Sin City

Benicio Del Toro plays a bent cop in Sin City.

Herald rating: * * * *

Film noir. Or, specifically, film noir and red (when there's blood), or green (for eyes), blond (stating the obvious) and the Yellow Bastard, who we shall come to later.

Robert Rodriguez, who cut his directing teeth on Spy Kids and Once Upon A Time In Mexico, and Frank Miller set out to film Miller's Sin City series of graphic novels. Rather than adapt the books to the cinema, a la Batman or X-Men, the pair turn the concept on its head and turn the cinema / screen into a graphic novel.

The movie is in black and white - shades of grey would be more accurate - with searing slashes of one of the above-mentioned colours when required. The characters - played by Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Benicio Del Toro and Clive Owen, among others - are sketches, not fully formed humans. The screenplay is drawn from three of the novels, in the form of episodes rather than a continuing narrative.

One short story: Rourke is Marv, a sad, dangerous loner avenging his one true love, Goldie (Jaime King), a hooker who was killed in his bed after their one-night stand.

Another: Willis is Hartigan, a rugged old cop, framed for raping Nancy, the stripper he's sworn to protect (Alba), while hunting down a deformed paedophile (Nick Stahl).

A third: Owen is Dwight, ex-photographer and accidental cop killer who loves Shelley (Brittany Murphy) and spends his nights defending Gail (Rosario Dawson), queen of Sin City's hookers, and her Old Towne girls from Jackie Boy (Del Toro), a bent cop.

The link: an undercurrent, more likely an undertow, of corruption revolving around Senator Roark (Powers Boothe) and his son, who is the paedophile from the Willis episode and also the Yellow Bastard, who played a key role in other events described in the movie.

It's a breathtaking concept, with Rodriguez staunchly following Miller's graphic novels as his storyboards, as Quentin Tarantino watches over the pair's shoulders.

It's quite unlike any other movie you'll see this year, but not next year, because the sequel comes out around March. But five minutes after the credits you may realise that there is little here beyond one-dimensional ultra-violence and sleaze.

The DVD is disappointing, and I'm darned sure that Frank Miller would have found a more accurate word, or picture. It offers only an eight-minute behind-the-scenes feature with on-set footage showing how the actors ran through their roles in front of a green screen without dressings or props. Willis and Owen reflect on this new approach; Rodriguez, Miller and Tarantino give a brief overview. Word is, when Sin City 2 surfaces, devotees can expect a more rounded package.


* Available on DVD and video for rental from today