The review

I agree with the review as it takes neither side, it narrows the film down to, "You simply appreciate this genre for what it is, or you don't." This is true in many ways, as this genre will appeal more so to Males than Females, it will only appeal to people who enjoy Art house influenced films. Sin City with it's odd graphics, intertwining narrative structure and gritty feel will appeal to a certain type of person, a person who appreciates certain directors, comics, actors and so forth.

Washington Post Review

So Good, It's 'Sin'-ful

By Desson Thomson

Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 1, 2005; Page WE43

Here goes: "Frank Miller's Sin City" is the hippest, darkest flick I've seen all year. It's not even April, mind you. So that was easy to say. But you get the picture. A movie composed of three edge-of-your-seat sagas, it's co-directed by Miller (the cool cat who wrote the 1991 graphic novel series that rocked a generation) and Robert Rodriguez, who made "El Mariachi" and "From Dusk Till Dawn." And Quentin Tarantino, the official pimp daddy of indie-chic, even gets to guest-direct.

Tarantino, incidentally, does a scene in which Dwight, a private investigator, played by Clive Owen, is stopped by cops at a very inconvenient moment. He happens to have his trunk loaded with severed body parts, and his passenger is sitting dead in the front seat with an all-but-severed head. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

"Sin City" takes us to Basin City, where corruption is the order of the day and daylight never seems to last too long. The cops are dirty, the hookers are armed and empowered like gangstas, and the tough guys are built like brick houses but they still get beat up anyway. It's those sleazy bars they go to. And those dames they get hooked on. In a tough world like this, it's easy to fall in love. Gives them something to believe in.

Take Marv (Mickey Rourke), a sinewy fireplug of a guy. Laughs when cops or punks rip his face. Spits out blood nonchalantly when the cops give him the once-over. But melts like an ice pop in July when a goddess beauty (Jaime King) called Goldie drapes herself around him and takes him home. Marv wakes up to find her dead and spends the rest of his life looking for the killers who iced the love of his life.

Then there's Dwight. With emotional ties to his prostitute pals, he does everything he can to save them after the death of a group of cops threatens to provoke a brutal war between the call gals and the boys in blue. That's where the hacked body parts come in. But Dwight does it for love.

An unexpected romance proves to be the spiritual guiding light for John Hartigan (Bruce Willis), who's just about the only good cop in Sin City. After an 11-year-old girl is apprehended, he risks everything to save her from a dirty cop (Michael Madsen) and a bizarre sadist (Nick Stahl) with connections in high places.

These dramas of tough, almost bionic guys and elusive, slinky women are extreme versions of the underworld sensibility that has governed a billion crime novels and films noirs of the 1940s and '50s. Miller became a cult hero for such edgy, comic book creations as Elektra (the ninja assassin) and Ronin (a hard-core samurai figure). But the "Sin City" series was his pulp fiction masterpiece. The idea of making a movie of "Sin City" would seem to be an instant disaster -- how could a film do justice to the gritty idiosyncrasies of his work?

But with their translations of Miller's "The Hard Goodbye," "The Big Fat Kill" and "That Yellow Bastard," Miller and Rodriguez have achieved the near-impossible: reproducing the pictorial reality of those comic book stories onto the screen. Visually, this has been done with digital enhancement, darkly perfected sets and masterful makeup. The performers look part-cartoon and part-human and thoroughly convincing.

But all the visual splendor in the world means nothing without effective performances. The list of memorables is long: Rourke has found his greatest role since "The Pope of Greenwich Village." Willis is his usual authoritatively tough-and-tender self. Owen and Benicio Del Toro (as a menacingly jealous boyfriend named Jackie Boy) are outstanding. And Elijah Wood is so luminously creepy as the psychopathic Kevin, you'd swear he just sprang fully formed from an M. Night Shyamalan nightmare. And those are just the guys. The women are equally formidable, including Jessica Alba as Hartigan's icon dream girl; Rosario Dawson as an Uzi-packing hooker named Gail; Brittany Murphy as a savvy, tenderhearted waitress who links all three stories; and Devon Aoki as Miho, a deadly streetwalker who uses the same swords we enjoyed in Tarantino's "Kill Bill" movies.

Yes, "Sin City" is an orgy of cynical violence, but it's a winkingly surface grimness, just like its B-movie/pulp novel ancestors. You simply appreciate this genre for what it is, or you don't. Rodriguez and company have so faithfully captured Miller's essence, there's something beautiful about the whole thing. It's an act of inspired reverence. Whether or not the movie does well in its theatrical first run, it's a guaranteed must-see for its generation. "Sin City" has a long, long shelf life ahead.

