The Gist:
Sin City. It’s a place where the sadistic prosper, the ruthless thrive and the violent engorge themselves. A place where gigantic, dependable thug Marv (Mickey Rourke) can cut loose to help those in need (even if it occasionally costs him his memory and a shiny new trench coat), a place where Johnny (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) gambles more than just his money, a place where tortured stripper Nancy (Jessica Alba) can find bloody satisfaction in revenge and ultimately a place where love-struck Dwight (Josh Brolin) falls to pieces over Ava Lord (Eva Green), a dame to kill for.
The Review:
In 2005 Sin City bipped suddenly onto our radar, courtesy of Robert Rodriguez (Y’know, him who directed El Mariachi, Planet Terror, Machete and, yes, The Faculty) and his desire to see the Frank Miller graphic novel of the same name transposed onto celluloid. I don’t know if they actually used celluloid, but you know what I’m getting at here. The result was an ultra-hyper-stylish, heavily-noir-inspired grim triptych of tales set in this world of gruff men, fierce women and preposterous violence. Its major sell was in its art direction which, in its almost sole use of black and white with fleeting colour for impact, made it look almost exactly like the source material. It was made on the cheap, with most of its budget going on securing big-name stars like Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Benicio del Toro, Clive Owen, Josh Hartnett etc. It then proceeded to do rather well and make a bit of a name for itself.
Since then, however, that same kind of heavy-comic-book aesthetic just hasn’t been quite as memorable/critically successful (see ‘The Spirit’ and ‘300’, also both by Miller) as Sin City. So, nine years later, we find ourselves back at the well that inspired a very shallow cinematic movement with Sin City: A Dame To Kill For.
Within the first five minutes or so of A Dame to Kill For’ we’ve seen a stripper dance, a car chase, a bunch of preppie oiks get super-murdered and a hobo set on fire, all to the tune of Mickey Rourke’s narration that sounds like a metric tonne of shale sliding of the back of a 50-foot bear made from basalt. The style and sounds of Sin City fit like an old glove, cue close-up on a pair of gloves. Seriously, that happens. Sin City isn’t one for your subtlety, smart person; it’s here to be blunt, violent, sensational and no-nonsense. I kind of wish that was all it took. In the meantime, I think it’s best to address each of the stories in A Dame to Kill For’ individually, for critical purposes, you feel me?
Mickey Rourke’s Marv pops up in every story (almost as if it couldn’t be a Sin City film without him constantly appearing) even though his own tale is the whole opening 5 minutes wherein he kills some university kids. Apart from that he just drops in every now and then when somebody wants to perform a home invasion and requires the services of a man who resembles a brick mansion with all the rooms filled in with bigger, denser bricks. I’d be less impressed if it wasn’t for the infectious fun that Rourke instils in Marv. Sure, he’s just a large violent man, but in the middle of a scrap, with blood and offal flying every which way, he grins like a child covered in pudding. Which is a surprisingly good thing.
The one story not adapted from one of Frank Miller’s pre-existing characters is that of the gambler, Johnny, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Unlike everyone else leading a tale, Johnny isn’t a very violent man, I mean, yeah, he’s a bit violent (this is Sin City here, people), but mostly he’s a smooth-talking, high-stakes kind of guy. Gordon-Levitt rules this kind of role, and the story does shape up to one of the better, more distinct ones (which includes surprise Christopher Lloyd and even surprise Lady Gaga being muted and relatively human). Unfortunately, however, it ends so abruptly and in such a tonally inconsistent manner that you start to wonder why it was even there in the first place. Still, well-acted Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Well-acted, sir.
At the heart of the film we get the title story, A Dame to Kill For’ which sees Josh Brolin’s Dwight get flung through the ringer in service of his dearest lady, Ava Lord (Eva Green). Honestly, the less said about Josh Brolin, the better. Sure he can do the husky voice-over, but the man doesn’t have the range or character to make Dwight terribly interesting. Maybe Dwight just isn’t. Whilst his story does have a good turn from Rosario Dawson (and some very OTT comic-book violence thanks to Jamie Chung’s Miho) its star is undoubtedly Eva Green. Yes it doesn’t hurt that she spends most of the film distanced from any form of clothing, but she acts circles around everyone and everything in that snippet of film (even surprise Jeremy Piven). It’s very Sin City to have an attractive woman use her woman-y bits to make all men go nuts while she watches like a cat from on top of the fridge, but with Eva Green you honestly start to believe that she could make it work. It’s a real shame that the film doesn’t spend more time focusing on her, I mean, she’s in the title. Hell, she IS the friggin’ title. Compared to the fairly lacklustre performance by Jessica Alba in the film’s finale (she avenges dead Bruce Willis by throwing Mickey Rourke at her Powers-Boothe-shaped problems. That’s kind of it.) You just wish the film had aimed its sights more clearly at something a bit substantial. Or at least had more of a goal in mind.
I know this review is getting a bit long, but before I move onto the obligatory food-based analogy finale I just feel I should point out the most glaring issue with A Dame to Kill For’, and that is it’s homogeneity. If not for the odd bit of quality acting, every aspect of the film just sort of blurs together into a directionless mess. The fact two of the stories end with someone plus Marv fighting a house full of bad dudes in suits just stings of a laziness I thought below Rodriguez and co. Or maybe it’s just the pulp-y nature of Sin City pales in comparison to the acting chops of Eva Green and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I don’t know.
The Verdict:
The first Sin City was an impressive mashed potato sculpture: sure it wasn’t made of the most complicated matter, but it was tasty, looked good and was reasonably structurally sound. Sin City: A Dame To Kill For wanted to build something new from the same mash, but gave up and decided to just roll around in it. After a while it found a penny in the mashed potato. How did it get there? Will there be more? Maybe it should roll around some more and hope to find another penny. All it ends up doing is rolling around in the same old potatoey ground hoping it’ll get lucky again. It may be a very enticing pile of starchy goo with the occasional treasure in it, but it’s unfocussed, messy and it’ll ruin your last good trench coat.
Certificate: 18
Directors: Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez
Starring: Ava Gardner, Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke, Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Running Time: 102 minutes
Release Date: 22nd August 2012
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