I thought I had such a solid way to start this review. But “best laid plans of mice and men…” I guess.
See, I was going to begin by NOT focusing on the original Sin City (2005) directed by both grindhouse auteur Robert Rodriquez and comic book icon Frank Miller. I was going to stay away from the fact that there has been nine long years between that and this current continuation, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For(2014), and that the time to truly capitalize has long since passed.
What I was going to start by discussing the movie Miller made all by himself after the first Sin City, an unfocused and clunky piece of not-much-at-all called The Shadow (2008). Do you even remember that film? It starred Sam Jackson, Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson and honestly just felt like a knockoff of Sin City. Miller made it as an ode to comics legend Will Eisner. It looked a lot like Sin City; same color palate with black and white and sporadic streaks of brilliant red. But without Rodriguez involvement you could tell that Miller was out of his depths, making The Shadow unforgettable to such a degree that I didn’t even get the name correct. It was actually called The Spirit (2008). And how can I begin my review by talking about a film so slight and meaningless that I don’t even remember the name? I really shouldn’t. Yet I just did.
The reason I bring up The Shadow/Spirit movie debacle is simple: This second Sin City reminded me more of that movie than it did the original Sin City. It has this air about it that makes it continuously feel like an unnecessary also-ran. Too little, way too late.
With that said, the movie looks beautiful and technology is fully deployed to make a gorgeous 3D experience. In many respects, the aesthetics alone may make this worth the price of admission for you. And fans of the first film should seek it out as it is really just a lesser companion piece that never hits the same level of fun debauchery. More of the same and that will probably work for many people.
The fault really lies in the written material. There are four stories that comprise the film and only one is strong and on par. The weaker stories are pointlessly used as wraparound material, starting and ending the film. There is no real reason for breaking the stories up, nothing is gained, no real cliffhangers. And by stalling and starting these slight stories only brings to the surface that not much goes on within them.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s bit as a lucky gambler named Johnny is one note and goes practically nowhere. This was written by Miller exclusively for the film and does not come from any of the numerous Sin City graphic novels and you can tell. JGL does fine with the script given to him, there just isn’t much there.
Mickey Rourke returns as big, bad Marv but never hits on the soul he gave the character in the first film. He has a tiny story in the beginning that, again, sputters to a stop before it gets started but he is sprinkled throughout the other stories.
Nancy’s Last Dance is the return of Jessica Alba as the sexiest stripper that never strips. It seems odd in a film with so much sexuality and nudity (Eva Green is nude to a Showgirls level of nakedness) to have fully clothed stripper be a main character but them’s the breaks. She is haunted but the ghost of Hartigan (Bruce Willis) who died at the end of the first film. She drinks and then goes to kill the bad guy. No reason to tell such a nothing story in fits and starts but we get to have this entire story revealed in segments.
That brings us to the only reason to see the film and luckily it takes up the majority of the 100 minute running time. Eva Green and Josh Brolin shine in the titular segment A Dame to Kill For. Brolin grumbles through the pulpy voiceover like a pro (although he sounds a lot like Rourke) and Green brings a seductive darkness to her role while looking the femme fatale ripped out of the golden age of Film Noir.
The story feels like it belongs in the Sin City world and only brings to light the weakness of the other portions.
Not a perfect film by any means and the bad-to-good ratio is about even. And who knows, you may even love it. I do know but The Shadow knows!!! Sorry. That’s not the right movie, I know. I’ll get it eventually.