Sin City clips on Youtube

There aren't anymore clips on Youtube, all I seem to find are trailers and music videos.

Clip Analysis

Media Language: A black and white effect to coincide with the film noir genre. Low-key lighting creates dramatic emotion within the scene, which emphasises shadows, lighting on the face. It also allows the one colour style to have a more dramatic effect.

Representation: Marv leaves the female character behind in the car which shows a patriarchal society as he 'has' to protect the weaker female. The female is also very thin, blonde, red lips which all show her feminitiy. Where as Marv is big, muscular, his face is cut up which all emphasize his masculinity. They both conform to stereotypes.

Ideology: Goes along with today’s idea of society, women are weaker then men and need them to save the day.

Narrative: Marv has to fight Kevin (the canibal guy) , he arrives at the farm with a blonde women, he makes her wait in the car, and he tells her to go if he doesn't come back in the next 20 minutes, which shows how a man has to save the day,

More stills.

This still shows the black and white colours which are a convention of the film noir genre. As these films are detective films, the use of a razor blade, cigarettes and leather jackets all emphasise this.


The use of single colour to emphasise the characters blonde hair and red lips is a convention typical of Sin City's style. The character looks like a whore, rather than a madonna, as she has red lips and blonde hair which show's this.


This still shows a blonde haired women in a vintage car which immediatly creates the ideology of the 80's.

Sin City Stillls

This still is of Bruce Willis who plays Hartigan in Sin City. This shot is a close-up which allows the audience to see his mood and emotion which is clearly serious and focused. Additionally, a scar is visible to the audience therefore creating an ideology of his tough persona. His face has deep grooves and wrinkles, along with stubble it shows his maturity. The black and white colours are present throughout the entire film, which conform to 'Film Noir' conventions. Although, Sin City uses the odd colour to emphasis a part of a person for example.


Clive Owen, known as Dwight within the film is a excellent example of Sin City's use of a singular colour. In this case, Dwight's eye's are the emphasis, they connote a coldness and show the audience his personality. Additionally, I feel as if they've chosen this colour as there is a sterotypical ideology when it comes to this colour, they saying normally goes, "Those old baby blues".

Sin City - Independant Study

"Does the neo-noir genre continue to follow the representations of the classic film noir genre, with particular reference to ‘Sin City’ (2005)"

Media Language: A black and white effect to coincide with the film noir genre. Low-key lighting creates dramatic emotion within the scene.

Institution: Dimension Films a sub company of Miramax previously under Walt Disney produced this film with a large budget run by the Weinstein brothers who used this label to produce and distribute genre films, similarly ‘Kill Bill’ which is also a hybrid of Hollywood and Art-house film.

Genre: Neo-noir is incorporating aspects of film noir into newer contemporary films. Unlike classic noirs, neo-noir films are aware of modern circumstances and technology

Representation: The representation of men shows a patriarchal society, as all three protagonists are male. They dominate women throughout the film, where no female subverts stereotypes; women need men to save the day.

Audience: ‘Sin City’ appeals to a male audience who can identify with the male protagonist. The females within the film also appeal to the male audience and conform to the male gaze.

Ideology: Goes along with today’s idea of society, women are weaker then men and need them to save the day.

Narrative: The film subverts the typical Todorvian narrative structure. Three stories intertwine with one another; this makes the film more art-house rather than a mainstream genre film. ‘The Big Fat Kill’ shows the most female representation within ‘Sin City’, whereas the other two sub narratives have male protagonists.

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Social Context: Represents binge drinking and prostitution in a negative manner.

Historical: Film Noir films are stylish Hollywood crime dramas; particularly emphasize moral uncertainty and sexual motivation.

Economical: Large budget, similar to other Hollywood films.

Political:

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Other Texts:

The Big Combo (1955), USA, directed by Joseph H. Lewis
Blade Runner (1982), USA, Ridley Scott
Pulp Fiction (1994), USA, Quentin Tarantino
Reservoir Dogs (1992), USA, Quentin Tarantino

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Todorov: Sin City doesn’t follow Todorov’s theory. It has three different narratives, none of which are linear.

Laura Mulvey: Her theory can be easily applied as the prostitutes within the film comply with the idea of women being there to be looked at. Additionally, the idea of the male gaze is ever present throughout the film.

Propp: There is no specific characters role within the film as a whole, although singular narratives do comply with Propp’s character theory.

Barthes: The non-linear narrative means immediately the audience are drawn into an enigma. The beginning also gives away an enigma to the audience as someone is murdered, but the audience have no idea who or why this is happened.