Sin City: A Victim of Sequels

The new Sin City film was a sequel that took 9 years to get off the ground since the success of the first one in 2005 and to the fans this will be A Damn to Kill For but to everyone else, it’s more like a movie to ignore. For the people whom may not know, Sin City is a movie adaption of a graphic novel created by famous artist/writer Frank Miller. The film is set as a modern day film noir and sparked the careers of Jessica Alba and Rosario Dawson and starred an A-list cast of celebrities such as Bruce Willis, Clive Owens, and Mickey Rourke. The style in the way the movie progresses is 3 or more separate stories are told that end up intertwining at the end for an epic climax.

Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For followed the same formula in story telling but there are several issues encountered in this film. Some are not the fault of the film due to the passing of beloved actor Michael Clarke Duncan who played the villain Manute and the wonderful Brittney Murphy who played Shellie. Then there is Clive Owen who wouldn’t reprise his role as one of the main heroes, Dwight that’s role is filled by Josh Brolin. Also Jamie Chung has taken over the role of famous Asian killer Miho instead of actress Devon Aoki. Fans will catch on quick but people who are not familiar with the franchise will be lost.

There is one problem I believe fans may have a problem with and that’s the conflicting time frames in the film. If I may spoil one thing in the film, there seems to be two different time frames in the film. One being the present which takes place 4 years after the events of the first film that centers in on Jessica Alba’s character, Nancy as she plots her revenge against Governor Rourke. The second frame seems to be the origin of Dwight and Manute while introducing the newcomer Eva Green as the femme fatale Ava. There is another side story in the film that stars Joseph Gordon Lovett who plays a very interesting character with a tragic ending.

The main problem I have with the film is the appearance of Mickey Rourke who reprises his role as Sin City bad ass Marv. I could accept Marv’s appearance in the past sequence as did Jamie King’s when she reprises her role as Goldie but when I realized he was in the present sequence, there was a problem. For anyone who remembers, Marv was executed in the last movie after getting revenge for his beloved Goldie, so that asks the question, “Why is he still alive when he got fried?” I’ve never read the comics so maybe there’s a story that explains his resurrection and it’s being saved for a possible 3rd movie.

Overall however, fresh faces and familiar story telling weren’t enough to surpass the first film. I have to painfully give this film a 6 out of 10. While I sinfully enjoyed seeing Jessica Alba do a strip tease that will be remembered throughout cinema history and I liked the stories featured in the film, I don’t see this film being successful like the first Sin City. Usually films that take too long to make are never a good sign but I wanted to give this film a chance and I was entertained because I am a fan. However, anyone who doesn’t know anything about Sin City will probably walk out and want their money back.