Sin City (2005)

A film that explores the dark and miserable town, Basin City, and tells the story of three different people, all caught up in violent corruption.

Directors:

Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez

Writer:

Frank Miller (graphic novels)

Stars:

Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Bruce Willis

34 wins & 51 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jessica Alba	...	Nancy
Devon Aoki	...	Miho
Alexis Bledel	...	Becky
Powers Boothe	...	Senator Roark
Cara D. Briggs	...	Hearing Panel Person (as Cara Briggs)
Jude Ciccolella	...	Liebowitz
Jeffrey J. Dashnaw	...	Motorcycle Cop (as Jeff Dashnaw)
Rosario Dawson	...	Gail
Jesse De Luna	...	Corporal Rivera
Benicio Del Toro	...	Jackie Boy
Jason Douglas	...	Hitman
Michael Clarke Duncan	...	Manute
Tommy Flanagan	...	Brian
Christina Frankenfield	...	Judge
Rick Gomez	...	Klump

Storyline

Four tales of crime adapted from Frank Miller's popular comics, focusing around a muscular brute who's looking for the person responsible for the death of his beloved Goldie, a man fed up with Sin City's corrupt law enforcement who takes the law into his own hands after a horrible mistake, a cop who risks his life to protect a girl from a deformed pedophile, and a hitman looking to make a little cash.

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Plot Keywords:

neo noir | sexual predator | dark horse comics | corruption | female nudity | 

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Taglines:

Hell of a way to end a partnership.

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Genres:

Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sustained strong stylized violence, nudity and sexual content including dialogue

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 April 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Frank Miller's Sin City

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dimension Films, Troublemaker Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min 147 min (unrated, recut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The signature white blood proved hard to achieve on screen. Regular movie blood couldn't provide the stark look. The crew had to use fluorescent red liquid and bathe it in black light. In post-production, the liquid was turned white.

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Goofs

When Yellow Bastard is holding Nancy inside the farm, squaring off with Hartigan, the arm holding the knife keeps changing its distance from Nancy from shot to shot.

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Quotes

[first lines]
The Salesman: [voiceover] She shivers in the wind like the last leaf on a dying tree. I let her hear my footsteps. She only goes stiff for a moment.

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Crazy Credits

In the opening credits, each of the actor's names is shown with a frame from the comic, featuring their character.

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Alternate Versions

December 2005 DVD reissue included an extended, reedited version of the film. The four story lines were separated into individual short films, with about seven minutes of additional footage added, marketed as approximately 25, but about thirteen of those minutes are credits added to each story and five come from marketing exaggeration.

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Connections

Referenced in COMIX: Beyond the Comic Book Pages (2016)

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Soundtracks

Cells (Instrumental)
(uncredited)
Written and Performed by The Servant

User Reviews

Stunning...

If I was to use one word to describe this film it would have to be....Violent! if i was allowed two words I would add 'Visceral'. The movie is two hours long and is structured in a similar way to Pulp Fiction. A bunch of stories set in a consistent world, with characters falling in and out of each others plot lines. On the whole it works brilliantly, and for the duration there isn't a boring moment. It is High octane, million miles and hour storytelling, and it EASILY Robert Rodriguez's best film. Allowing Frank Miller to write the script was a fantastic move, as the dialogue is edgy, witty and VERY faithful to the original material. In fact, many many lines are just taken straight from the pages. likewise, the camera behaves like a moving cartoon box out. The framing of all the key scenes is SO faithful to the printed page that it produces a truly original look that is fairly incomparable. Visually its a true original. Sometimes these visuals fall down, there are some very very obvious digital shots that don't quite gel, but on the whole the cinematography is jaw dropping. You could literally pause the movie at almost any point and just hang that frame on a wall, its that beautiful. Performances are good all round. Mickey Rourke absolutely nails Marv, and the girls of Old Town are all as beautiful as they are deadly. The other standout for me was Elijah Wood, who was truly chilling. Bruce Willis puts in a solid, if unspectacular turn as Hartigan. The film isn't entirely void of criticism. there's some fudging of time lines with Hartigans character (do we really buy Bruce Willis as a nearly 70 year old man?) and the jumps from story to story are jarring initially, but once it settles into itself the ride is fantastic. My other main criticism is the same I have with Quentin Tarantinos work. That every character and every voice in the movie is the same. This is more a fault of the source material, but when every single person is a wise cracking, hard boiled tough guy (even the women) then it kind of distills the effect of their toughness. In a film that is predominantly voice over driven, it is hard to differentiate characters when they all sound exactly the same, both tonally, and in the language they use. Even Marv, who's supposed to be a meat head, talks in gravelly prose that would make Bukowski feel like a Nancy. Other Minor niggles are hardly worth mentioning. From a technical standpoint the sound effects are WAY to loud. All of the punches, gunshots etc are given such ridiculous prominence on the track that they threaten to make mockery of the violence. I actually found that i didn't want any more guns fired cos it was hurting my ears! all in all though, its one hell of a ride, and only a couple of notches below Pulp Fiction on the 'Oh my god that film was cool-o-meter'.