I caught this amazing telling of the Frank Miller graphic novels (i.e. “comics”) when I was away.
Sin City – the name comes from “Basin City” according to a sign – is a dark and ugly place. It’s not Las Vegas despite what you might have thought. The story interweaves several different noirish tales from the comics and it has the boldest comic book sensibility of any comic to film adaptation I’ve seen. For the most part it’s black and white and the violence is very comic-esque. All the men hard-nosed types who’d have been played by Humphrey Bogart if the film had been made fifty years ago. And all the women are drop dead gorgeous, and wear very little. So a male fantasy film? Well yes. But done with style and panache – so that’s OK.
All round I really liked it, and not just because it features Carla Gugino from the late, and much lamented short-lived series, Karen Sisco. (She also stars in the forthcoming series Threshold, that Sky One’s bought).