Sin City

[jetpack_monkey]

So, hjcallipygian basically ordered me to see Sin City. So I did. Caught the four o' clock showing down at Arizona Center 24.

What was the point of that, exactly?

From a technical standpoint, I can't fault it. It's obviously exactly the film that Robert Rodriguez wanted to make. You can see the director's hand in everything. Visually speaking, it's an interesting piece of work, and I can see a lot of imitators coming down the pike in months to come.

Dramatically speaking? Yawn. Nothing to draw me in. The characters were bland caricatures of more interesting film-noir icons. The sheer level of violence was mind-boggling. I have nothing against violence in films -- I'm supportive of it -- but I can't stand excessive, pointless violence. No need to shoot a guy something like eight times and then have him live through it. That's not cool, it's sadistic. And the number of castrations bordered on the ridiculous.

I think I liked the Dwight segment the best, simply because it was the least nihilistic of the three. There was hope, something bigger worth fighting for. Otherwise it was like watching an old junker slowly roll its way down the hillside to its inevitable doom.

I'm still not sold on this whole digital backlot thing. The reality it creates is a little too unreal. Maybe that's the point, with it being based on a comic book, but Rodriguez is trying to serve two incompatible masters. He's trying to recreate a comic book with all the realism therein, but he's also trying to create a gritty, dark world. The two pull against each other until the celluloid snaps and the entire experience washes away in the rain that patters down in torrents throughout the movie.

I wouldn't say it was a waste of my time. I obviously needed to see it once. I wouldn't say that I didn't enjoy myself in parts, because I did. I just didn't really like the film, and I don't think I'd see it a second time. The trailers, on the other hand, are still watchable, compulsively so. They take the best bits, the iconic bits, and smack 'em together. No need for a two hour feature film when I have a few five minute trailers.

Comments

[janeway216.livejournal.com]

Oh, finally, someone else who didn't like Sin City. I was bored out of my skull.

[booster17.livejournal.com]

I wasn't as impressed as others, but I think a lot of that was due to familiarity with the original comic books. For all some of it looked cool as heck, I kept recognising specific panels, and found myself more than once playing spot the cliffhanger.

And yes, by the end of it, I was definitely suffering from violence overload.