Sin City (2005)

Sin City (2005)

Sin City (also known as Frank Miller's Sin City) is a 2005 American neo-noir crime thriller anthology film written, produced, and directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez. It is based on Miller's graphic novel Sin City.

Much of the film is based on the first, third and fourth books in Miller's original comic series. The Hard Goodbye is about a man who embarks on a brutal rampage in search of his one-time sweetheart's killer, killing anyone, even the police, that gets in his way of finding and killing her murderer. The Big Fat Kill focuses on an everyman getting caught in a street war between a group of prostitutes and a group of mercenaries, the police and the mob. That Yellow Bastard follows an aging police officer who protects a young woman from a grotesquely disfigured serial killer. The intro and outro of the film are based on the short story "The Customer is Always Right", which is collected in Booze, Broads & Bullets, the sixth book in the comic series.

The film stars Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Benicio Del Toro, Brittany Murphy and Elijah Wood, featuring Alexis Bledel, Michael Clarke Duncan, Rosario Dawson, Carla Gugino, Rutger Hauer, Jaime King, Michael Madsen and Nick Stahl, among others.

Sin City opened to wide critical and commercial success, gathering particular recognition for the film's unique color processing, which rendered most of the film in black and white but retained or added coloring for selected objects. The film was screened at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival in competition and won the Technical Grand Prize for the film's "visual shaping"

Storyline

Four tales of crime adapted from Frank Miller's popular comics, focusing around a muscular brute who's looking for the person responsible for the death of his beloved Goldie, a man fed up with Sin City's corrupt law enforcement who takes the law into his own hands after a horrible mistake, a cop who risks his life to protect a girl from a deformed pedophile, and a hitman looking to make a little cash.

Plot

The Customer Is Always Right (Part I)
The Salesman steps out of the elevator and walks onto a penthouse balcony overlooking Basin City, where The Customer awaits. He comforts her, the two briefly talk, share a kiss and he shoots her. As she dies in his arms, he ponders what she was running from.

That Yellow Bastard (Part I)
On the docks of Sin City, aging police officer John Hartigan tries to stop serial child-killer Roark Junior from raping and killing his fourth known victim, eleven-year-old Nancy Callahan. Junior is the son of Senator Roark, who has bribed the police to cover up his son's crimes. Hartigan's partner Bob tries to convince Hartigan to walk away, only to get knocked out.

Hartigan, fighting off the pain caused by his bad heart, confronts Roark Junior, shoots off his ear, right hand and genitals. Bob shoots Hartigan in the back, revealing himself to be on Senator Roark's payroll. As the sirens approach, Bob leaves and Nancy comforts him. Hartigan passes out, reasoning his death is a fair trade for the girl's life.

The Hard Goodbye
After a one-night stand, Marv awakens to find that Goldie, the woman he'd been with, was killed while he slept. He flees the frame-up as the police arrive, vowing to avenge her death to repay her kindness. His parole officer Lucille warns him to give up on this mission, believing Marv may have imagined it all due to his "condition". Marv interrogates several informants, working up to a corrupt priest who reveals that the Roark family was behind the murder. After killing the priest, Marv is attacked by a woman who looks like Goldie, which he dismisses as a hallucination caused by his "condition".

Marv goes to the Roark family farm and is subdued by the silent stalker, who is also Goldie's killer. He awakens to find Lucille has been captured after looking into his story. She tells Marv that the killer is a cannibal and that his victims, including Goldie, are prostitutes. He and Lucille escape their holding cell, but Lucille is shot by the leader of a squad of corrupt cops. Marv kills the squad, interrogates the leader and finds out that Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark arranged for Goldie's murder.

Marv goes to Old Town (Sin City's prostitute-run red-light district) to learn more about Goldie, and is captured by her twin sister, Wendy, who Marv previously dismissed as a hallucination. He eventually convinces her that he is not the killer and she resolves to help him avenge Goldie. The pair return to the farm, where Marv kills Kevin. He brings Kevin's head to Cardinal Roark, who confesses his part in the murders. Marv kills the cardinal but is then shot and captured by his guards.

