Thursday, March 16, 2006

Top 250 Challenge: 114

Sin City
Number 61 on IMDb’s Top 250

Nominated by Mick

Basin City is infested with criminals, crooked cops and sexy dames, some searching for vengeance, some for redemption and others, both. The film incorporates storylines from three of Frank Miller's graphic novels including 'Sin City,' which launched the long-running, critically acclaimed series, as well as 'That Yellow Bastard' and 'The Big Fat Kill.' The story follows Bruce Willis as Hartigan, a cop with a bum ticker and a vow to protect stripper Nancy (Jessica Alba), Mickey Rourke as Marv, the outcast misanthrope on a mission to avenge the death of his one true love, Goldie (Jaime King), and Clive Owen as Dwight, the clandestine love of Shelley (Brittany Murphy), who spends his nights defending Gail (Rosario Dawson) and her Old Towne girls (Devon Aoki and Alexis Bledel) from Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro), a dirty cop with a penchant for violence. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: This was one of several films around the world to be shot on a completely "digital backlot" (i.e. with all the acting shot in front of a green screen and the backgrounds added during post-production). While the other movies (Immortel (ad vitam) (2004), Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), and Casshern (2004) - two of which were shot on film) were shot first, this movie's use of High-Definition digital cameras (like "Sky Captain") in addition to the "backlot" method makes Sin City one of the world's first "fully-digital" live action motion pictures.

This is a wholly amazing movie to watch. If you ever wanted to “watch” a graphic novel, this is the movie for you. The visual style of this movie just blows you away. Each scene could come straight out of one of Frank Miller’s novels, even down to the actors looking like their characters. Couple that with dialog and personal monologues that match the stark look of the film and you have a pretty dad gum good movie. Thanks Mick.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's definatley not for everyone. Pretty graphic violence, but because it has such a comic book feel the violence is over the top and never comes across as "too" realistic even though there's a ton of it.

Will said...

Good point. It is violent but in a very comic bookish way.

It is definately not a Mom Movie.

beckn32 said...

It's not much of a Kim movie either. I rented it but didn't even end up putting it in the DVD player. (I tend to rent a lot of movies and have been known not to get to watch them before having to turn them in) I guess I'll have to try it again after readomg y'alls comments.