Frank Miller’s Sin City. Whoever has even the least bit of love for graphic novels would definitely have heard of or read about Sin City. About 2 years back, my friend made me wait for him while he relieved himself. Meanwhile, I was allowed to surf through his humungous collection of comic books, graphic novels, and the rest of his collection... I picked up the newer package that had arrived from the US, that morning.
He specifically put this one issue of Sin City in my hand and what do I see... Predominantly in black and white and splashes of (red) color here and there. All three are my favorites when it comes to artwork. What attractive shapes and story rose from the sheets. I noticed a very sinister looking guy, banging on a latched door, trying to cajole someone into letting him in. That’s Bennicio Del Toro as Jack in the movie. I think I might have had a crush on him but no thanks, I would prefer not to be spoken to by a dead guy with a pistol magazine case sticking out of the forehead of his severed head. A very scared woman, putting up a brave voice and trying to make the guy leave because he beats her up. That’s the extremely crappy Britanny Murphy. Gosh! There is no actor worse than she. And then, there was Dwight. Owen Wilson. Needless to say, I plunged into the book and almost tore it apart in half hour.
I must remember that I am not reviewing the graphic novel but the movie. Eitherways, it doesn’t make a difference because the movie is just a motion portrayal of the graphics in the book. They have done absolute justice to the illustrations but the casting could have been better as far as the women are concerned. Apart from Rosario Dawson, and to an extent, Jessica Alba (as Nancy), none are worth a 2nd thought where the performance is concerned. All the men are awesome especially, Bruce Willis as Hartigan.
The scene that set to curdle my blood was where Marv was chopping Kevin (Elijah Wood in an awesome, Awesome, AWESOME and horrifically creepy role) and feeding him to the wolf. If the graphics wouldn’t have been predominantly in B&W, I would have barfed, keeled, and fainted more than once in course of the movie and then again, no. I was captivated.
As I had learnt from the reviews, bits and pieces have been shot by our man, Tarantino (like the chase sequence with Dwight and Miho rushing to revive Jack’s head from the rebels), this was a must watch. It is a must watch for all those fans of gory, action movies whipped up by the masters of the craft. It is also meant for all those comic book and graphic novel fans who have had every reason to complain about the corruption of beautiful books when made into movies. This movie is as faithful as any movie can be.
Three fantastic Sin City novels rolled into one spectacular movie. I think I have left out a lot of portions that had given me goosepimples. So while I go and replenish my memory by replaying the DVD, don’t just sit here and waste your time. Go, watch it!