What made the \Sin City"" graphic novels unique was there noir-ish nature. The stories took a style popular in the '40s and '50s and adapted it for a comic book medium. ""Sin City"" works as a movie, because it stays true to the comic book's use of film style.
""Sin City"" tells three slightly intertwined stories. The links between each story are not as strongly established as ""Pulp Fiction,"" and each story can largely stand on its own. The first part tells the story of Marv, an ex-con played by Mickey Rourke, who sets out for revenge after someone murders the one girl who loved him. From Marv's story, the narrative jumps to Dwight's story of prostitutes battling the law and the mob. Finally, things conclude with Hartigan, played by Bruce Willis. Hartigan saves 11-year-old Nancy from a rapist, only to have to save her again eight years later.
""Sin City"" oozes style. While the stories are unique, the style is amazing. It makes extensive use of green screen in order to recreate the backgrounds from the comic books. Last year's ""Sky Captain"" tried this all-green-screen approach, but fell flat on its face because the story could not approach the level of effects. ""Sin City's"" story can and does match the unique style, making for an amazing viewing experience.
Directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller also carry over the intense violence from the graphic novels. This movie pulls no punches and is a hard R-rating. Hands get sliced off, people get tortured and cut in half and appendages are shot off, all in gory detail.
The movie actually features more violence than the comics, because of the unique portrayal of blood. Most of the scenes are shot in black and white, yet when a hand gets cut off, or someone gets blown away, the blood comes out in a rich red fashion. The red against the pure black-and-white stands out as a great contrast.
""Sin City"" might be the most accurate comic book adaptation ever, and this is largely because of the excellent cast. Not only is the cast pedigreed, with numerous acting awards, they also fit their characters perfectly. Benicio Del Toro as the corrupt cop Jackie Boy gives a humorous, yet frightening performance, while Elijah Wood as a mute cannibal is truly inspired casting.
Credit must be given to Rodriguez and Miller as well as ""Special Guest Director"" Quentin Tarantino for their excellent take on the source material. While Miller wrote the comics and knew them well, ""Sin City"" could have easily fallen flat on its face. However, these directors prompted excellent performances, and tied the film together in a flowing fashion which caused the two-hour runtime to blaze past.
Very few drawbacks exist in ""Sin City,"" and the ones that do are merely nitpicks-Brittany Murphy is incapable of acting, and some of the special effects of cars driving look odd. Those are the only real problems with the movie, and they are easily ignored.
Rodriguez made ""Sin City"" as a labor of love. He sought out Miller to get his blessing for the adaptation. He dropped out of the Director's Guild of America when they said he could not have Miller be a ""co-director."" These sacrifices and his belief in the project paid off, because he's currently responsible for the best film of 2005.
