05 April 2005
MOVIE: SIN CITY (2005).
Crime, violence, and corruption run rampant in Basin City. This film, adapted from three books in Frank Miller's classic comic book series, is freakin' amazing. So stylized—many shots looked like huge frame reproductions of Miller's striking graphic style, towering with Franz Klein-esque monochromatic power. And the violence (amputee victims of cannibalism, throats slit so badly that the head flops backward) made the audience cringe with a thrilling shock and disgust that I haven't seen since the Kill Bill series. O yes. We have a movie here indeed.
Makes sense: Robert Rodriguez directs, and Quentin Tarantino plays a big producer role. We have trademark, overtly fake special effects that evoke Old Hollywood. And small, ingeniously revolting details, like the gunfight through an open car window which results in the incidental perforation of the seated passenger's head. Such boldness of creative choice (camera, violence, dialogue, nudity) strongly portrays a world in which anything can happen at any moment. It's a riveting form of tension.
The funny thing is that when I originally read the comic books, I thought that all of its uber-noir posturing and ultraviolence were simply cool. Translated in big-screen live action, it's a completely different, highly visceral affair—but still cool as hell. Makes me want to petition to have Rodriguez make films out of Dark Knight Returns and Ronin, too.
Yeeeesh.
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