After Marv's wound are treated, he is forced to confess to killing Cardinal Roark, Kevin and all their victims. He is sentenced to death in the electric chair. Wendy visits him on death row and thanks him for avenging her sister.

The Big Fat Kill
Shellie is harassed by her drunken and abusive ex-boyfriend Jackie Boy. When Jackie goes to the bathroom to urinate, her new lover Dwight McCarthy, dunks his face into the toilet, threatening to kill him if he doesn't leave her alone. Angry and embarrassed, Jackie Boy leaves Shellie's flat, and Dwight follows him to make sure he doesn't take out his anger on another girl.

Jackie Boy and his crew arrive in Old Town, where they harass Becky, a young prostitute. Dwight runs into Gail, Old Town's leader and Dwight's on-and-off lover, and the two watch the scene. When Jackie Boy threatens Becky with a gun, Miho, Old Town's enforcer, kills the whole group. As Dwight and the prostitutes check the corpses' personal effects, they realize Jackie Boy is actually Detective Lieutenant Jack Rafferty of Basin City Police. If the police learned how he died, their truce with the prostitutes would end and the mob would be free to wage war on Old Town.

Dwight takes the bodies to a tar pit to hide them from the police. There he is attacked mercenaries who retrieves Jackie's head to bring back as proof of his death. Dwight nearly drowns in the tar before Miho saves him. The two kill the remaining mercenaries, retrieve the head and return to Old Town. Meanwhile, Manute, an enforcer for mob boss Wallenquist, kidnaps Gail to force Old Town to surrender without a fight. It is revealed that Becky is the one who tells the mob of Jackie's death. Dwight offers to trade Jackie Boy’s head for Gail's life, and meet Manute's group in a narrow alley. As he detonates the grenade stuffed in the head, all the prostitutes, who have been waiting on top of the buildings on both sides of the alley, gun down the mob gang and kill Manute, leaving no witnesses. Becky escapes the onslaught.

That Yellow Bastard (Part II)
As Hartigan recovers in a hospital, he learns that Roark, Jr. is in a coma, the Roark legacy is in serious jeopardy and he will be framed for Junior's crimes. A grateful Nancy, who was denied the right to testify and vindicate Hartigan, promises to write Hartigan every week while he is in prison. Hartigan goes to jail, though he refuses to confess. He receives weekly letters from Nancy for eight years. One day, the letters stop arriving and he receives a severed finger instead. Worried that the Roarks somehow tracked down Nancy, Hartigan confesses to all charges, leading to his parole. He searches for Nancy and finds her at Kadie's Bar, where she has become an exotic dancer. As Hartigan realizes everything was a ruse just for him to lead Roark to Nancy, she recognizes him, runs off the stage and leaps onto him.

The two leave the bar in Nancy's car, pursued by a disfigured yellow man. Hartigan wounds him and the two stay in a small motel outside of town. Nancy confesses his love for Hartigan, who rebuffs her advances citing their significant age difference. The yellow man, who turns out to be Roark Jr., overpowers Hartigan and takes Nancy to the Roark farm. Hartigan gets to the farm, kills Junior and saves Nancy. Knowing that Senator Roark will never stop hunting him, Hartigan commits suicide to ensure Nancy's safety.

The Customer Is Always Right (Part II)
An injured Becky departs from a hospital, talking on a cell phone with her mother. In the elevator she encounters The Salesman, dressed as a doctor. He offers her a cigarette, calling her by name, and she abruptly ends the call with her mother, realizing that The Salesman is preparing to kill her.

