'Sin City: A Dame To Kill For' review by Captain Raptor

'Sin City: A Dame To Kill For' review by Jake Boyle

Spy Kids aside, Robert Rodriguez's career is practically defined by his close working relationship (and even closer similarities) to Tarantino; if this is indeed the case, then Sin City was his Pulp Fiction - interlinking stories told in a non-linear fashion, violent antiheroes (some of which are played by Bruce Willis) and a world where everybody is a criminal of some sort. Frank Miller's involvement, both as creator of the original graphic novel and as co-director, might be what elevated it to Rodriguez's (arguably) best work - sleek comic book visuals and a captivating setting made of equal parts twisted craziness and twisted darkness.

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For is concrete proof of the law of diminishing returns.  The returning characters are every bit as grizzled and tortured as they were (and Jessica Alba even has her turn at the rough-voiced bitter narration as Nancy descends into the vengeance-fuelled violence that seems to control all the citizens), but they just feel like they're going through the motions. Fan-favourite Marv is played with just as much gusto by Mickey Rourke and kicks just as much ass, but the majority of his presence in the film seems very forced, and this rubs off on how much his gruff bravado can be enjoyed. Bruce Willis reappears as a ghost (never mentioned as such, but that which we call a ghost would by any other name be as dead), and although there has always been some leftfield components in the mix (That Yellow Bastard, for example), introducing what seems to be supernatural is distracting and moderately confusing, especially when it's barely explained. The visuals are still spectacular, but to keep them interesting, the ante has been upped - more animated sequences, more flashes of colour amidst the monochrome surroundings - meaning that there's less of the stylish noir look that made everything look so good. That said, very few directors know their way around a camera like Rodriguez, and some sequences such as a rooftop massacre or a midnight swimming session are sharply, dynamically and even somewhat beautifully shot. 

Like its predecessor, A Dame To Kill For consists of three major plotlines with interwoven characters, and it's the one story about an original character that's the stand-out success. Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives a typically masterful performance as a cocksure gambler out to win big, acing both the highs (smug grins and sly one-liners) and the lows (grievous bodily harm and humiliation - the inevitable outcome of challenging Basin City's elite Roark family) with inimitable coolness. The story itself is the most intelligent, and consequently the most surprising - the ending is so wonderfully nihilistic, and reinforces all that we've come to know and love about this dark, seductive city. The new side characters to this one are also sublime - although they only have one scene each, a grumbling Christopher Lloyd and a barely recognisable Lady Gaga provoke more thought than all the returning 'heroes' combined, and provide just as much entertainment. However, not all the new elements are as successful - Eva Green's eponymous dame is such an exaggeratedly malevolent femme fatale that she feels like she belongs more in an Austin Powers movie. The recasting of many characters is a problem too - Dennis Haysbert gives a good performance, but he's incomparable to the sheer menace of the sadly departed Michael Clarke Duncan's screen presence; Jamie Chung fails to bring as much threatening stoicism as Devon Aoki did to the role of Miho; and as much as it pains me to say this, Josh Brolin was nowhere near as good as Clive Owen. The action is as pleasingly brutal as ever, and people mangle each other with the same level of enthusiasm, but the darkly funny nature of both this and the film in general has gently faded.

Although this review mostly contains criticisms, I did enjoy watching this movie; I just enjoyed the original so much more. Despite the brilliance of the Joseph Gordon-Levitt section, Sin City: A Dame To Kill For is inferior to its predecessor on every level. However, so are many other films, and if you remove the weight of expectation, this movie comes out looking pretty good. The main problem is that which plagues many prequels - we're moving backwards when we should be moving forwards. Marv, Hartigan, Dwight and Nancy are awesome, but we've already told the best stories they have to tell. Anything else is just disappointing, especially when Rodriguez and Miller prove that they're still capable of adding interesting characters to the universe. I'd like to see a third film where they've learnt from the mistakes and successes of this one, but I'm not entirely upset that the lousy commercial performance of A Dame To Kill For rules out that possibility.