Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

I love noir or neo-noir films. I love everything about them. Give me any gangster/crime drama between 1930 and 1960 or anything that's like that and I'm a happy man. Sin City was a great noir film in 2005 and was a revolutionary visual treat that changed the way comic book based movies could be made. Now 9 years later can the sequel live up to its predecessor or will it follow so many other franchises into the sequel curse.



Sin City is a place you go into with your eyes open, or you don't come out. That's what one of the characters says early in the film. As far as I could tell you could go into that city with all your senses sharp and not come out...or come out in pieces. It's everything you could expect of a city named Sin. Murder, prostitution, bribery, etc. aren't just necessary evils, they're an understood and excepted way of living. We get four different but intersecting stories that document the workings of this city in all its glory..er..depravity. And at the end of the day not much has changed...people love, get betrayed, kill, and go guns blazing to their doom.

Sin City was revolutionary. I've already said that but I say it again to remind you that the defining point of this series is how original the original really was. Unfortunately this sequel continues the trend of amazing graphics and visuals but forgets to bring any compelling stories. In fact the most compelling story of all (Johnny the gambling bastard son of the main man in Sin City) is the least used. As much as I wanted to like this followup there is nothing special here. The one thing of note is that this may be the most anti-women film ever made. There isn't a female character who doesn't make a living off her sexuality. Sin City was a nice vacation spot in 2005 but now I think I would stay home. D