R0BTRAIN's Bad Ass Cinema: Sin City, Part 1

Perhaps more than any film slated to come out in 2007, I couldn’t wait to get into the theater and see 300. You see, not only is the film a battle epic based on the Battle of Thermopylae, one of the most famous battles in history, 300’s source material was the graphic novel written and drawn by Frank Miller. Miller is my favorite author in the medium, being at least partially responsible for some of my favorite graphic novels of all time, including The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, Hard Boiled and Ronin.

Miller is simply one of the most important creators in the history of the industry, helping to take the medium from being associated with campy forms of entertainment like the 1960’s Television show Batman to more serious forms of literature. Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns is considered one of the greatest achievements in Comic books, along with Alan Moore’s Watchmen and Art Spiegelman’s Maus, all of which made huge statements about just how dramatic the medium could be. These weren’t just child friendly “funny books”, but writing that contained serious political commentary and dramatic elements worthy of the praise that was bolstered upon them. It was because of the success of these books that publishers would begin to bring more serious fare, such as Neil Gamain’s Sandman, Alan Moore’s From Hell, and many, many others.

Of all of Miller’s post- Dark Knight books, one body of work remains my absolute favorite. The hyper-noir world of Sin City stands as one of Miller’s greatest accomplishments. Following negative experiences in Hollywood working on the films RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3, Miller wanted to create a world that couldn’t possibly be turned into films. This was a world of trench coats and dames, of leather and lace. The violence and the men were hard core and the women were as sadistic as everyone else. Miller’s use of black and white images constructed amazing compositions that filled his pages with mood and tension.

So when I heard that Robert Rodriguez was going to try and tackle this particular Comic Book world in a big screen adaptation, I was both skeptical and very, very excited.
Rodriguez’s films are some of the most outrageously entertaining and inventive being created right now, and his techniques using CGI seem to be able to create worlds that no one else is even trying to do. So it was with that excitement that kept mounting and mounting that I saw Sin City, in 2003 and it did not disappoint. With 300’s armies looming in the distance, I decided to sit down and take in this amazing world once more, and once again I was blown away, like a .44 Magnum to the head.


Frank Miller’s Sin City Starring Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Benicio Del Toro, Nick Stahl, Jaime King, Rosario Dawson, and Devon Aoki. Directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez

Rumors of Frank Miller’s Sin City books being adapted to films had been circulating for years. Since the early 90’s buzz had been heard, but never came to fruition. Then seemingly out of nowhere there was the story that Robert Rodriguez not only planned on doing Sin City, but would bring Frank Miller on as co-director. He was so adamant about it, that instead of compromising, he quit the Director’s Guild of America in order to give Miller the honor of being co-director. Still, doubt lingered that Rodriguez could pull off the feat of bringing the images from The Hard Goodbye, That Yellow Bastard and other stories to life on the big screen. Still, with the current boom of Comic Book franchises such as X-Men, Spider-Man and the like I had plenty of hope.

Then the images came in as well as some of the “test footage” shot by Rodriguez to entice Miller into doing the project. The footage was based on Miller’s short story “The Customer is Always Right”, which Rodriguez didn’t have the rights to. He simply lured Miller down to Austin, Texas where his studio is located, shot the footage and showed Miller what he could do. Apparently that was all the convincing Miller needed.


The footage itself was quite stunning. Spoilers The story concerns a woman who has apparently broken off her relationship with a dangerous man, and in order to be able to go out the way she wants to she hires a special hitman who takes her softly into the abyss of death rather than constantly fearing for her life. End Spoilers Perhaps most surprising is how well I liked Josh Hartnett in his role as the mysterious stranger wooing Marley Shelton’s Customer. Rodriguez’s technique of “using color as a weapon” establishes the film’s look, as the gray tones of stark black and white images give way to an eye popping red in Shelton’s dress and the green of her eyes.

This isn’t just an adaptation of Miller’s work, this was his drawings come to life. Using CGI and green screens, this world is just as Miller saw it originally, inhabited by a top flight cast. Then again, doing one of Miller’s short stories is one thing, pulling off some the author’s major stories is completely another. Even with Miller helping out behind the camera, could the perennial favorite inhabitants of Sin City be made real without looking foolish? I’m so happy to say the answer is an absolute “yes”.


