I had to see this movie twice before I could even attempt to put fingers to keyboard to birth my thoughts. Even now I am having a hard time deciding where to begin. This is such a wonderfully gritty trio of tales that take place under the same sky. It is unlike anything that you have seen, or are likely to see for some time.
I am not terribly familiar with the Sin City graphic novels. There was a time in the early-mid 1990's where I was an avid comic collector, many times I would pick one up and thumb through it, but never bought. They had an intriguing look, more inspired by old noir films and gritty crime novels of the 1950's than the more popular superhero pedigree. Years later I heard that Robert Rodriguez would be attempting an adaptation to the big screen, and it seemed like something that was very close to his heart. Then I forgot about it until it came up on the radar nearing its release date. Then the magic started, the trailers appeared and I was officially hooked. Every time I saw a commercial or trailer I got a little more amped. The one thing I was hoping was that I wasn't setting myself up for a fall. Occasionally I get my hopes up so high that nothing could possibly live up to.
Then the day came, I entered the theater found a seat in the middle in the closer half of the theater and settled down. The screen flickers on and the trailers begin, I don't remember any of them, as my senses were blown away by the feature that graced my eye sockets, so any memory of previews was conveniently obliterated. But, you don't want to hear about trailer s anyway, and I'm just dancing around what you all came here to read, what you really want to know is "Was the movie any good?" The simple answer would be an emphatic YES!
Article comments
1 - Convex
Interesting review. I felt the same way and I am definately not a Rodriguez fan. It just shows what he can do out of his low budget existance and mexican settings. Its like night and day I think, between the trilogy and this.
I wonder, though, which of the 3 (I consider it 4) parts he directed? With Quentin and Miller listed as directors too, this might be what saved it from a Mexico-trilogy feel.
Luckily Quentin was not *in* the movie (at least that I could tell) and limited his involved to directing.
2 - Chris Beaumont
Miller didn't actually direct anything, from what I understand. Due to his cinematic approach to the books, which served as storyboards, and his presence on the set, Rodriguez wanted him to have the title. By dointg that, he had to give up is DGA membership, which cost him some work.
Quentin directed one scene, the one with Clive and Benicio in the car. The majority of this is Rodriguez.
3 - El Bicho
"Miller didn't actually direct anything"
That's incorrect, Chris. Here is an interview with Robert talking about their shared director duties at SuperheroHype.com:
"It was very complementary. I wanted him [Frank] to be a director rather that just there as a writer, a producer, because I felt if (it) just came to that, they might just stick him in the corner and feed him a sandwich every once in a while. But if he was a director, everyone would have to listen to him. I didn't want it to be Robert Rodriguez's 'Sin City'. I loved the book so much, I wanted it to be as close to something that he would do in the movie as possible. And it was very complementary. I tried not to do any contradictory directing. If he told an actor one thing, I wouldn't tell them the exact opposite...He let me handle all the visual stuff. He was really there working with the actors, knowing the characters so well. I didn't know everything about the characters cause it's not all in the book, a lot of it's in his head, and they loved to be able to know where the character was going in future volumes, or what he was thinking when he put it together, and how it should be performed."
http://www.superherohype.com/news/featuresnews.php?id=2759
4 - Chris Beaumont
Thanks for the info!