Year: 2014
Rated R
Rating: * * * Stars
Cast: Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Towards the end of Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (the flick I'm about to review), Mickey Rourke's character Marv and Jessica Alba's character Nancy Callahan (a centralized exotic dancer) join forces to bring vengeance on a vehemently distraught Senator. Right before they partake in a final gun-riddled bloodbath, Marv looks over at Nancy with her multiple face lacerations and ratty hair and says, "I think you look hot." Oh man, you gotta love Rourke's Marv, always looking for a fight, or his next kill, or some bad guy to torture. And as duly noted in the previously released Sin City (the 2005 film that "Dame" is a sequel to), he'll always have a thing for Nancy, his female induced heartbeat.
So here we are in the doldrums of August and what do I see? A rare, long awaited second helping that has just enough trippy eye sores to trump the original. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For almost comes off as a copy rather than a sequel to the sweltering, groundbreaking hit from 2005. To a degree though, it works much better than its predecessor ever did. "Dame" is shorter, tighter, leaner, meaner, and easier to follow. Its also got a more modernized look that will truly knock your socks off. Whereas the first Sin City went a little over two hours and wasted time on tedious, upsetting torture scenes, this new installment (out in theaters more than nine years later) is more action-oriented (yet surprisingly less violent) not to mention more rooted in its devilish film noir style.

Filmed in a way in which the actors emote in front of a green screen, told through four overlapping vignettes or stories (containing themes of revenge, greed, hallucination, and drug addiction) and based on the writings of graphic novelist Frank Miller, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For gives you the following tidbits: a frat boy gets killed over calling Mickey Rourke's character a "Bernini Boy" (based on the coat he was wearing), a happy-go-lucky card shark wants to win a big stakes poker game against a powerfully snide Senator named Roarke (played by the always menacing Powers Booth), a former detective pines for the woman he loves (green-eyed Eva Green) only to get the pulp beat out of him by her one-eyed, violent chauffeur, and an alcoholic go-go dancer can't shake the memories of the suicide committing by her lover (Bruce Willis as John Hartigan). And through all these events, there's good old Marv played with face altering makeup by Mickey "scotch and water for all my friends" Rourke. Mickey's character hangs out at Kadie's Saloon, the bar that is constantly depicted in "Dame." He knows everyone's business, wants in on all the action, and thinks he may or may not be a psycho killer. Oh and he likes to say, "that's a darn fine coat you're wearing" right before he kills the person who he said it to. What a swell guy! Not.

In conclusion, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is a late summer movie to root for. It's sadistic, splashy, edgy, film noir gold. In fact, it's even more film noiry than its predecessor. I only wish the ending wasn't so abrupt, or quick, or radically unsavory. It's as if the filmmakers ran out of budget or time and just needed to wrap things up. In essence, I wanted more and I wanted a better prelude to a third Sin City (I read that Rodriguez and Miller are planning on truly extending the franchise). Regardless, this 2014 release is something I plan on seeing many times over. And to the critics out there who found it boring, I'm curious. Did you see the same movie I did? Anyway, during "Dame's" intense theatrical trailer, the character of Johnny (Gordon-Levitt) says quote unquote, "Sin City's where you go in with your eyes open, or you don't come out at all." Well after taking in a viewing, I "came" out of the theater with my eyes wide open, a rollicking macho grin on my face, and an enthusiastic thumbs up! Good day at the office.
Written by Jesse Burleson
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