I'm Not Going To Put Any Puns Using The Word "Sin" Here

So the time has finally come (and gone).
It feels kind of like Christmas afternoon. The anticipation is over, the presents are unwrapped, and now it’s time to sift through them all and decide whether or not it was everything I’d hoped it would be.
And that’s the question: was it everything I hoped it would be?
The short answer is yes.
Was it cool? Yes, without question.
Did it kick ass? Of course.
Was it the most faithful translation of a comic into a film? Absolutely. In fact, it may have been the most faithful translation of something from any medium into another ever made.
Was it a landmark piece of film presenting a visual breakthrough the likes of which we haven’t seen since the original “Matrix” movie?
Again, yes.
Did I enjoy it? No question.
So, you’re probably wondering, what’s the problem?
There isn’t one. Great movie, loved every second of it along with every frame that looked as though it could have been lifted directly from the comics.
So, you wonder again, ignoring my denial, what’s the problem?
And again, I say there isn’t one.
Except…
Well, I loved it. Every other person in the theater loved it.
But what was abundantly clear on the first showing of the movie on its opening day is that we all went into the movie already loving Sin City.
Would someone not similarly initiated be able to walk in and enjoy the movie? Would someone who doesn’t already love the works of Frank Miller in general, and the Sin City books specifically, be able to fully enjoy the gallows humor, the over-the-top and stylized ultra-violence, the gritty, grimy, seedy underbelly of society that is represented by the hapless inhabitants of Basin City?
Would anyone else get the joke?
To be perfectly honest, there are moments of serious cheese in this movie. There’s no getting around that fact, but what people need to realize is that they’re intended to be there. They’re lovingly and skillfully crafted moments of cheese, and they exist for a reason.
As mentioned, the violence is over-the-top and extremely stylized. As unrealistic as it is (made even more so by the lack of color), it’s still grit your teeth and turn your head away brutal.
And of course that brings us to the other potential problem: the lack of color.
Sure, it helps bring the pages of Miller’s work to life, and makes the occasional use of color that much more vivid and shocking, but in a lot of people’s minds, black and white automaticaly equals boring.
So I’m concerned that, apart from its dedicated fan base, Sin City will fail to find an audience.
I hope I’m wrong, though, because this movie deserves to succeed and to have the chance to be fruitful and multiply.
And hopefully, if people pay attention to this sort of thing, the glowing review that Roger Ebert wrote will help draw them in.
So what was so great about the movie?
Mickey Rourke, for one thing. Who would ever have thought that I would actually enjoy watching a movie with Mickey Rourke in it in 2005? Before I found out he was in Sin City, I thought he was probably dead (or as good as).
Clive Owen played a great Dwight, and Rosario Dawson was very good (and scarily sexy) as Gail.
Bruce Willis as Hartigan…okay. I think he just carries too much baggage from other roles to properly play the part, and he’s just not quite old enough. Still, he did fine.
As did, surprisingly, Jessica Alba, whom I had thought would be the film’s weakest link.
She wasn’t great, but she did all right. I’m still bothered by her refusal to appear nude, not just because I’m a guy and would like to see Jessica Alba’s boobs, but because I think it would honestly have added some additional resonance to her scenes with Hartigan.
As far as nudity goes, though, there was a fair amount, though not nearly so much as in the books. In the books, pretty much every female character appears nude at one point, but in the movie only Carla Gugino and Jaime King shed their clothes.
It might have been nice to see Dawson’s Gail out of the dominatrix outfit, or Brittany Murphy’s Shellie wearing the man’s shirt hanging open sans bra, but I have to say that Ms. Gugino’s scenes largely made up for the rest.
Besides, Miller and Rodriguez were kind enough to spare us nudity in other scenes, and I for one am glad that the Yellow Bastard was wearing boxers instead of going commando…
In terms of surprises, I was really surprised by Alexis Bledel, who took the relatively minor (though significant) role of Becky and infused it with a great deal of life and humanity.
Devon Aoki as Miho…ah, deadly little Miho. It was a thrill to see Miho, one of my favorite characters, brought to life so well.
Then there is Elijah Wood. Finally, being a creepy (in a shy, boyish sort of way) little hobbit pays off. Very good, disturbing performance, and fortunately he never spoke a word, so we didn’t have to suffer through any of the whining that was a hallmark of the last two and a half hours of “Return of The King.”
One of the best performances by far, though, was Benicio Del Toro as Jackie Boy.
As for the look and feel…like I said, it was as if Miller’s art had been lifted directly from the pages.
They did some interesting things to weave the stories together, as in the original books they were mostly unrelated. One thing that I found particularly appealing was done during “The Hard Goodbye,” the story featuring Marv and his hunt for vengeance. Marv walks into Kadie’s, the local dive, and the camera pans over to Dwight.
Even though we have yet to be properly introduced to Dwight we are suddenly treated to a voice-over in which he muses over Marv’s placement in history.
It was an interesting switch, as it helped to reveal a little about who Marv is, while at the same time giving us some insight into Dwight’s character, whom we get to know better in “The Big Fat Kill,” the story following Marv’s.
What I really liked about it, though, was that for the voice-over, Dwight’s inner monologue was lifted from “A Dame To Kill For,” a Sin City yarn that wasn’t part of this film, but which will hopefully be presented in a sequel.
Despite the attempts to tie things together, though, there were some questions of continuity that linger, but nothing too disruptive to the experience.
