Sin City 2: una dama por la cual mataría

I got to see an advance screening last night. If you're a fan of the first Sin City, you won't be disappointed. It's more of the same, but that's a good thing: hyper-stylized visuals, intense violence, plenty of splattered blood. Film Noir cranked up to 11.

Jessica Alba doing her stripper grind? CHECK. Mickey Rourke causing much harm? CHECK. Josh Brolin is new to the franchise and he is GREAT! JGL is new to the franchise and he is GREAT! But the film really belongs to Powers Boothe. He is just pure evil. If you liked him as Cy Tolliver in Deadwood you'll love him in this.

The only drawback is that the original Miho (Asian female killer) was apparently pregnant at the time of the filming of the sequel, so they had to replace her. That's kind of a bummer.

Fans of the comic / graphic novel will be happy. Fans of Robert Rodriguez will be happy. GO!

Visually is more of the same and that's good because Sin City visuals are amazing. When it comes to the story itself I personally didn't enjoyed it as much as the first movie especially that with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, that one seemed really pointless. The main story and the one that gives this movie his name was acceptable and the last story gave closure about a previous story. It lacks the brilliant narration of the characters thoughts that the first one had, this still has it but in a minor quantity and without the poetry that the first one had that should be also due to the change of writers because the overall writing in this one felt worst. The action scenes were good but again not as enjoyable as in the first movie and not as violent too. Not a bad movie by any means but when you have that first masterfully done Sin City to compare this doesn't feel as god as it could.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is not a bad idea on paper. Frank Miller's Sin City universe is a rich and interesting setting, and as the first Sin City film proved, it translates to the silver screen beautifully. Unfortunately they decided to stick all the best stories into the first film, thus guaranteeing its success, but leaving the possible sequel without much material to use. Not that the stories used here are bad, they're just not as great as the ones used in the first one. Tellingly Miller was actually called back to write two new stories exclusively for the film. It shows.

However, there is one exception. The story named A Dame to Kill For. Considered to be one of the better stories in the original comic books, it's a good thing they still had one such story to wrap their movie around. And it is awesome. Just as good as the stories in the original film with same great quality acting, hardcore action and brutal visuals. No complaints.

The second adaptation story, Just Another Saturday Night, is really nothing more than an Ode to Marv (Mickey Rourke), and that's okay in my books. It doesn't have much of a plot, and the supporting characters are nonexistent, but it's a good opening piece.

The Long Bad Night, the first of the new stories, works because of its actors. Both Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Powers Boothe have amazing screen presence and as they're pitted against one another throughout the night the stakes keep getting higher and higher, with satisfying results. A fine story and I could see this as an original Sin City story.

Nancy's Last Dance, our last story, is unfortunately the weakest story by far. They clearly wanted to give Jessica Alba something more to chew with her character, but it just doesn't have that edge. You don't buy it. Still not awful, merely average.

Aside from the material, the biggest problem is the common sequel problem where they want to do the same that worked so well in the original, but with more oomph. Here it means more colour spliced into the black-n-white, and it's very distracting. The original used colour carefully, for emphasis, for popping up important details. Here it seems that every single frame has a splotch of colour in it, usually for no reason, they just wanted colour in their frames. And thus the distinct visual style of Sin City is shattered.

All in all Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is not a bad film by any means. It's disappointing, certainly, but only because I love the first film so much, and wanted more of that greatness, no matter how impossible it is to achieve. Still, a great movie to check out if you're a fan, but don't expect miracles.

OK, maybe this movie isn't aimed at "mature" audiences, but for adults looking for a trashy good time at the movies then you won't get a movie any better than this. If you want to see unrelenting brutality & most of Eva Green you will get your money's worth & then some.

Green totally owns the "Dame" role that she was perfectly cast for. When her story ends the movie does drop off (fortunately her story is most of the movie).

The "Sin City look" is enhanced by 3D (I normally avoid 3D) & rates as one of the best uses of 3D I've ever seen. Fans (like me) of Miller's "A Dame To Kill For" comic book will be thrilled at it's obsessive loyalty to word & frame screen treatment. It looks fantastic! (Maybe, I mean to say that Green looks fantastic. It's both.) I don't get all the criticism of how this "look" has grown tiresome --not for me in 3D.

All the actors in big roles to small look like they are having a sinful amount of fun, but Joseph Gordon-Levitt is almost as strong as Green in a new role in one the new stories written for the movie. If you saw "Looper" (or "Inception") you already know that JGL can play a tough guy despite his physical size.

Make no mistake this movie is a feature length Roadrunner cartoon for adults --emphasis on "adults"--with all of the ridiculous action & over- the-top violence that only a cartoon can get away with because of the way it's rendered.(No kids, please: there is just enough gore that isn't so cartoonish to make it unfit for children.)

Like the first Sin City 9 years ago, this new Sin City is B-movie bliss. (I still don't like Jessica Alba as "Nancy".)

*Minor spoilers involving structure of the film, no plot points*

In short, it isn't nearly as bad as everyone is saying. Let me elaborate.

In case people don't know, the first Sin City from 2005 was based on the 1st, 3rd and 4th books in the 7 part series by Frank Miller. These follow the story lines of Marv, Dwight and Hartigan respectively. In addition to those, there are also a few shorts thrown in, either from the books or not. So, needless to say, Sin City and its sequel are both anthology films. If you want one single story that takes 2 hours, this may not be your thing.

Sin City 2 follows almost the exact same structure as the original, which I found nice. Sure they didn't do anything original with the structure, which was sort of playing it safe, but I liked it. It felt familiar and reminded me of the original which I loved very much. It begins with another short story, this time starring Marv. It rocks. It continues on with a new story not contained in any of the books. It stars Johnny, a gambler who "never loses". Mid way through, we cut to another story. This is the 2nd book, titled "A Dame to Kill For". If you've read this, you won't see anything new. Like with the first film, they essentially translated the story from page to screen, and it works for the most part. There was one detail I didn't like, but it doesn't last long. Then after that, we finish up the story with Johnny, and finally, we get to the revenge mission involving Nancy and her hunt for Senator Rourke. That's all I'll say about that.

Everyone is complaining about how the movie looks like a cutscene from a video game. They are sort of right, but not entirely. Even after waiting 2 weeks, I was unable to find a theatre in my city showing the film in 2d. It seems like this is happening more and more now. If you want to see an action movie in theatres, it's 3d whether you like it or not. Now, having not seen a 2d version to make a comparison, I can say that the 3d is most likely what makes it look so video game-y. I'm sure in 2d it'll look slightly better at least.

Update: I did see it in 1080p and in 2D, and it does look less like a video game cutscene. You can still tell that there's a lot of CGI, but it's done better than a lot of films.

Also, greenscreen sets have been used for over a decade now, I don't see why people are complaining so much. Everything is a CGI-fest these days, and this story, with a fantastic setting and extraordinary physics pulls it off nicely. You can tell, but it's far from awful.

Everyone is saying they loved the first one, but hated this one. I don't see how that's possible. They stuck very close to the original in most ways, such as cinematography, soundtrack, and directing, all of which were great (for a Sin City movie). Sure it isn't a masterpiece my any means, and it's not as good as the first, but it's super entertaining, very violent, and is sure to please anyone who enjoys the books or the first film. Forget all those jaded movie snobs saying it sucks. They're just focusing on all the negatives, and letting that cloud their vision of the awesome stuff.