4 out of 5

Directed by: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez

It is, first and foremost, an experience.  Especially nowadays, wherein our media landscape has madly budgeted TV shows and non-blockbusters can afford to splash city-destroying CG sequences one after another, having an experience while watching something is all the more precious.  ‘Sin City’ was, as of this writing in 2014, almost a decade ago, and yet it’s still a wholly unique experience.  Not just because of the almost fully green-screened setup – hence why ‘Sky Captain’ wouldn’t necessarily merit the same response – but because of the amalgam of so many incongruent aspects, smoothed out by a stellar cast who got the material and a director who realized that keeping things as close to the source comic as possible (even bringing in creator Miller to co-direct) was what would make ‘Sin’ its own thing, and not a studio concept or a simple ‘adaptation.’  The book was required to make the movie what it is, but it and the film each exist in their own established worlds of language and visuals.  My only real issue with the movie is that it’s too much of an experience.  In theater, at home, the original, the recut version – I always start to get a little overwhelmed and fall out of the spell when there’s about a half-hour left.  Rodriguez did the best he could with the construction – had this only been one extended book it would’ve felt empty, and two-part ‘anthology’ flicks seem, oddly, imbalanced.  Three distinct portions was a good way to go, pacing-wise, and then chopping the chronology up a bit was a clever touch to keep the viewer a bit more involved, because, otherwise, there’s nothing really linking each part (plot wise) except for that they all take place in the titular city.  So it’s three separate films (…and a quarter, including the Josh Hartnett pieces), each set of actors giving their pulpy all, and despite how solid each is, by the time ‘Yellow Bastard’s second part rolls around… whoosh.

But, that aside, the trip is worth it every time.  We get Bruce Willis trying to protect Jessica Alba over the course of 8 years from pedophile Nick Stahl; Micky Rourke as the ugly tough guy who will stop at nothing to avenge the death of the girl who showed him a good time, Jaime King’s Goldie; and Clive Owen as a badass in red sneakers who helps the working women of Old Town to keep themselves clear of a frame-up involving the dirty law of Basin City.  All presented in stunningly realized two-tone visuals with splashes of choice color, the unreal rain-spattered streets, ridiculous stunts, and overblown sets all made possible by Rodriguez’s mastery of the digital setup.  Frank Miller’s dialogue – which can frankly come across as a bit sillilyhard-boiled in the comic, gets chewed and snarled or mewed on-screen by the best possible casting choices, the minimal sets demanding a play-like ‘acting for the audience’ sensibility and the live-action / comic contrast making the cheeseball aspect do a 180 to become fully effective.

This is pure noir.  It’s also fully modern.  But I think whether the magic works on you or not, it can be agreed that it’s an experience.