a bit to often, it's just a small detail but nonetheless still has it's detracting influence on the screen.

I feel that the consistency of Sin City is damaged by the lack of consistency between the several stories that form the whole movie, but maybe it's unrealistic to expect the same quality standard throughout so many different plots and such big cast with a "mere" 40 million USD budget... Laying my thoughts on the available resources and the technical challenges present in the creation of this work I can see how this film may have been too ambitious for it's own good... I ansiously look forward to the next Sin City film and I hope it doesn't disapoint it's own aspirations.

EDIT: Just saw this movie again and I feel I didn't give it fair credit. I revise the rating to 8,5 and take back my negative words on the sound work. The sound work is actually remarkable, what the hell was in my head when I wrote the previous comments I don't know... I guess I didn't fully understand the movie at first... "The Yellow Bastard " story is the most polished work, it's beautiful, but my favourite is still "The Hard Goodbye". Unfortunately my view towards "The Big Fat Kill" haven't changed much, actually most of the things that I negatively criticise are confined to this part. I wish they hadn't included this story in the film because it really detracts from the overall positive impression I have of the movie. This would easily become one of my favorite films of all time if they hadn't screw it up with "The Big Fat Kill". It's still a beautiful movie!