I will say that he end of “That Yellow Bastard” seemed a little rushed, though, and a lot of scenes were not brought to the screen from the original story, presumably in the interests of time. They weren’t vital, but they would have been nice to see.
One other nice touch was the creation of “book ends” for the movie, which actually entailed making a very minor change to the story of “The Big Fat Kill” in order to more artfully wrap the movie up in a neat little package.
So yeah, it was worth the wait, and I will definitely see it again.
I didn’t see it multiple times today simply because of the time factor. It was nearly 2 by the time I got out from the first show. Taking time to eat and catching another showing would have put me on the road in the middle of rush hour, and prevented me from getting home and having enough time to call my sister Kim and wish her a happy birthday, or to write this, before going to bed.
After I got up and showered this morning I was reluctant to sit around waiting. I hate sitting around at home waiting to do something. If I have to wait, I’d rather go to wherever it is I need to go and wait there. After all, what’s the point of being home? I can’t really relax, or get started on some sort of project.
So I usually tend to be early.
As I had some things I needed to pick up, I decided that I would just head to Wal-Mart first to kill some time, then head over to the theater.
At Wal-Mart I picked up a spring form pan (three, actually, as they came in a set of multiple sizes) for the cheesecake, and a cheap GE knock-off of a KitchenAid.
I would have liked to have picked up the real deal, but did you see those prices? Yikes.
No, the $30 I shelled out for what is basically a big hand mixer with a stand and a bowl is money well-spent, and more than enough for my purposes.
After that, I still had some time to kill, so I went over to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to see if they had something I was looking for that Wal-Mart didn’t.
In point of fact, I was looking for a container to carry the cheesecake in on Tuesday. Wal-Mart had some disposable foil and plastic containers, but I was looking for something more along the lines of a Rubbermaid container. Something permanent.
Why not go the disposable route when I’m just going to give the entire cheesecake away, you ask?
Well, it’s all part of my little scheme.
As you know, I’m going to HQ on Tuesday for a class, which is when I will give the woman I’ve dubbed “Tucson” the cheesecake.
The class actually lasts two days, so I’ll be back again on Wednesday.
Tucson is a very attractive, possibly single woman.
If I give her a “good” container, I can ask her to give it back to me, and since I’ll be there the next day, that would give her the perfect opportunity to do so, giving me another chance to see her, and possibly muster up some sort of charm.
If Wednesday doesn’t work for her, I’ll actually be back for another class the following Tuesday.
I suspect that the added opportunity to interact with her won’t have any sort of positive impact on my behalf, but hey, you never know.
Of course, I was frustrated in my search for a suitable container today, so it may be irrelevant anyway. I’ll have to look again on Monday, I guess.
After that I had time to wander around BestBuy. I managed to get out of there without dropping a bunch of money (there was a $700 computer that had definite possibilities), which was surprising.
After that I headed to the theater.
I got there at a decent time, around five after 11. With time to buy some snacks, hit the restroom, and find a good seat, twenty-five minutes isn’t too terribly early, at least for me.
However, once I got to the doors I saw an older couple just standing there looking at them.
They were locked.
When I bought my ticket through Fandango, it had given the time as 11:30. The listing at Moviefone, though, said that the earliest show was at 12:30.
This was distressing.
As I was thinking, “Worst April Fool’s joke ever,” I got out my cell and called in to work, where Kathleen verified that there were other shows starting at or about 11:30, so the time given by Fandango was correct.
A line of increasingly annoyed people began to form, and finally, at about 11:22 the doors were opened. The manager cited being short-staffed and having just received a visit from the Health Inspector as the reasons for the delay.
Although I had initially been annoying, ultimately the delay worked in my favor, as I wasn’t subjected to the usual amount of pre-movie treacle.
With the exception of “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” the previews were unremarkable. Hell, one movie, a remake of a cheesy old horror movie, even has Paris Hilton in it God’s sake. What’s up with that? Why is this skank famous?
Anyway, the movie started, and I sat, enthralled, for about two hours.
Then, with a fair amount of the movie still left, the screen went blank and the lights came on. WTF? Why was the universe giving me such a hard time about seeing this movie?
After being fetched, the manager came in and said that there was a technical problem that would soon be resolved.
Throughout the movie, nature had been calling, but I’d kept refusing to accept the charges.
Disruptive as it was to the experience, this delay provided the perfect opportunity, so I quickly slipped out to the men’s room.
However, apparently every last drop of liquid I ever imbibed in my life had been waiting for this opportunity, and by the time I managed to staunch the flow and get back to the theater the movie had resumed.
Fortunately I don’t think I missed too much (mostly Hartigan taking a cold shower, I think).
So yeah, I did finally get to see the movie, but there were some of the trademark irritations associated with doing so that make my life…well, that make it my life.
In any case, that was my day.
In summary, Sin City kicks ass, and everyone should go see it. I don’t care if you’re offended by things like prostitution, pedophilia, cannibalism, or Yellow Bastards; see it anyway, or at least buy a ticket. Whether you watch it or not is irrelevant as long as it does big business at the box office.
I’m kidding, of course. I can understand that this movie isn’t for everyone (You bunch of pussies).
In any case, that does it for this mini-review of the movie and my day. Tomorrow it’s back to business as usual, though somewhere along the line between now and Tuesday morning I have to make a cheesecake, figure out what I’m going to make for the last cooking class, and try to develop a personality so that I can sweep Tucson off her feet.
Somehow, I think I’ll only manage two out of three on that one…
Have a good weekend, one that is, ideally, filled with multiple viewings of Sin City.