There is no better way to see this contrast, and to have the colors leap out at you, than by watching it on Blu-ray on your HDTV. Seriously folks, I have never seen a better transfer to HD in my entire movie-viewing life. Sin City raised the bar with their image quality, and they clearly are ready to set the new standard. Marv’s blood jumps at me, with the red glistening and reflecting just like it would in real life. The pert pink nipples of Goldie, well, let’s just say that they were very lifelike. Movements of fabrics, hair, and even bullets didn’t seem to cause any ghosting or blurring, which is very rare in a transfer. Everything in Sin City looked perfect, and it all looked absolutely jaw dropping.
Adding to the intensity of the coloring and quality of the movie, the sound that came out of my 5.1 system just shattered my perceptions of what was possible. The narration was front and foremost, the dialog was perfectly balanced, and the score streamed by my ears. I was fully immersed into the story, and I actually jumped in surprise when I heard sounds behind me. To give you an example of what it felt like, imagine being in a city and having somebody shoot at you: first the bullet whips by you (rush of wind), then you hear the gun (bang bang), followed by random ricocheting in the distance (for about 10 seconds). This is exactly how it sounded coming from my system, and this just amazed me.
When I see a movie with great image quality, I normally expect to see fewer extras, as they need the room on the discs. Sin City is not the norm. The two-disc Blu-ray edition is jam-packed with extras and special additions. I really liked the extended and re-cut versions of the movie. We see far more interactions between the characters, more intertwining of the stories, and a better take on Miller’s novel. In reality, I really do not understand why these scenes were cut and believe that they should have been in the original version. The only downside here is that they are told story by story, and that really throws off the way you might have seen this in theaters.
My favorite extra, however, is “The Long Take”. This is a 14 minute look into a scene directed by the great Quentin Tarantino. In the scene, Dwight imagines that he is talking to the dead Jackie Boy. Hilarity ensues. I really liked the conversation, the actions, and the emotion that both actors put out here. As the actual film used less then 10 seconds of this clip, I am really glad that they added it into the film, and it is something that I recommend to everybody.
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