Sin City; Antagonist Fatalism
or the Ultimate Good vs. Evil?

Sin City, is an article that I have posted to several Internet venues. I am also putting it here on my site for your reading enjoyment.

Dave Gieber

The Sin-City DVD blew my mind, or maybe I should say, warped my mind. I haven’t been a great fan of Graphic Novels, but this movie encouraged me to purchase a few of the Sin-City books. Frank Miller’s now famous, series creations have taken us into the world of a bizarre surreal environment of death, destruction and gallows underbelly lifestyles.

Is the story telling and artistry supposed to show a world we hope would never exist in our white bread world? Or is it an ultimate achievement of good (disguised as part of the underbelly) trying to subdue evil? I prefer to think the latter.

The film itself is a work of pure cinematography genius. With the classic film noir overlay and the visual tricks and special effects, it looks as if you would open the Sin-City graphic novel and have the pages come to life. This, I do believe, is the closest I have seen a movie come to the actual artwork and content of the original paper versions.

The very concept and style of Sin-City, whether it be the movie or the novels, is not for everyone. The plot and violence are very graphic and definitely not for younger audiences. But as graphic as the movie is, due to the nature of the moving comic book background, it doesn’t bring out the reality and gore that could have been pictured. Personally, I enjoyed this toning down. I would hate to think that I could actually condone this kind of violent activity.

Robert Rodriguez in collaboration with series creator, Frank Miller have ingeniously intertwined four of the Graphic Novels into the making of SinCity. “The Customer is Always Right”, opens the movie even before the credits starts. Then “The Hard Goodbye”, “Big Fat Kill” and “That Yellow Bastard” make up the rest of the movie.

I for one was impressed with the casting and how the actors seemed to fit the characters to perfection. I am starting to see a pattern though, in that certain actors are starting to show up in various comic book related movies of the new Hollywood features. The Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan) from Daredevil, for example, is also a character in Sin City. Do you think you can spot him? He is pretty hard to miss.

It looks like by now, Jessica Alba may be vying for the Title “Queen of the Comic Book Movies” (ha ha). She also came out this year in The Fantastic Four and will be in the sequel when it comes out.

With the new outcry for realistic comic book character movies and the new Hollywood technologies that make them possible, it looks like the original character creators want to reap some of the exposure. Stan Lee, of Marvel Comics fame, manages to get a cameo appearance every now and again in his character creation movies. And now, in Sin City, Frank Miller was justified in putting his mug on the wide screen. He appears as the, shall we say, sinister priest that Marv (Mickey Rourke) decides he is justified in blowing away. How many more comic book character creators do you think we will see in cameo rolls as more movies are produced?

If you are an avid fan of Frank Miller and, in particular, Sin City, then you will quite probably feel this one of the best movies to come out of Hollywood in 2005. If you are unfamiliar with the entire Sin City theme and series, advance with caution and don’t watch it with the young or the young at heart (ha). The movie, in my mind, is definitely a visual sensation. And I hear that Sin City II may be ready for us in the summer of 2006. Enjoy.

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