Movie Night (aka Sin City Review)

Well, did something that I never do. Went and saw a movie on opening night. Waited in line for forty minutes, then another forty minutes before the movie finally started. (side note: I paid to watch a movie. Why the hell must I be forced to endure stupid commericals for products I will never buy and crappy movie trailers that I wouldn't watch for free before I get what I paid for? Why?!?) Anyway, the movie Sin city finally started...and...it was worth it. :) Before going further - SPOILERS AHEAD!!! If you don't want to know anything about it, stop reading now... Ok - you still here? Ok, on with it... This is a movie people will either get and like, or miss the point and hate. There won't be a lot of middle ground. Visually, it was outstanding. Like watching the graphic novels, but with live action. Except for a couple of spots, I never really realized the movie I was watching was filmed on green screen. It all worked to take you into the world of Sin City. The use of spots of color for certain key points was great on the black and white backdrop. Rodriguez did a fantastic job of translating Millers original artwork to the screen. And since the artwork was such a major part of the graphic novel story experience, this element was key. If they hadn't been as faithful to the original, it would have really suffered. So, they got the look right, how about the story? Well, I would say very good, just a hair below excellent. The only complaint I can really come up with is that certain parts of the books were left out for obvious time reasons. They took three of the books and one short story to meld together for the movie. In doing so, some of the character detail and nuances were lost. I think they would have been better off leaving the "Big Fat Kill" storyline out and fully doing the other stories, but that's just my opinion. After all, I've read the books. If you haven't read the books, you won't notice it. However, if you haven't read the books, you may be a little lost. I was filling in the blanks in my head because of my knowledge of the source material. Someone new to Sin City wouldn't have that luxury. On with the good stuff: Marv's story, The Hard Goodbye was the best part of the movie. Mickey Rourke (remember him?) did a fantastic job of pulling off Marv and his quest to avenge Goldie's death. He tears up Sin City to find the truth, no matter what the cost. Rourke's voice overs of Marv's thoughts throughout was excellent. He just really nailed the part. The Hard Goodbye is my favorite Sin City book and story, so I'm glad it came out this good. My only complaint is that with the cuts made as I stated above, one of my favorite parts of Marv's story got cut out. It was just two pages in the book, but it really gave a better definition to Marv's character and let you know that he did indeed feel the fear for what he was facing, but that he dealt with it in his own way and wasn't going to stop. With any luck, it'll be on the DVD. :) The rest of the story doesn't quite match the intensity of Marv's part, but its good just the same. The middle part with the Big Fat Kill is probably the weakest of the three, but got some of the best laughs. Clive Owen's voice overs as Dwight seem to be flat at the beginning but gets better. Del Toro as Jackie Boy steals the show with some great bits, and the in car scene that was directed by Tarantino was excellent. Apparently, Dwight's mental state is just a little bit wonky. A good fun part of the storyline, but lacks the heart of Marv's quest. Bruce Willis as Hartigan wraps up the major three parts. We saw at the beginning of the film the first part of Hartigan's story, before it cut to Marv. It comes back to Hartigan at the end as he struggles to protect Nancy, fight the Yellow Bastard, and come to grips with the mutual feelings between him and Nancy. Bruce Willis does a good job here as the older cop who paid the price for going against the Roark family and power. He gets setup and winds up doing what he believes is right to fight back and protect Nancy yet again. This is also a love story, which has offended lots of people, and there certainly is a valid viewpoint for it. However, (and again, some of the internal workings of Hartigan were lost in the cuts from the original work) I think it works. Hartigan voices his feelings, but fights against acting on them. (as he says, "There's wrong, there's wrong, then there's this.") There's nothing legally wrong with the relationship, but society as a whole frowns on that kind of age difference. It'd be a personal thing, I suppose. In the story, it is love, on both sides. What kind is open for debate. Hartigan winds up losing everything just to keep her safe. His final choice is the only way he can see to do just that, and in that choice, he wins. Nancy is free from it all, Roark's bloodline is ended, and Hartigan ends the battle for good, but he does it on his terms, not someone elses. (My opinion - you can take the ending different ways) The movie starts and ends with the Salesman, an assasin, played by Josh Hartnett. The beginning, gives you a hard and fast primer for what is coming and what it is like in Sin City. The end, I thought, was open for debate. After I kept thinking about it, it finally struck me that Becky is always shown with Blue Eyes in the movie. There is a short story in the books about a character that is trained by the Salesman to become an assasin, and she chooses to be called Blue Eyes. However, that character in the book is not Becky. However, since there were other changes from the books in the movie (Marv pulling the barred window out - in the book he crashes through the door after multiple attempts...Bob picking up Hartigan from jail - in the book, it was Mort...and in the book I thought Becky died in the alley ambush), perhaps this was a change to bring the movie full circle while also leaving it open ended. Until I hear different, I suppose you can take the ending with Becky and the Salesman one of two ways. Either he is there to kill her for ratting out the girls of Old Town, or she is going to become the deadly Blue Eyes. Discuss amongst yourselves... Finally, there has been plenty of talk about the violence and what some view as misogyny. Yes, there is plenty of violence. But people, this place is called Sin City for a reason. It is a dark place to be. However, the violence is all over the top in comic book style, and with the exception of the Yellow Bastard, the blood flows white in the Black and White environments. There are some pretty graphic moments, however, so if you're really squeamish, this probably isn't for you. Put it this way - if you're grossed out by anything in Kill Bill, or even CSI, pass on this. If you don't mind really gritty film noir, or like anything by Tarantino, you'll love this. About the talked about misogyny - maybe, but I don't think so. The women in the film certainly take a few on the chin, but they also dish it out. The old town girls protect their own. You wouldn't want to cross any of them. I also read some complaints about it being about 'guy saves girl' too much. Possibly, but girls save the the guy too, in more ways than one. In Marv's case, the only good and purposeful thing he does in his life is all because of the kindness Goldie shows him. Without her, he wouldn't be fighting for redemption at all. He'd be continuing in the grey hell of booze and fights for no good reason. Listen to what Marv says (and read the book), and you realize that she is the only good thing that's ever happened to him and because of her, he is finally out of the hell that is his life and doing something for someone else - albeit in his own unique and violent way. In another case, Dwight has his ass saved a couple times by Miho and the others. Also, a main point of Sin City is that Nancy is the heart and soul of the stories and probably the only truly good person in there. She is also one of the strongest as is shown in Hartigans story. Pretty much everyone else in Sin City has ghosts to hide and are basically survivors doing bad things to bad people for good reasons. Again it all comes down to a personal opinion. I remember reading The Hard Goodbye and being blown away by the art and the story. Seeing it in live action done this well was pretty cool. I just really wish they'd kept those two pages in the script. Otherwise, great movie. I'll be seeing it again.