Hey, we only had to wait for a decade for the second Sin City movie–and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For sure has some anxious fans. The bad news is that those are the kinds of anxious fans who can really pick up on everything wrong with Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. We’re not ready to dismiss this entire movie, though. We’re more in the mood to complain about a few dozen petty things while being happy with about half of the movie.
Well, it could be more like 40% of the movie. We didn’t really time the individual segments that make up Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. We were too busy nitpicking little tiny details–while still having a pretty good time. It’s not really easy to judge how much fun you’re going to have with this second trip to Sin City.
What we can do, though, is give you some spoiler-free prep so that you know what to expect. And if you’re mostly about the dames of Sin City–well, check out this info, and then check out our sexy collection of hard-boiled dames…
You’re going to need to see this one in 3D–mostly because, yeah, it looks cool, but Sin City: A Dame to Kill For also has enough problems that you’ll want to get the most out of all the stylish touches.
There’s a scene where Marv–the hulking giant played by Mickey Rourke–notes that Jessica Alba‘s stripper character is “showing everything” to the clients. This is not true. Once again, Jessica Alba is starring in a Sin City movie as a stripper who never actually takes off her clothes.
The movie is called Sin City: A Dame to Kill For because that’s the one original Sin City story that gets told right. We’re a little bummed out over how the story’s big climax is filmed, and there’s one scene where they take a classic Sin City moment and hand it to the wrong character, but we’re pretty sure that most Sin City fans will feel like they’re getting their money’s worth in Eva Green’s story arc.
The second story is “The Long Bad Night,” which gets divided into two parts–which is a pretty big misstep. The big idea is supposed to be all the momentum that leads to the the fate of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character. The night isn’t supposed to be long because it’s broken up by another story.
Also, we wanted to see more of Lady Gaga‘s character in “The Long Bad Night,” which reminds us that we should round up the body count of the hot bods in Sin City. Lady Gaga doesn’t show off much of anything, but Eva Green fans won’t be disappointed. Rosario Dawson models more fetish clothes. No complaints there. Julia Garner gets her sexiest role yet, and Juno Temple is a lot of fun to watch. That’s just about all the high points. Jaime King fans will be disappointed–but we’re grateful to director Robert Rodriguez for giving us more of Patricia Vonne as the sexy assassin Dallas. That’s his sister in real life, so we’re glad he can see past that.
Hey, here’s some good news: the movie opens like the first Sin City with a short story from the graphic novel. This one is “Just Another Saturday Night,” and it’s really done right. Between those two stories, we think any Sin City fan is going to be okay with this movie.
Everyone’s pretty much in agreement that Marv looked more like Marv in the first Sin City movie. Also, it’s weird that they try to make the post-plastic surgery Dwight (played by Josh Brolin) look like Clive Owen as Dwight in the first movie. We think Clive would’ve been available.
Some characters come back who were killed off in the first movie, but we can’t get back Michael Clarke Duncan as the massive manservant Manute. Dennis Haysbert is pretty good in the role, though. We still miss Brittany Murphy, though. Just as well that they didn’t try to bring back her character.
Bad news for Devon Aoki fans, too. Jamie Chung fills in as the deadly Miho. She’s okay, but nothing special. We’re still pondering if Jeremy Piven is supposed to be filling in for Michael Madsen as a Basin City detective named Bob. Was that supposed to be Detective Hartigan’s old partner in the original comics? Now we have to look that up. If that’s the case, though they should’ve brought back Michael Masden. He’s only made 11 movies so far this year.
And we’ll suggest that real Sin City fans don’t hang around for the segment billed as “Nancy’s Last Dance”–and not just because Jessica Alba doesn’t take off her clothes. This one is billed as an untold story from Sin City, but it’s really just a kind of unnecessary continuation of the “Yellow Bastard” story from the first film. Also, the ending screws up the entire Sin City timeline–and ends this noir tribute on a really lame note.