Frank Miller's Sin City

Sin City

by Jer, posted Apr 1, 2005

This is the first time I've used this feature (odd, since I programmed the damn site), but I'm tossing in my two cents on Sin City. I don't want to overwrite what Xrys has said, and I think just about every one of us is going to have something to say about this movie.

Its really hard for me to say a movie was the best ever. That's throwing it down next to the original Matrix, Pulp Fiction, the Ridick series, Blazing Saddles and The Gods Must Be Crazy. In fact, I'm not going to say any of those movies on that list are better then any the others. What I am going to say is that I have a short list of movies that are PERFECT. Movies I could never complain about, movies that are without flaw, movies that I would not wish to be different in ANY WAY. Sin City is one of those movies.

I have never read Sin City, but I have read other Frank Miller books. I have deep respect for The Dark Knight Returns and how it DEFINED Batman. I went into Sin City knowing Frank Miller, but not knowing this particular story, so my take on the movie is of Frank Miller's ability to create a movie. The result is that he is one of the finest filmmakers of our time.

The craft of the movie is breathtaking. Every moment feels the way it is supposed to feel. At times it is meant to feel like a movie, at times it is meant to feel like a comic book. There are times when Miller wants you to simply see an image and feel it with all your soul. This effect is something that until now, ONLY the medium of comics has mastered. Movies before now have tried the effect with moderate success, but Miller mastered this effect with film. You see an image on the screen in black and white... stark, heavy contrast. You feel it. You feel it with the eloquence of ink and paper. It gets you.

Color. The movie is black and white until you need to see a color. When you see that color, you love it. You respect it. Sin City is what Pleasantville wanted to be but never could.

Story. The characters are real. You believe them, you love them, they aren't good, they aren't evil, they are human. Many of them are super human, but in a very HUMAN way. They don't put on costumes and advertise their power. Most of them want to be left alone, live normal lives. They are super human, but not immortal. They can die and they know it. They know what they can do, what they can't. You feel their pain. Their powers are real.

Sin City is perfect. Dark, gritty, emotional, and human. I'm not even going to rate it, because it's not worthy to be rated by Jer of Splurd. Frank Miller, oh captain my captain: I salute you. You inspire everyone who has ever drawn Sequential Art. Thank you.

Frank Miller's Sin City

by Big Josh, posted Apr 1, 2005

The movie was a flawless replication of the story onto cinema and I can tell you this because I have been a big fan of the comic for a long god damn time. So to see every character brought to life with the flare and panache that the book provided without losing anything was a blessing. The books were all my favorite gangster books of the day with the grittiness still present but the characters had "powers" that were unexplained but didn’t really need to be explained because the story rolled better than almost any before or after it, but enough about me pining over the book and allow to praise the movie in all of its worth.

The use of color and scenery and green screen is going to be the most obvious thing people are going to clammer about first and rightly so, the effects provide the movie with a view that is like watching a comic without it seeming hokey or stupid because the boldness defines scenes like Hartigan’s scar or Marv's bandages but seeing Becky’s crosses in her silhouette was the clincher for me. Next would be the dialogue word for word straight from the masterpiece, to make the movie an equal masterpiece with grittiness and language to make me want to sing a song. I don’t even need to talk about the make up in the movie. The character’s appearances are spot on, so every one looks like who they are suppose to look like hands down no questions.

This movie is important to anyone that needs to see exactly what fans of Miller's have read many years ago, and if you cant appreciate that, than you are stupid and I feel horribly sorry for you. Don’t mind the review I saw it baked but I would see it again in any other state without flinching. See It Stupid!!!!!

Sin City

by Jason, posted Apr 4, 2005

Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller(and at some points, Quentin Tarentino) have made a movie that not only pleases the eyes but also that inner nerd who has been waiting for a comic book movie to come along that doesn't screw around with the little nuances in characters and plot line that draws one in to begin with. The characters were not only believable but easy to realte to even if some of their escapades are at times slightly exaggerated. Kudos top the whole cast (and holy shit there were a bunch of 'em) for making the cast of characters real and double kudos to the production staff for not fucking up the story.

I give it two hits just so you'll have something to get you through the cruddy ass previews that came along with a great movie.