JUSTIN HALL AT THE MOVIES
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is the long-awaited sequel to the graphically stylized hit from 2005. It’s been nine years, but all the blood, broads, and bullets are back in style and they’re delivering the same old, same old. Good news? Nothing has really changed. Bad news? See good news.
Just like the first movie, we’re getting three storylines that occasionally interconnect. One story features Jessica Alba’s Nancy looking to avenge the death of Bruce Willis’ Hartigan by taking down the corrupt senator Roark (Powers Boothe).
The second storyline involves Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a cocky gambler who gets in way over his head in a deadly game of poker with Senator Roark. Something tells me the character of Roark is in for one wild night.
he third and final story takes place years before one of the stories in the first movie as we meet a young Dwight McCarthy (Josh Brolin replacing Clive Owen). He’s a private investigator who’s caught up in an affair with his former lover (Eva Green). This is Green’s second time this year acting in a comic book adaptation after 300: Rise of an Empire and just like that sequel, she gives us another campy, seductive performance.
Directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller once again bring their hyper realistic vision to the screen, but like a lot of sequels, Sin City seems merely content on revisiting the fun, gory visuals rather than building on them narratively.
Still, I have to say with all of its over-the-top violence and wicked sense of humor, I didn’t really expect anything different. In addition to the regulars like Willis and Alba, we also get the return of Mickey Rourke as Marv (having survived his grim execution), and newcomers to the series such as Ray Liotta, Christopher Lloyd, and a brief cameo by Lady Gaga.
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For provides the type of visual sensations and terrific performances to carry it through, but Sin City 3 may need Rodriguez and Miller to up the ante and no, I do not mean the body count.
Grade: B+
Rated R for sustained strong stylized violence, nudity and sexual content including dialogue.)
Until next time, Whie County, this is Justin Hall saying I’ll see you AT THE MOVIES!
Movie review Sin City: A Dame to Kill For