The Hard Goodbye

First to be shown in its entirety is Miller’s first foray in this genre, which was originally just titled Sin City. Originally published as stand alone issues in the anthology series “Dark Horse Presents”, this tale introduced us to Marv, Miller’s ultimate dark knight, cloaked in “fine lookin’ coats”, on his quest for vengeance after someone kills his new love Goldie. In one of the collected editions of the story, Miller talks about how he had intended on doing a very short run with Marv, but that he was unable to stop writing about the big lug because he just kept sucking him further and further into the story .

You could say the same thing for Mickey Rourke’s interpretation of the character, as Rourke’s Marv is as perfect a reflection of his comic book predecessor as Christopher Reeve was as Superman. You can’t help but root for him, as a black charisma shines underneath all of his violent tendencies and smug crassness. There’s a weird nobility about Marv, who would gladly take an axe to a man’s head (“I love hitmen. No matter what you do to them, you don’t feel bad.”), but sits there during an interrogation by a gang of prostitutes and takes a pistol whipping (“I thought I might be able to talk some sense into you. And I probably would’ve had to paste you one getting the gun. And I don’t hurt girls.”).

Praise be to Greg Nicotero’s makeup effects, transforming Mickey Rourke into Miller’s ultimate anti-hero. Just as he’d done for Ron Pearlman when he turned him into the physical embodiment of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy, Rourke simply ends up being exactly as Marv should look. Sin City is some of Nicotero’s best work, and Marv his masterpiece.

Adding to the awesomeness of this segment is the presence of its heavies. I’m happy to see Rutger Hauer get work. Normally, I’d say his performance as the slimy Cardinal Roark was over the top, but in these surroundings he seems right at home. It’s astounding how Hauer didn’t become a bigger star, especially after his haunting performances in films such as Blade Runner and The Hitcher, but I’m glad that film makers like Rodriguez remember how dynamic an actor he can be. Just as creepy is Elijah Wood as Kevin, Basin City’s resident cannibal and silent killer. After his turn as Frodo in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, its insane that this would be one of the films he would choose to follow up his epic hero, but here Wood is, embodying this diminutive monster.


Even with all these great performances, Rodriguez truly makes them real because he is able to surround them with the world that Frank Miller originally designed. This is a fully realized place, from the steamy mood of Marv’s hotel rendezvous with Goldie to the big lummox jumping off rooftops, and storming police cars. This is the world that you’ve seen from in Noir film only done in a hyper real fashion.

Also, amazing is the movie’s action, as Rodriguez is able to stage incredibly violent sequences to match the graphic novel’s original action. When Marv busts through a door and jumps down what seems like eighty flights of steps, you know what you’re in for. By the time he’s taking out armed men in horrible fashion, you’re right there cheering him along. What’s incredible is how the directors of this film are able to utilize their actors for these sequences, even able to composite people into different scenes that weren’t in the same room. When you find out that Kevin and Marv have not one, but two major fight scenes and that Mickey Rourke and Elijah Wood have never even met each other, it blows your mind a little bit.


While I had planned on going over all three of the Sin City stories in this one column, I’ve still got a lot to write about and don’t have enough room left. I love each of these stories so much I don’t want any of them to get the short end of the stick. So instead of making you guys read a 3500 word column, I’ll just finish this discussion up next week. See you guys then.

Picture Credits: dtheatre.com, cinema.com, impawards.com, devir.com, moviezine.se, blog-city.com

Robert Sutton feels the most at home when he's watching some movie scumbag getting blown up, punched in the face, or kung fu'd to death, especially in that order. He's a founding writer for the movies section of Insidepulse.com, featured in his weekly column R0BTRAIN's Badass Cinema as well as a frequent reviewer of DVDs and Blu-rays. Also, he's a proud Sony fanboy, loves everything Star Wars and Superman related and hopes to someday be taken seriously by his friends and family.