Sin City - 2005

Robert Rodriguez seems to have sensed something when he pondered making a movie out of Frank Miller's noir graphic novel Sin City. His instincts here seem so spot on its hard for me to imagine he simply took the job 'cause he liked the book. I have to believe it runs deeper than that. The finished product is so seamless and confidently executed that he must have known exactly why he wanted to make this movie. Perhaps what he sensed was a chance to reinvent film noir in a way that could introduce this old form to a new, 21st century audience. If that was his goal he succeeded spectacularly. To say that this is the best comic book to movie adaptation I've ever seen would be an understatement. There isn't anything else even close, though Tim Burton's "Batman" might at least be in the same discussion.

Rodriguez has not attempted to recreate the panels of the graphic novel on screen, instead he's distilled their noir essence and re-imagined them using the larger more expansive medium. In the process he's put green screen/CGI to the most effective use I've seen to date at the movies. Painting with these tools, not trying to create photo-realistic effects with them. This leaves room for something comic books are great at leaving room for but movies have pushed to the curb: your imagination.

The story begins with Detective Hartigan (Bruce Willis) on his way into retirement. Before he moves on into that long night though he has one last case to wrap up. A young girl named Nancy has been kidnapped by the demented son of a US Senator and he needs to save her before she disappears into the lecher's hell like so many before her. His quest will cover many years, stretch his sense of duty to the limit and finally require him to do the unthinkable in order to guarantee Nancy's long term survival.

Once Hartigan's story is set up we fast forward to what passes for the present day in this world and pick up the tale of Marv, a local thug who's been inhabiting his life of late like a bad dream he can't wake from. When he's set up for the murder of the one woman who wasn't afraid to show him her vulnerable side, he finds purpose for his life: vengance. Mickey Rourke's performance is a wonder to behold as he somehow manages to humanize this walking caricature, creating in the process an urban anti-hero for the ages.

Next we meet Dwight (Clive Owen) who has returned to Sin City after extensive plastic surgery meant to hide him from the police who want him for some unexplained murder from an earlier day. Dwight can change his face but he can't change who he is and as a result he allows himself to get caught between a barmaid who he's sweet on and her abusive boyfriend. His unfortunate proclivity for doing the right thing will result in lots of blood being spilled.

This is not a movie for sensitive types. There is stylized blood shed by the gallon, beheadings, torture, nudity, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, castration and lots more. Curiously though, as down and gritty as the proceedings are, there's nary a common profanity anywhere to be heard. These characters don't need them. They live profane lives.

The ensemble cast is rounded out by the sumptuous Carla Gugino, the beautiful Jamie King (pulling double duty as a pair of twin sisters), the (possibly miscast) Jessica Alba (who seems to think stripping is a fairly modest profession), Michael Madsen as a corrupt cop, Elijah Wood as a serial killing cannibal (!), Rutger Hauer as the cannibal's protector, Benecio Del Toro as yet another corrupt cop, Rosario Dawson as the unofficial queen of Old Town and Brittany Murphy in her last substantive role.

Yet as impressive as the cast is it's never a distraction; testament to the abilities of the the actor's involved as well as the fact that the story - being from a kind of parallel universe and buttressed by the constant visual splendor - demands you pay attention even if it is, at its core, standard noir fare. Rodriguez also deserves much credit for successfully managing what might have turned into an ego-overload situation in the hands of a less confident director.

Sin City is so good, so unique in its treatment of the movie screen that it may turn out to be a one-off. Any attempts to emulate it will look like just that. It will require a creative director indeed to take what Rodriguez has done here and use it as a point of departure for something newer still. In the meantime though we have Sin City: dark, enigmatic, terribly beautiful, evocative and ground breaking. I don't know what else a person can ask of a film.