Sin City: Follow Up

Occasionally, the folks at my day job let me out of the bacta tank for an afternoon, and I get to watch a real movie in an actual theater as opposed to the crazy, drug-addled trailers that appear in my brain. Now obviously my pre-visions are never wrong, but every once in a while it's nice to see a whole film and realize just how awesome my predictive abilities are. Plus, they don't let us have popcorn in the pool.

Hence, this past weekend, when I was able to enjoy the full two hours of Sin City it all its bloody glory. On this one, I was more right than I knew.

Sin City is the best comic book movie ever made, because it is literally a live-action comic book. Where the Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man franchises merely lift characters and plot from their source material, director Robert Rodriguez lifted everything right off the page and put it up on the screen. It was a reminder that comics and cinema actually owe a lot to each other, as this movie pays loving tribute to that. It's a classic film noir translated to pen and ink and then back into film. Not just the stark images and gritty characters who do horrible things to terrible people, but the mood and spirit, and the crazy dialogue that can only be spoken by hard-boiled tough guys. (Here's hoping the word "dames" makes a comeback, although as far as I'm concerned it never went out of style.)

Another key ingredient is the film's excellent use of voiceover, not just for exposition, but to give life and feeling to the characters. Extended inner monologues are a hallmark of all comic writing, but no movie has ever even attempted to bring that to the screen. Sin City pulls it off with style.

The performances were all spectacular. Dare I say it, but Mickey Rourke might actually get some Oscar buzz. (He won't get nominated though, because it's April, and plastic jaw or no, he's still Mickey Rourke.) The British Clooney never fails to make my heart go pitter-patter. (Not that there's anything wrong with that! I'm not gay for him. Yet.) Elijah Wood was more than sufficiently creepy, Benicio was Benicio, and even Hartnett came through off the bench. As for the ladies — Rosario, Jaime, Brittany, Alexis, and even Devon — who says there are no good parts for actresses? There were plenty in this movie, as long as they don't mind playing murderous, half-dressed hookers. Seriously, they were all awesome, though I gotta admit that I was less than overwhelmed by Jessica Alba. The lasso needs some work, sweetheart.

But the real star of the show was Carla Gugino. I've always thought she was hott, but GOOD LORD, who knew she was hiding all that under those "Spin City" sweaters? She got shafted on the NSFW screen time, but I know I wasn't the only one getting the shaft after seeing those bad boys revealed. Some say best nude scene since Linda Barrett climbed out of Brad Hamilton's swimming pool. Hot damn, I say!

Original Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 5. Revised Rating: 4/5. Seeing Sweet Carla and Merv the Perv in action bumps this up an extra notch.