Sin City: A Dame to Kill For review

SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR:

WHILE IT’S NO MASTERPIECE LIKE ITS 2005 PREDECESSOR, IT BOOTS PLENTY OF STYLIZED VIOLENCE, SEXY LADIES, AND A SEQUEL SO AWESOME AND VIOLENT, IT SHOULD BE A “SIN”!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

DIMENSION FILMS AND MIRAMAX

(From left to right) Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rosario Dawson, Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke, Eva Green, and Josh Brolin taking a trip down Sin City in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

            Director, Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi trilogy, From Dusk Till Dawn, Machete) and Frank Miller, creator of the Sin City and 300 graphic novels return in the sequel to the 2005 hit, Sin City. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, like its predecessor, it has the distinct stylized appearance, intense violence, sexy strippers, and the return of fan favorites like Mickey Rourke (9 ½ Weeks, The Wrestler, Iron Man 2), Bruce Willis (Die Hard franchise, RED, G.I. Joe: Retaliation), Jessica Alba (Fantastic 4, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer), and Rosario Dawson (Unstoppable, Shattered Glass, Grindhouse).

            However like most sequels, they’re never as memorable as their predecessors, this is one of them. But it’s not terrible, it kept me entertained all the way through, but the first film left more of an impact on me.

            The film begins with Marv (Rourke), sometime after the events of the segment from the first film, That Yellow Bastard, having severe amnesia after being shot out of a window and cannot remember anything that happened prior to his fall. He enviously watches Detective John Hartigan (Willis) reunite with his exotic dancer girlfriend, Nancy Callahan (Alba) and suddenly regains his conscious on a highway, overlooking the poor and run-down side of Sin City, The Projects, surrounded by several dead bodies and is determined to figure out how he got there.

            While that’s going on, a cocky gambler named Johnny (Joseph Gordon-Levitt-Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Looper) sets a priority to beat the most powerful man in the state, Senator Roark (Reprised by Powers Boothe-Red Dawn, Tombstone, Nixon) at his own game.

            Unfortunately Johnny soon realizes that he beat the wrong man at poker and a series of tragic events begin, Senator Roark has Johnny brutally beaten and eventually kills his girlfriend. After a painful surgery by Dr. Kroenig (Christopher Lloyd-Back to the Future trilogy, The Addams Family, Who Framed Roger Rabbit), Johnny is out for revenge and will not rest until Roark is killed for the mistake he made.

            The next segment takes place before The Big Fat Kill from the first film, and we find Dwight McCarthy (Josh Brolin-True Grit, Men in Black 3, replacing Clive Owen from the first movie) struggling with his inner demons and tries to maintain control until his ex-lover, Ava Lord (Eva Green-Casino Royale, Dark Shadows, 300: Rise of an Empire) returns, desiring his help to help her escape her abusive husband, billionaire Damien Lord and his indestructible bodyguard, Manute (Dennis Haysbert (The Allstate Guy)-24, Major League, The Boondocks).

            As soon as Dwight becomes attracted to Ava again, he soon discovers that her true feelings towards him are more sinister and diabolical than they look.

            Meanwhile after the events of That Yellow Bastard, we find Nancy struggling to cope with John’s sudden suicide and trying to drink her sorrows away. That is until she starts seeing and hearing John in hallucinations and starts advising her on how to take out the man who ruined her life, Senator Roark.

            After a makeover and scarring her face, Nancy is ready to take Roark down and avenge the death of her love.

            Overall, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is an entertaining sequel to a unique film, the stylized violence is over the top, gritty, sick, and awesome, the CG effects and film style is very appealing, and the 3D is pretty effective, you feel as though the blood, weapons, and vehicles are flying out at you. Many of the cast members reprising their roles from the first Sin City is very welcoming, because I can’t see anyone else besides Mickey Rourke portray Marv.

            The new characters can be very fun to watch as well, although it was pretty obvious that Eva Green’s character would be a villain, especially after her being casted as the antagonists in Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows and Zack Snyder’s 300: Rise of an Empire, but still she’s a very sexy and entertaining baddie.

            If you’re a fan of the first film or the original Sin City graphic novel, you’ll probably enjoy the sequel okay; just don’t expect it to be the Spider-Man 2 or Dark Knight of Robert Rodriguez sequels. It would be very hard to top the first Sin City film, but this one did have a lot of hard work and effort put into it, which makes it a decent follow-up, not to mention it’s better than the previous Rodriguez sequel, Machete Kills.

            It’s a sequel so violent and awesome, it should be a “Sin”.