Directors: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez
MPAA Rating: R
It seems that waiting nine years to produce a sequel is simply too long in the case of Robert Rodriguez’s and Frank Miller’s hard-boiled, neo-noir Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. The film certainly contains the bold visuals that made the original film (and the graphic novels) ooze with style, but sadly, vacant is any semblance of a cohesive narrative. What begins as an endearing series of interconnected stories becomes a cumbersome mishmash of uninspired vignettes, never feeling like it has any direction or purpose.
Like the first film, Sin City, A Dame to Kill For attempts to delve into the dark and gritty world of Basin City, one of the vilest, most corrupt fictional places ever created. By following a series of characters through their various trials and tribulations, the story weaves a blood-soaked tapestry of pain and suffering, punctuated by striking black and white imagery. Unfortunately, this trip to Sin City is a somewhat lackluster one, like visiting the Statue of Liberty in the rain: You can still see it but the weather’s shitty.
There are three interconnected plotlines in A Dame to Kill For. First, there’s the story of Johnny, a smooth-talking gambler arriving in the city to make an easy buck played by Joseph Gordon Levitt. Then there’s the main arc, which focuses on Dwight (Josh Brolin in this one, Clive Owen in the previous) and his relationship with the devilishly evil Ava, played by Eva Green. Finally, there’s the story of Nancy (Jessica Alba) who is still reeling from the death of Hartigan (Bruce Willis), a character who still likes to visit her in ghost form from time to time.
The second, and thankfully largest, story in the movie is the only one that seems even the slightest bit necessary. Everything else feels like filler or fan service to the original, with the final segment proving particularly bad. Much of what makes up this sequel didn’t come from the graphic novels, and it feels like a lot of it just doesn’t belong. The first Sin City contained some silliness and some over-the-top violence, and the filmmakers pulled it all together in a very cool package, something this one attempts to do but fails. The action is sparse, but effective, if not slightly repetitive; the dialogue ranges from witty to eye-rollingly corny; and large chunks of the film drag on forever only to leave you with an unsatisfying resolution.
The repetition at play in this film is astounding. Scene after scene of Jessica Alba doing a strip tease or characters sneaking onto a property and killing random guards, or driving down a winding road, or shooting people with arrows. Everything just kept happening over and over, which quickly became tired, considering the script wasn’t nearly as interesting as the original.
One thing that still works in the series however, is the visuals. The mix of black and white with accents of color looks fantastic on the big screen, and many of the specific shots look incredible. This is the type of film you could take a screen grab of any random frame and it would look great hanging on your wall. Sadly, the tedious nature of the film actually hurt the visuals, with the same shots appearing multiple times.
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is an ambitious film that unfortunately doesn’t have the script to back up its visuals. This second entry tries to repeat the same formula that made the original such a unique experience, and while it looks great and there are certainly aspects of the film that are very cool, it’s still an extreme disappointment.
