Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For is the long-awaited sequel of the 2005 film Sin City. This striking example of film noir is, if anything, a fantastic display of girl power!
I have not seen the first Sin City, so cannot compare the two, but despite several reviewers knocking it with criticisms, I was surprisingly impressed with the way creator Frank Miller and co-director Robert Rodriguez were able to loyally adapt this very active multi-story film to Frank Miller’s graphic novels.
There is a vivid and spectacular mix of live action and animation thanks to the brilliant and very stylish cinematography of Robert Rodriguez. The first Sin City introduced us to the very black and white Basin City, where good guys languish and bad guys thrive. We return to the black and white theme with the occasional splash of colour.
There are three stories here, each one being connected to Kadie’s, the local bar in Basin City. Two of them involve the deliciously evil corrupt Senator Roark (Powers Boothe). In one case he faces the bold and quite cunning street gambler Johnny, (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) in a poker game where he certainly makes Johnny pay for beating him in several games.
In his other association, Roark is the target of the vengeance of the fiery and stubborn high class stripper Nancy. (Jessica Alba). Nancy has not forgotten the cop who saved her in the first Sin City, Hartigan (Bruce Willis) and although he died doing so, Hartigan visits her in her dreams, inspiring her to make Roark pay for being the father of Hartigan’s killer.
In the mean time, we meet Dwight (Josh Brolin, who took over the role of Dwight from Clive Owen in the first film) and former girlfriend Ava (Eva Lord Green). Ava is undoubtedly the star of the show (despite Alba receiving top billing) with her blood red lips and searing green eyes complimenting her extreme white skin in the black and white movie.
Then amongst all of these tales, Mickey Rourke returns as Marv, the extremely arrogant and brooding street thug with an extreme prosthetic face, who seems to kill without a purpose. Then we meet Gail (Rosario Dawson). Despite being totally black and white, Gail is a very colourful character who leads a band of violent hookers in Old Town.
Those of you who are film noir followers will love this, as it does look fantastic, but for those of us who are not film noir followers, you probably won’t love it! So, if you have to, just sit back and enjoy the digital marvels of it.
Kirstey Whicker
Rating out of 10: 5
More News