Cast

• Jessica Alba as Nancy Callahan
• Devon Aoki as Miho
• Alexis Bledel as Becky
• Powers Boothe as Senator Roark
• Rosario Dawson as Gail
• Benicio Del Toro as Det. Lt. Jack "Jackie-Boy" Rafferty
• Michael Clarke Duncan as Manute
• Rick Gomez as Douglas Klump
• Carla Gugino as Lucille
• Josh Hartnett as The Salesman, known in the screenplay as "The Man"
• Rutger Hauer as Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark
• Jaime King as Goldie and Wendy
• Michael Madsen as Det. Bob
• Brittany Murphy as Shellie
• Nick Offerman as Burt Schlubb
• Clive Owen as Dwight McCarthy
• Mickey Rourke as Marv
• Marley Shelton as The Customer
• Nick Stahl as Ethan "Yellow Bastard" Roark, Jr.
• Bruce Willis as Det. John Hartigan
• Elijah Wood as Kevin

User Review

Based on the graphic novels by Frank Miller (who also co-directed and wrote the screenplay) Sin City tells three stories of crime, corruption, and redemption set in the fictional town 'Basin City'. The first story details the quest of Marv (Mickey Rourke) who searches town for the man who murdered Goldie (Jamie King), the woman he believes to be his one true love. The second tells of Dwight (Clive Owen) who must cover up the death of a corrupt police officer (Benicio Del Toro) in order to avoid a war between the cops, and the girls of old town, led by Gail. (Rosiaro Dawson) The final story shows Hartigan, (Bruce Willis) a beat up retired cop framed for a crime he didn't commit, trying to save the life of a girl whose life he saved at a young age, who grew up to become a stripper, (Jessica Alba) while all the while being tracked by a mysterious stranger with a grotesque appearance. (Nick Stahl)

It's a churning vat of old fashioned pulp style stories, each one more dark and edgy then the last. And yet, Sin City itself is morbidly fascinating; if you don't mind delving through the haze of sleaze, violence and corruption you'll find a really compelling story underneath the hard exterior. Sin City exudes the essence of classic film noir, except combined with over-the-top violence, characters and dialogue to maintain that comic book feel. Giving co-director status to creator Frank Miller and allowing him to write the screenplay was perhaps the wisest move director Robert Rodriguez ever made, because Miller's gritty influence shines through, perfectly capturing the mood of his original creations.

And the visuals... extraordinary. The entire film is shot in black and white, except for certain items which appear in colour. (a red dress, red blood, although sometimes the blood is stark white, and not to mention Nick Stahl's character, Yellow Bastard, who is, indeed, yellow) Rodriguez is also smart enough to use a greenscreen backdrop, so as to recreate Miller's gritty, moody sets by computer animation instead of trying to create them first hand. And it works, wonderfully - the sets perfectly set the tone for the rest of the movie: dark, bold, over-the-top and quality work unlike any other. Add the characters' noirish costumes (almost every male character sports, as Marv puts it, a "damn fine coat") unique appearances, (it says a lot for the quality of the movie when a character like Yellow Bastard doesn't seem out of place) and movement (take note that if the movie was paused at any given point, the frame would look like a panel from a comic book) and Miller and Rodriguez perfectly nail the comic book feel.

It also helps that a wonderful cast has been assembled to bring life to the mayhem. Spot on performances abroad here, but the standouts in my opinion were Elijah Wood, who was truly chilling as Kevin, the silent, cannibalistic serial killer; Nick Stahl as Roarke Junior/Yellow Bastard, a truly creepy and disgusting character; Clive Owen, playing against type as Dwight; (who isn't exactly a sophisticated, British gentleman, but then again, no one in this film is) Mickey Rourke as Marv, managing to turn out a stunning performance, even with his face buried under several layers of latex; Benicio Del Toro almost unrecognizable as corrupt cop Jackie Boy and a welcome appearance from Michael Clarke Duncan as Manute, an enforcer specializing in inflicting pain. The hard edged ladies also do a great job, with Jessica Alba, Rosiaro Dawson, Carla Gugino, Jamie King and the rest all giving great performances.

It's all in the style of such films as Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, so it may be wise to use those films as guidelines of what to expect in terms of content. It's true that Sin City is not for everyone: the violence is brutal and unflinching, most characters are disreputable, manipulative and sleazy, and the whole feel of the film is undesirable, and not too cheery. But if none of that deters you, Sin City should be known as a must see, for the superb visual stylistics if nothing else. But the style and feel of the comic books is perfectly captured and thrust into our faces. Frank Miller must be proud.