Title: Sin City – A Dame To Kill For (IMDb)
Directed by: Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller
Written by: Frank Miller
Year: 2014
Length: 102 min
Rating: 18
My IMDb rating: 9/10

This movie is really sexy. Naked bodies everywhere (mostly female but on one occasion also male). The rating isn’t just for sexiness either. There is more than enough of violence in Sin City: A Dame To Kill For. While the feminist in me was screaming at me to get out, the comic geek in me was cheering in her seat. I couldn’t help thinking: Damn, what an amazing movie.

I haven’t read the graphic novel yet, so I can’t compare that to the movie adaptation. I will solely consider the movie then.

The cast speaks for itself: among others, we have Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Josh Brolin, Mickey Rourke, Rosario Dawson, and of course, our dame Eva Green.

The story continues seamlessly from the first movie, Sin City (2005).  Stripper Nancy (Jessica Alba) mourns Hartigan’s (Bruce Willis) death and drowns her sorrows in alcohol while plotting to take revenge by killing Senator Roark (Powers Boothe). Hartigan’s ghost watches her destroying herself and her life in agony. At one point he addresses us by asking: “Do you want to know what hell is? It’s watching the people you love hurt.”

We see a new face arrive in Sin City. Johnny (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a hot-blooded, naive young man who always wins at gambling, be it slot machines or poker. He ignores the warnings he gets and wins a lot of money from Senator Roark. Not leaving the City, like he is advised to, he gets beaten up, his fingers broken and his leg shot. Not giving up, he faces the Senator again in one last game…

When you see Eva Green as Ava, you know why the men in this movie get crazy about her. Frankly speaking, this is one hell of a lady. She seduces whoever is useful to her to get what she wants, becoming the downfall of every man who falls for her. The ultimate femme fatale. Dwight (Josh Brolin) makes the mistake of taking her back into his life, only to kill an innocent man and helping Ava become a very rich widow. Having done the job she needed him to, Ava tries to kill Dwight. With the help of Marv (Mickey Rourke), Dwight escapes into Old Town. There, with the help of Gail (Rosario Dawson) and her gang, he becomes a new man, ready to face Ava again.

Meanwhile, Nancy is consumed with pain and rage. She decides to move forward with her plan. In order to kill the Senator, she needs help. Marv, lead to believe by Nancy that it was Roark who disfigured her face, risks his life to help her entering the highly secured villa. There, Nancy gets her chance to face the man who is responsible for her misery.

I saw the movie in 3D in a rather small cinema. While I usually enjoy 3D when it’s done well and with a purpose, I must admit that it felt superfluous in Sin City: A Dame To Kill For. The comic style was perfected since the fist part, 3D was not needed to make it better. It was alright to have it but I wouldn’t have missed it if it were in 2D.

The colouring, black and white with spots of colour at the right time, was wonderful. The music fitted the scenes perfectly. Soft, romantic tunes were followed by hard guitar riffs in fighting and dancing scenes. The music helped create the Sin City atmosphere.

Another thing I really enjoyed was the dark humour, especially Marv’s. He is my favourite character in this movie. Rourke’s acting was spot-on. He showed the audience a character who is filled with darkness but also with humour and with love. Not caring about what happened to him, Marv was ready enough to sacrifice himself in order to help other people and to protect those he cared for. Jessica Alba’s acting in this movie was also a very nice surprise. Sexy dancing aside, the way she portrayed Nancy’s fall into darkness was a pleasure to watch.

As I wrote in the beginning, the feminist in me was struggling to find the movie acceptable. Admittedly though, that was what I expected of a movie about a woman that makes men kill for her. Also, the pleasure I got as a comic book and film fan was worth the uneasy feeling that accompanied it. Therefore, 9/10.