Sin City Movie Review

Innovative and dazzling in its absolute loyalty to the visual style of its inspiration, "Sin City" brings comic book pages alive to a degree that is unprecedented in movie history.

A triptych of dark, violent tales set in a fallen city of corruption and grime, the film is a collaboration between film director Robert Rodriguez (of "Desperado" and "Spy Kids" fame) and graphic novelist Frank Miller (responsible for the gritty reinventions of Batman and Daredevil), whose unique touch in the unusual role of co-director is unmistakable.

Pages from the "Sin City" books were clearly used as storyboards for the stunning, stark black-and-white cinematography, which features exclamation points of illustrative color: the golden tresses of a beautiful femme fatale, white-on-black silhouettes, red splashes of blood from brutal murders that occur just out of frame.

His influence can also be felt (along with that of Rodriguez pal Quentin Tarantino, who is curiously credited as a "special guest director") in the "Pulp Fiction"-like plot structure that lends itself well to the interconnected short stories, each of which make up in atmosphere what they sometimes lack in profundity.

One follows an aging police detective (Bruce Willis, sporting a wicked X-shaped scar on his forehead) -- who is hardened but honest to a fault (one of the few in this sleazy town) -- as he desperately tries to rescue a 11-year-old girl from a serial-killer child rapist with powerful political connections that have helped keep his crimes quiet.

The second concerns a muscle-bound brute (Mickey Rourke) with a face like a cinderblock, whose tender spot for a slain hooker leads him to cut a path of violence and murder through the city's underworld -- and into its political elite.

In the third, a killer fresh from a prison break and face-altering plastic surgery (he now has the handsome mug of Clive Owen) doesn't quite manage to skip town before he finds himself embroiled in a turf war between crooked cops, a powerful street gang and a battalion of gun-toting prostitutes who run the red-light district themselves -- and repel with ruthless force any pimps who think otherwise.

Thick with character-enriching internal dialogue ("I love hit men," growls Rourke in voice-over while roughing up a pair of thugs. "No matter what you do to 'em, you don't feel bad.") and deep-shadow ambiance, "Sin City" couldn't be a more vivid cinematic realization of Miller's vision or a better example of Rodriguez's explosive imagination as a director. (Like last year's "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow," the actors were shot on green-screen soundstages and the world around them was filled in later with seamless computer graphics.)

But this groundbreaking movie is not without its weaknesses.

While digging luridly and graphically into the ugly underbelly of this fictional metropolis, "Sin City" only skims the surfaces of its protagonists' souls. Willis and especially the heavily made-up Rourke give their ruffians some leathery layers, but the script offers no sense that they even exist beyond these turbulent episodes. (Clive Owen's role has less dimension, and his narration seems almost soft-spoken after the gruffness of his predecessors.)

While memorably hardy and resilient, the film's dead-sexy tough-cookie female characters are nonetheless largely underdeveloped sex objects, despite sharp comic-book noir performances by Jamie King and Rosario Dawson (dangerous prostitutes), Brittany Murphy (trampy barmaid), Jessica Alba (vulnerable stripper), and the talented Carla Gugino (curvy lesbian parole officer).

"Sin City's" most awkward problem is its unexpected return to the Willis story just when it seems as if the film is wrapping up. Even through the narrative recovers its rhythm, this lengthy epilogue contains dubious plot points and scenes that seem to rehash moments from earlier in the picture.

But none of these shortcomings subtract from the virtuoso embodiment of Miller's inimitable style as an artist and storyteller, or from Rodriguez's intrepid gift for combining revolutionary filmmaking with crowd-pleasing commercial accessibility. "Sin City" may be too imperfect to be called a masterpiece, but it's certainly an unforgettable work of art and entertainment.