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valis2Just watched Sin City this afternoon.
I haven't read the source material, keep that in mind.
It is rarely within me to wholly like or dislike a movie. In this movie I found more things to like than dislike, which is a good thing.
I liked the framing, the cinematography of the shots, the beautiful effects for certain scenes that made it look like a comic come to life. I liked many of the characters, was interested in them, liked the open-ended nature of the stories. It was interesting that "screaming" and "not screaming" were such highly charged concepts in this movie; the use or non-use of the voice had many further implications than just the obvious sound/no sound, implications of giving in, giving up, giving pleasure...
I also liked the sparing use of color, and the alternate colors of blood. I love Clive Owen and thought he was mighty fine. I thought Benicio Del Toro was the highlight of the movie. Nothing could set him back in his quest for the role. I liked Mickey Rourke. I liked Jessica Alba. I liked Brittany Murphy. She has one line with a knife that I thought was terrific.
I liked the inter-connectiveness of the plot, how everything is spread out yet unified.
What I didn't like?
The stilted nature of the dialogue, and the difficulty some people had performing it. Del Toro really did a great job with it, but at points Willis sounded forced, and others too. In some scenes it was extremely glaring. I know that they were trying for a retro look, and retro dialogue, but it just seemed so forced, and I kept giggling at some of the clichéd lines. Really giggling.
I also thought that it was odd to have a just a bit of surreality in it. If you're going for magic realism, I say go for broke, and enchant the whole thing. There were only a few instances of oddity, and they just were weird instead of integrated.
I thought that the Hooker Death Squad thing was ridiculous and funny, and not in a good way. I thought that the Cops Vs Prostitutes and the "Truce" and the Oldtown mentality was absolutely ludicrous, especially since I couldn't imagine all the prostitutes working together like that and no one getting difficult.
Overall...I'd have to say it was...good, but not so good that I'd rec it, honestly. I liked it, mostly for verve and unusual characters and for all of the implications that weren't on the screen, but I think that it isn't for everyone, at all. I kept cringing because it seemed to suffer from the Quentin Tarantino too much style/gore problem. Style doesn't always mean killing everyone onscreen. What saved it were all of the little moments, like where Marv thinks perhaps he's gotten really confused about what's going on.
I haven't read the source material, keep that in mind.
It is rarely within me to wholly like or dislike a movie. In this movie I found more things to like than dislike, which is a good thing.
I liked the framing, the cinematography of the shots, the beautiful effects for certain scenes that made it look like a comic come to life. I liked many of the characters, was interested in them, liked the open-ended nature of the stories. It was interesting that "screaming" and "not screaming" were such highly charged concepts in this movie; the use or non-use of the voice had many further implications than just the obvious sound/no sound, implications of giving in, giving up, giving pleasure...
I also liked the sparing use of color, and the alternate colors of blood. I love Clive Owen and thought he was mighty fine. I thought Benicio Del Toro was the highlight of the movie. Nothing could set him back in his quest for the role. I liked Mickey Rourke. I liked Jessica Alba. I liked Brittany Murphy. She has one line with a knife that I thought was terrific.
I liked the inter-connectiveness of the plot, how everything is spread out yet unified.
What I didn't like?
The stilted nature of the dialogue, and the difficulty some people had performing it. Del Toro really did a great job with it, but at points Willis sounded forced, and others too. In some scenes it was extremely glaring. I know that they were trying for a retro look, and retro dialogue, but it just seemed so forced, and I kept giggling at some of the clichéd lines. Really giggling.
I also thought that it was odd to have a just a bit of surreality in it. If you're going for magic realism, I say go for broke, and enchant the whole thing. There were only a few instances of oddity, and they just were weird instead of integrated.
I thought that the Hooker Death Squad thing was ridiculous and funny, and not in a good way. I thought that the Cops Vs Prostitutes and the "Truce" and the Oldtown mentality was absolutely ludicrous, especially since I couldn't imagine all the prostitutes working together like that and no one getting difficult.
Overall...I'd have to say it was...good, but not so good that I'd rec it, honestly. I liked it, mostly for verve and unusual characters and for all of the implications that weren't on the screen, but I think that it isn't for everyone, at all. I kept cringing because it seemed to suffer from the Quentin Tarantino too much style/gore problem. Style doesn't always mean killing everyone onscreen. What saved it were all of the little moments, like where Marv thinks perhaps he's gotten really confused about what's going on.