Yeah, okay, I saw Sin City, along with pals Dorian, Tom, and Ian. Overall…I’d probably grade it a fairly solid B. Draggy in parts, kind of got the feeling some of the actors weren’t really buying into the dialogue…but, heck, I mostly enjoyed it.
Some random notes, involving SPOILERS AHOY:
- Let’s get the biggie out of the way…Mickey Rourke’s Marv makeup. Okay, as I was watching the film, I was pondering just what the purpose was behind such garish, obvious prostheses and doodads and whatnot. So there’s Problem #1 – I probably shouldn’t be thinking about someone’s makeup as I’m watching the film. I was wondering if the Marv look was intended to dehumanize the character, to make him monstrous, to make us accept that he can still keep on operating after all the damage he takes, after being shot and hit by cars and so forth. At any rate, the makeup was a minor distraction, and I never really suspended my disbelief long enough to accept it as someone’s actual face. Ah, well.
- Elijah Wood – yeah, that’s right, he rules. When I heard that he was playing Kevin, I had no idea how Mr. Wood was going to pull off a creepy cannibalistic serial killer…but pull it off he did.
- Devon Aoki as Miho rules too. My two favorite characters in the film had no dialogue. Coincidence?
- Okay, the Yellow Bastard smells. He smells bad. His blood smells even worse. It’s repeatedly brought up in the movie. So neither Hartigan nor Nancy can smell the YB hiding in the back seat of their car? I suppose the explanation would be that they thought the smell was coming from the YB’s blood on Hartigan’s fingers…but that stuck me as a little odd. EDIT: Commenter Brian notes that this is addressed in the film’s narrative…I just didn’t remember.
- Should I be reading something into Frank Miller being killed by one of his own creations?
- Audiences don’t like it when bad things happen to penises.
- My other concern with the movie was the spot coloring…it was distracting at first, but I did get used to it as the film progressed. The “high contrast” bits — the reverse silhouette white-on-black images — worked much less well. It was an interesting experiment, at any rate.
- On the other hand…the film’s music started off well enough, but seemed to become increasingly distracting as the movie moved along. That cacophony over most of the closing credits is downright unlistenable.
- I really liked the opening credit sequence…the music, the credits flashing over Miller’s artwork, the “SPECIAL GUEST DIRECTOR” credit, all added up to a great beginning. I have a soft spot for comic book movies that have opening sequences which incorporate actual comic artwork…The Return of the Swamp Thing is still my favorite example of this.
The movie did have a successful opening weekend, but our theatre (normally quite a busy spot, one of the few theatres in our immediate area) was nearly empty when we saw it on an early Monday evening. That doesn’t bode well. I don’t think any significant movie competition is in the offing for this coming weekend, so Sin City may have another strong weekend, particularly with the mostly positive reviews.
Despite my minor qualms with the film, it was like Chinatown compared to most of the trailers that preceded it. If any movie needed remaking, it wasn’t The Amityville Horror (and both Dorian and I had to contain our laughter at the “based on a true story” tag). When the best trailer was for Revenge of the Sith (and I’m saying this as a longtime Star Wars fan), that’s probably indicative of a huge wave of crap movies coming our way. Also, I swear, if find out that any of you spent good money on seeing the House of Wax remake, I’m going to go to your house and leave flaming bags of poop on your porch.
In other news:
Johanna Draper Carlson has announced the latest round of the Squiddie Awards. Vote early, vote often!
Suddenly, without warning…Sean Collin’s Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat is back in action! Comic talk is still verboten, but it’s good to see it back nonetheless.
We get one, we lose one: Franklin Harris has been promoted at work, but his gain is our loss as he shutters his fine weblog. He holds out hope that he’ll be back…and let’s hope that it’s soon!