re:mote voices

Title: Sin City
Cast:Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Jaime King, Rosario Dawson, Carla Gugino, Devon Aoki, Brittany Murphy, Nick Stahl, Benicio Del Toro, Elijah Wood, Michael Clarke Duncan, Powers Boothe, Rutger Hauer
Director: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez

Sin City started in a serial form, published monthly in the Dark Horse Presents showcase. Running for about 5 pages each time for over a year, it quickly became the lead story in the title. With the success of the Sin City story, Frank Millar was able to spin it out into a series of limited series – starting to give them all individual names. Going through the individual issue stage before being collected in book format that is the prevailing business model for American comics. With the move to collected format, the original Sin City became Sin City: The Hard Goodbye, and was quickly followed by A Dame To Kill For, The Big Fat Kill, That Yellow Bastard and so on.

Sin City started in 1991. Establishing Frank Millar with his own intellectual property, having made outstanding contributions to DC comics with Batman and Marvel with Daredevil. Since then he has resisted allowing his material to be made into a film, having had some experience with Hollywood as the writer on one of the Robo Cop films. Though with the approach of Robert Rodriquez and assurances that with the use of computer/digital techniques Sin City could be brought to life in a way that was in keeping with the original comics. Which is one of the truest things that can be said about the film that results – Sin City the film goes all out to duplicate the look and feel of the comic. Even the lingering full-page poster shots that I wouldn’t have expected them to go for are reproduced in an effective manner.

As a film Sin City amalgamates three of the first four Sin City collections. Stories that all had a certain overlap anyway, so that this kind of manoeuvre should work. Of course the bulk of the film, and the most striking part of it, is the original Sin City material – The Hard Goodbye, the story of Marv and Goldie. A lot is being made of Mickey Rourke’s performance as Marv, and deservedly so – it might be fair to go as far as saying that Rourke’s performance is the only one worth talking about. After over an hour spent in make-up every day Rourke becomes the ex-com, psychotic loser that is Marv – the kind of character that puts the anti in anti-hero, and does so with a capital A. Marv can’t believe his luck, this goddess Goldie picks him up in a bar and shows him the night of his life. However when he wakes up from his drunk he finds that Goldie is dead, murdered – with the police arriving before he has had a chance to do anything he knows that he has been set up. What follows is a rampage, Marv storming up the information ladder, one beating after another, gradually revealing a powerful conspiracy.

From there, we follow Dwight (Clive Owen), a man with a new face and a past, who gets in too deep when he gets into a confrontation with Jackie Boy, an ex-boyfriend of his barmaid girlfriend Shellie. Chasing Jackie Boy from Shellie’s apartment, Dwight follows him and his gang, convinced that if he doesn’t they’ll do something nasty. This is Sin City, where an uneasy truce is maintained between the police, organised crime and the prostitutes of Old Town – the girls being armed to the teeth in order to preserve their rule. Unfortunately Old Town is where Jackie and his gang are headed, and it isn’t long before they are getting into trouble. With their bodies stacked up in a dark alley it becomes clear that killing Jackie Boy was a mistake, and that if news get out that uneasy truce will come tumbling down. And Dwight is the man to save the day, if he is lucky he can avoid The Big Fat Kill.

The film starts with the story of Hartigan (Bruce Willis), a cop of the edge of retirement who is prepared to defy the powers that be to save the life of 11-year-old Nancy. This doesn’t go entirely to plan, betrayed and up against too much power. Time passes, and we come back to the story of Hartigan and That Yellow Bastard. Years have passed and Nancy has grown up, one of the dancers in the bar frequented by Marv and Dwight. Hartigan gets out of prison, framed for the Yellow Bastard’s crimes, but it is a trick, the Yellow Bastard keen to track down the girl that got away.

The narrative works in a non-linear fashion, which is most evident from the cameo by Marv in the final sequence that is obviously before the material in his story. This is approach is fine to a degree, though with the presence of Tarantino as a trainee director, it does invite comparisons to the structure of Pulp Fiction. The decision to go with these particular 3 stories is also a curious one, particular given that it involves skipping book 2, A Dame To Kill For. Talk at the moment suggests that the second Sin City film will be based on A Dame To Kill For, so the material will be covered. The problem with that is that The Big Fat Kill, which is covered in this film, is the most direct sequel to Dame. Dame introduces Dwight, provides some team up action with Marv, and explains all the vague comments made about Dwight’s new face. Perhaps it is felt that establishing Clive Owen as Dwight in Big Fat Kill was simpler than either having to put in make up or have a different actor playing the same part?

The working of the parts of the narrative and how it fits together is another of the more obvious problems with the film in the version it has been released. Though word is that the three stories will be released in a complete version on DVD that only underlines the fact that the versions in the film felt truncated. While there are some of the lingering scenes from the books, the whole at times feels rushed, the story of Marv and Goldie probably could have worked as a film in it’s own right. The way the individual stories bump up against each other doesn’t help – the skipping of book 2 is certainly part of it, but the lack of overlap, which it could have had, did make for some flow kill and abruptness.

Sin City as a film is a rarity, keeping as close to the original material as it does. Which does leave the problem of having a pretty good idea of where the story is going as you watch – though I did over hear some people on the way out of the showing I was at who had obviously not read the books – since they were expressing the idea that they had no idea what was going to happen next. The black and white feel, with occasional glimpses of colour was effective in echoing the feel of the comic material – emphasising and creating the mood to a large degree. On the other hand, it wasn’t always a flattering effect – while Jamie King was reasonably attractive in Bullet Proof Monk, the grey colouring made her look puffy and pallid, not what you are wanting from a woman who is supposed to be overwhelmingly attractive.

Despite any problems, Sin City is a stunning piece of cinema, hyper-violent comic book noir with some memorable performances.