I'll start by saying that I've read some of the stories contained in the movie Sin City and some that aren't.  There's one story that's in the movie that I didn't read, but that's just because it wasn't in the bag that was loaned to me.  I read the stories recently due to the urging of some of my friends, and I read them all over a weekend.  So the stories and the art are fresh in my mind.  I have not been waiting for this movie for ten years like a lot of the fans of the original graphic novels.  I was always aware of Sin City's existence, but I just never read it.  Being a fan of darker stories and subject matter, I really enjoyed the ones I read.  So I've been looking forward to the movie ever since.  When reading reviews for movies, I think it is important to know what the reviewer takes into the movie.  It will ultimately affect what they take out of it.

Sin City is a world.  It is a setting.  The movie Sin City is a small sampling of some of the stories that take place there.  The world of Sin City is dark and colorless, and the inhabitants are people of questionable moral fiber.  The comics have a distinct visual flavor to them; they are all drawn in high-contrast black and white.  There is no gray or shading.  There is either ink or paper.  Once in a while you get a dab of color to emphasize something, but mostly it's all values.  I really like the look of the comics because it is like Frank Miller is only drawing light.  Sometimes you can only see someone's face because they're lighting a cigarette and the flame is illuminating their features, or they're firing a gun and the muzzle-flash is casting snapshot shadows behind them.  The film recreates this distinct look as well as can be done with live action footage and CGI.

Sin City's opening might worry you if you're not ready.  Because of the black and white, the film noir voice-over, and the music, you might think you're watching one of the SNL skits that come on between 12:30am and 1:00am.  It looks and feels pretty silly.  However, once you settle in and get used to the setting and the way the characters talk, the movie will start to work for you.  The film is made up of four stories, but this is not Creepshow, so you're not going to get a title sequence for each one.  You transition from one story to the next very naturally.  It opens with a short story that is either called The Customer is Always Right or The Babe Wore Red, I can't remember which. Then it goes into the first half of That Yellow Bastard, followed by The Hard Goodbye, followed by The Big Fat Kill, and culminating in the second half of That Yellow Bastard.

That Yellow Bastard is the story I didn't have an opportunity to read before seeing the film.  This section of the film was not my favorite, but I did like Powers Boothe as Senator Rourk.  I think it was because they used some really pale contact lenses in his eyes that made him look a little vampiric.  He seems to be savoring every line, too, which is good when spouting villainous dialogue.  He's no Ricardo Montalban, but he's fun to watch.  Bruce Willis was a little flat for me as the grizzled Hartigan, but his performance gets better in the second half of the story.  The same goes for Nick Stahl as Rourk, Jr and later the Yellow Bastard.  He really isn't very interesting until the second half.  Once he becomes yellow, he starts to shine.  I was hoping that they would not give a reason for him to be yellow.  Until he lays out what happened to him to make him that way, I assumed it was just because of the disgusting and despicable life he was leading.  That his thoughts and actions were so vile that it was changing him physically to match.  Now, let's talk about Jessica Alba.  Jessica Alba plays Nancy.  Nancy is sort of a stripper goddess in Old Town.  No one messes with her and everyone worships her.  In the stories that I read, Nancy never played a major part.   She was always just dancing topless in the cowboy outfit.  Jessica Alba does not appear naked in the movie, and (I can't believe I'm saying this) I think it works to her benefit.  It makes her character much more innocent and sympathetic and less dangerous.  Regardless of her topless-lessness, she is quite beautiful in the film.

The Hard Goodbye was the first Sin City story I read, and I believe it was the first one to come out.  It's the story of Marv.  Marv is one of those classic comic book characters that people have wanted to see done right on the big screen for a long time.  As I said before, I only read these stories recently, but I was always aware of Sin City and I always knew that Marv was a part of it.  Mickey Rourke plays Marv as if he was born to do it.  He delivers the lines perfectly, he inhabits the shape comfortably, and he exudes the menace that the character requires.  I was really glad to see that they got Marv's profile right.  It's important to readers of the books.  The other great character from The Hard Goodbye is Kevin.  I don't want to spoil anything about Kevin so I'll just say that Elijah Wood is excellent casting and I think it's great that he would accept that role.  One problem I did have was that this segment of the film felt like it moved too fast for me.  Maybe that is because I spent so much time looking at the art and rereading sections of it that it took me a while to get through it all.  They did cut one part which I would liked to have seen where Marv has to go to his mother's house to get Gladys, his gun.  I'm sure they shot it, and it will be on the DVD.  On the flip side, they did have a quick scene that I really liked from the comic where Marv is driving down the street with the driver side door open and holding a guy's face down on the road as he goes.  It sounds brutal, and it is, but that is who Marv is.  Did I mention he's the hero of The Hard Goodbye, not the villain?  That's right.  That is Sin City.

The other story in the film is The Big Fat Kill.  Where The Hard Goodbye is a Marv story, The Big Fat Kill is a Dwight story.  I read three Dwight stories, so I really liked Dwight as a character.  If they do a sequel, I'd like to see A Dame to Die For (I think that's the name) which is a Dwight story with Marv about how Dwight got his face all messed up (there is a single line in the movie about him having a "new face" that is reference to this story).  Clive Owen is great as Dwight, although not as agile as in the comic.  But then again, who is?  Rosario Dawson plays Gail, who runs the prostitutes of Old Town.  I was not drawn to Gail as a character in either the books or the film, but Rosario Dawson does a fine enough job of bringing the character to life.  Most fans of The Big Fat Kill will be looking for the appearance of Miho...Deadly Little Miho.  I liked Miho in the comic, but she's just *there* in the movie.  Maybe that kind of character just does not translate well to the screen.  Regardless, she's fun to watch.

If you think I'm being vague and talking around what the movie is actually about, that is because I am.  I think the stories work really well without any preconceptions.  If someone asks me what Sin City is about, I guess I'd say it is about bad people doing bad things in a bad town.  That even sounds like something out of the movie.  Detractors will say that Sin City is too violent.  Well, it is based on the books, and the books are violent.  I mean it is startling how close the images from the movie parallel the images from the book (click here for a comparison but beware of spoilers and nudity).  So why weren't you complaining when the books came out all those years ago?  Yes it is a violent, gritty, amoral movie.  So what?  So don't see it, and don't take your damn kids to see it, for Christ's sake.  I liked the books and I liked the movie.  I think the direction and cinematography are beautiful, I think the portrayals of these over-the-top characters are believable, and I like the stories Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez are telling.  If that makes me a bad person, I'm OK with that.  I'll just get a place with Marv and Dwight down in Basin City and start smoking.