The summer blockbuster season has come to an end for me. It started back in April with Captain America: The Winter Soldier and ended last night when I saw Sin City: A Dame To Kill For. First off, I have to admit that I still have never read any Sin City comics books in my life, and I didn't even see the first film in theaters when it was released. When I saw it on DVD I thought Sin City was something very fresh and interesting with it's look and film noir style. Were Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller able to recapture that same interest nine years later?
Sin City: A Dame To Kill For brings back quite a bit of the cast from the original film and also adds some new faces like Eva Green, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeremy Piven, and Dennis Haysbert taking over the role of 'Manute' for the late Michael Duncan Clarke. Meanwhile, Josh Brolin steps in to take the role of 'Dwight' for Clive Owen. Some other good cameos came from Ray Liotta, Lady Gaga, and 'Doc' himself; Christopher Lloyd.
The Dwight storyline explains the title of the film. Dwight is betrayed by a woman he can't resist, played by Green, and enlists his friends Marv and Gail to help him seek revenge. Jessica Alba returns as Nancy, who is haunted by the death of Bruce Willis's character, Haritigan, from the first film. Nancy also sways Marv to help her seek revenge against the man responsible for Haritgan's death; Senator Roark. But Roark is busy seeking his own revenge on Johnny, played by Gordon-Levitt, the lucky kid who beats Roark out of a whole lot of money. There is another short Marv storyline at the beginning of the film that is pretty much useless, and could have saved us all ten minutes. But Dwight, Nancy, and Johnny are the main plots being told.
Starting off, I think the Johnny storyline was my favorite. Gordon-Levitt is constantly showing his growth as an actor as his roles become more and more enticing. The character was fresh for the film and the slight twist makes you guess how it all will play out in the end for Johnny.
The Nancy storyline was meant to showcase Alba's range and bring back Willis for a few brief cameos. Sadly, this plot came last in the film, and by then I was just looking for it to all end. Again, they should have given Mickey Rourke a pay cut and skipped his brief plot at the beginning. The majority of the film was taken up by the Dwight storyline. We get to see him become the man we meet in Sin City, which instead of paying attention to the film made my mind wander as to how the stories from both movies go together in a linear sense.
Nothing new was seen from this film that we didn't already get from it's predecessor. While I think this star-packed cast did a good job playing their characters I felt like the story lines were drawn out too much, and Rodriguez and Miller overused Marv just because he was the break-out character in the first film. If the directors wish to continue this franchise they'll have to come up with a new angle to peak my interest, or possibly move these characters to TV, because the nostalgia of Sin City has worn off. I would recommend this film as a Saturday night Redbox rental for just yourself, and maybe someone else who really enjoyed the first film.
Captain America: The Winter Solider: A+ (You haven't seen this movie!!!)
X-Men: Days of Future Past: A (This is bad-ass)
Guardians of the Galaxy: B+ (I highly recommend this film)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For: C- (Wait for Redbox)
The Amazing Spider-Man 2: D+ (Wait to borrow it from a friend)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: F (This will give a child-of-the-80's nightmares)
Godzilla: Waiting for Redbox
Transformers: Age of Extinction: Dreading seeing it on Redbox
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