Sin City

Movie Title--  Sin City

Release Year--  2005

Running Time--  2 Hours and 4 Minutes

Director--  Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez and Quintin Tarantino

Cast--  Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Elijah Wood, Clive Owen, Rosario Dawson, Benicio del Toro, Nick Stahl, Josh Hartnett, Michael Clarke Duncan, Rutger Hauer, Devon Aoki, Alexis Bledel, Powers Boothe, Jamie King, Frank Miller, Brittany Murphy, Michael Madsen, Carla Gugino

The stories of three people living in the corrupt and violent town of Basin City unknowingly intersect as their individual stories are told.

The Salesman (Josh Hartnett) meets a woman on a balcony and offers her a cigarette.  After a brief conversation, they kiss and he kills her.  As she dies in his arms he makes the implication that she had hired him to kill her.

Detecitve John Hartigan (Bruce Willis) is on the docks of Basin City, better known as Sin City, where he has tracked child serial killer Roark Junior (Nick Stahl), the son of Senator Roark (Powers Boothe) who has paid off the police force to keep his son's crimes under wraps.  Hartigan has only three days to go until he retires but he feels the need to capture the man that has the city fearing for it's children.  Although Hartigan's bad heart tries to stop him, he continues on into the warehouse where Junior has taken his latest victim Nancy Callahan (Makenzie Vega, Jessica Alba).  Junior shoots Hartigan in the shoulder and attempts to escape with Nancy but Hartigan follows him and shoots his ear off, then shoots him again in the hand and lastly the genitals.  Hartigan is then shot in the back by his partner Bob (Michael Madsen), who leaves Hartigan to die.  Nancy climbs into Hartigan's lap while he slowly passes out, his last thought being that her life is worth his.

Marv (Mickey Rourke) awakes from an one night stand with a woman named Goldie (Jamie King) that he met in a bar called "Katie's" the night before to find that she has been killed silently in the night while they were sleeping.  He remarks that no one is able to sneak up on him and decides to find and take revenge on the person that has done this to her.  He goes back to "Katie's" and after an altercation, goes to his parole officer Lucille's (Carla Gugino) house to get some medication for his "condition".  

Eventually Marv learns from a corrupted priest that the murder of Goldie was orchestrated by the Roark family and the killer, Kevin (Elijah Wood) is a protege of Senator Roark's brother, Cardinal Roark (Rutger Hauer), the most powerful man in the state.  Marv then decides that will not stop him from taking his revenge.

Dwight (Clive Owen) is hiding while his new girlfriend Shellie (Brittany Murphy) is being harassed by her abusive ex boyfriend known only as Jackie Boy (Benicio del Toro).  Dwight threatens Jackie Boy when he wanders into the bathroom, ending with Dwight holding Jackie Boy's head under the water in the toilet bowl.  When Jackie Boy finally comes back up, he rushes his crew out the door but Dwight follows him and as he jumps from the apartment window, Shellie yells something at him which he thinks sounds like "stop".

Dwight follows Jackie Boy and his crew to Old Town and witnesses him harass a prostitute named Becky (Alexis Bledel).  When she continually refuses to serve him, he pulls a gun on her and that is when the women of Old Town, led by Gail (Rosario Dawson), attack.  Miho (Devon Aoki) kills Jackie Boy and all of his cronies and that is when they learn that not only is Jackie Boy a cop, he is known by the press as Dective Jack Rafferty, "Hero" cop.  It is then that Dwight realizes that Shellie had yelled "cop" down to him as he left.

Dwight knows that he has to dispose of the bodies, so he takes the car full of them to the tar pits but is put in jeopardy of being able to return to Old Town to help protect the prostitute's turf when he is ambushed by hired ex-IRA mercenaries.  

Hartigan comes to in the hospital and learns that Senator Roark is paying for all of his treatment and rehabilitation.  He is informed that Junior is in a coma and that he is going to be set up for all of Junior's crimes.  Hartigan is then told that if the truth were to ever come out, he would die.  Nancy sees Hartigan and expresses how grateful she is for him saving her life, she then tells him that she will never forget him and that she will write to him every week under the assumed name of "Cordelia".  Despite the torture they put him through, Hartigan refuses to confess to the crimes.

Every Thursday as promised a letter comes for eight years but one day they stop and the pain of losing the only person that loves him causes Hartigan to confess to all the crimes against him.  This leads to his eventual parole and he finds himself searching for Nancy.  His search ends when he goes to "Katie's" Bar and discovers she has become an exotic dancer.

Without Hartigan realizing it, he has been followed by a strange yellow man although he notices a rotten smell, that the man emits, every where he goes.  Once he sees Nancy dancing he realizes he was paroled so that he would led the Roark family to Nancy and he tries to leave without being seen but is unsuccessful when she notices him, then leaps from the stage and kisses him.  Hartigan then takes it upon himself to get her to safety before they can catch her again.

I love this film.  I saw it when it originally came out in the theaters and this is one that I actually went to see several times.  Is it violent?  Yes.  Is it graphic?  Yes, but after all,this is based on a graphic novel so it should just as well be a little graphic.  This film is not really for the squeamish as there is quite a lot of graphic and violent killing scenes in this film, it is not really a good film for the little people in your house to sit through either.

The art direction of this film is amazing.  The black and white is enhanced by the occasional flash of color, that brings a bit of depth to what is going on on the screen.  There are times that the black and white helps to shield the viewer from the violence but most of the time it is to enhance the killing without having the big gory spurts of red blood in the viewer's face.  On the other side of this coin, the story is so interesting and intertwining with the other stories that it is hard to keep your eyes from the screen.  The story telling and witty one liners of the characters make it an enjoyable experience, even through the blood and violence.

Over all, if you don't have a weak stomach, this film is a really good view.  Spend the night in and become a citizen of Sin City but Don't Forget the Popcorn!