Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Prequel/Sequel: “Sin City” (2005)

Welcome back to Sin City. Be prepared for a journey of human tragedy, degradation, torture, violence, corruption, sex, lust, manipulation, cheating, lying and profanity. First things first, if you haven’t seen “Sin City” (2005), don’t see this. This is a very close follow-on with identical characters and continued story line that doesn’t make sense without its predecessors context.

In the same style, “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For,” tells the story of several characters, Marv (Mickey Rourke), a hardened, almost inhuman man monster who enjoys violence and fighting, but has a soft heart. Dwight (Josh Brolin), a private investigator, is an ex-loser and addict who has kicked alcohol and drugs to turn his life around, but remains emotionally connected to an old lover. Nancy (Jessica Alba), a dancer/stripper at a local bar, continues her job haunted by the death of her protector and lover John Hartigan (Bruce Willis) and is determined to wreak revenge on the man responsible. The final main character is Johnny (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a sleight of hand master, who never loses at cards until he beats the wrong man. With these being the basis for every running storyline, director Robert Rodriguez takes on a winding and roller coaster journey of swindling and violent crooks all seeking what they want most at any cost.

As with the first film, there are “good guys” that the audience supports. There are serious moral issues with each main protagonist. Marv is a psychopath, Dwight never dealt with his past issues, Nancy an obsessed suicidal manic depressive, and Johnny a cheat and swindler. However, when faced with the antagonists, a brutal and sadistic Senator, a twisted and manipulative rich Lord’s wife, frat boy bullies setting homeless men on fire for fun, and others, you can almost convince yourself to overlook our heros’ weaknesses. It is a film made to bring out the deepest and darkest twisted evil inside the human soul, and this film doesn’t hold back.

We are affronted with an array of violence, in extreme forms. Broken and deformed fingers on screen multiple times, multiple beatings, shootings, stabbings, decapitations, and onscreen deaths. Many of these are stylized highly, with blood turned to white to fit with the film noir genre. However, you can’t hide behind cinematography. The violence is at times gruesome and disturbing.

The nudity has taken what the first movie gave us, and increased it five-fold. Not only do we see a number of sex scenes (with many female breasts seen), but also full frontal female nudity on several occasions. There is male nudity from behind. A big theme is the prostitutes that run Old Town with an iron fist. All of them are dressed scantily, and provocatively. Nancy, the dancer from Kadie’s, the joint in Sin City, adorns several very risqué outfits, and dances suggestively. These are done to gain attention to her, and will have an effect on male watchers.

The profanity is heavy, instead of extreme, due to the lack of genuine strong language. The F-word is used once towards the end, but the rest of the film is laced with insults, innuendo, slurs (both sexual and racial), and many others.

There is nothing positive in this movie. It is designed to show the base level of mankind and every debauched act they take part in. There is lust, craving for violence, revenge, misuse of power, rejection of family, adultery, cheating, murder, and sin of every kind. Appropriate title then…

Does this stand up to “Sin City” of 2005? Is it a worthy sequel? No. It’s a rip-off, an over done piece of rubbish that has been created in the name of art without ever giving us an experience of true cinematography. It is entirely shot on green screen, and is heavily narrated due to the film noir genre/graphic novel style it represents. The actors are talented individuals, the makeup is good, the script average compared to the first film. There is no excitement or story jumps to make us fall in and ask for more.

I cannot give any more information, as this short summary gives you all you need to know. As a continuation of the base of mankind story this gives, “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” is the base of moviemaking in the 21st century. This is one to be missed.

Violence: Extreme / Profanity: Heavy / Sex/Nudity: Extreme

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.