Public Servant Lifestyle

We look at the script-to-screen transition of Frank Millers’ Sin City.

A two fisted bruiser of a film that leaps from down and dirty brawl to deadly shoot out in a flash. This is Carver City, a hard-boiled nightmare world of corrupt officials, homicidal cops, evil clergymen, serial maniacs and superhuman vengeance.

An impressive cat includes: Clive Owen, Benicio Del Toro, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Elijah Wood, Brittany Murphy, Michael Madsen, Josh Harnett and Rosario Dawson (Clerks II) - in the hyper-stylised film noir (literally!) that is Sin City.

“The coolest film of the year.” – Total Film

Co-directed (with a specially directed ‘guest insert’ from Kill Bill/Pulp Fiction director Quentin Tarantino) by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez, Sin City is – literally – a comic strip writ large on the big screen. Following Frank Millers’ own characters from the Sin City comic books virtually panel by panel across sections of three linked graphic novels the story leaps in super stylised style from one nourish nightmare scenario to the next.

For anyone with even a passing interest in the traditions of hard-boiled detective fiction – whether it’s from gangster pictures of the ‘40s and ‘50s, the crime pulps of the 30s or any of the spoofs and remakes that have passed into the culture – there will be much here that is - often disturbingly - familiar. One seemingly inexplicable violent encounter follows another.

Shoot-Outs Galore

There are shoot outs, stand-offs on a pier head, hostages, serial killers, bar room brawls, S.W.A.T teams rushing to arrest a violent (near superhuman) murder suspect – who eludes them. There’s corrupt City Hall officials, street gangs, clergy on the make, cops on the take, assassins, innocents, victims, killers, hit men - and even ‘happy hookers’ with hearts of gold and the firepower to face anyone down whoever intrudes on their patch. In short, Miller has populated his fictional cityscape with all the clichés of the genre – and stirred the whole thing up as only he can.

After all, this is the same man who (arguably) single-handedly reinvented Batman in his seminal (and extremely dark) The Dark Knight Returns in the mid 1980s – and to some extent once again with the sequel The Dark Knight Strikes Back, just a couple of years back. Before those, Miller brought his unique, stylised art and storylines with him to Marvels' Daredevil title – making that hero so much more than he had been and giving the world the characters of DD’s mentor 'Stick' and Elektra Assassin along the way. It’s no small measure of the impact of Millers’ work that the new ‘Batmobile’ – glimpsed in trailers for the forthcoming Batman Begins feature – bears more than a little resemblance to Millers’ ‘Dark Knight’ batmobile – and that Elektra has now appeared in two films herself portrayed by Alias star Jennifer Garner.

Rodriguez, the man behind the El Mariachi/Desperado/Once Upon A Time In Mexico sequence – as well as having directed From Dusk ‘Til Dawn – brings his shoot-out/ultra violence to the party – realising some graphic, spectacular fight scenes with real panache.

Bruce Willis

The film stars Bruce Willis (The Fifth Element, the Die Hard series, Twelve Monkeys etc...) as Hartigan, a cop saddled with a bum ticker and an honest streak that sees him vow to protect bar stripper Nancy (played by Dark Angel and Honey star Jessica Alba, soon to appear as Invisible Girl in The Fantastic Four); Mickey Rourke (Angel Heart) appears, albeit in a virtually unrecognisable state as the chiselled, embattled ogre 'Marv', an outcast misanthrope who the audience follows as he sets out on a mission to avenge the death of his one true love, Goldie (played by Jaime King).

The star-studded cast continues with British actor Clive Owen, who plays Dwight, the clandestine love of Shelley - Brittany Murphy - who spends his nights defending Gail - played with vengeful glee by Rosario Dawson (Kids) and her Old Towne girls from Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro), a dirty cop with a penchant for violent disorder.

The most striking thing about the film (apart from the almost constant monochrome) is probably the super-stylised way the whole cast behave in their stylised setting. After a very short adjustment period, the viewers’ ear becomes accustomed to dialogue that might sound incredibly corny in the mouths of other characters in another film. The same goes for the visuals. Once you’re used to the idea that this is a comic book adaptation – and it’s nice to see a comic surviving the ‘adaptation’ process so unscathed – whatever you might think of the subject matter – you can sit back and enjoy a fairly extreme, fast-paced action.

Grim City?

Whatever you think of the subject matter, it’s clear that this is one of the most faithful comic-to-movie transliterations ever made, beating even Spider-Man (arguably the most faithful comics adaptation to date) with its back to basic approach. This is a film that seems to have used the comic books as a storyboard – and shot basically panel by panel - which in itself is an astonishing achievement in today’s movie-by-committee climate.

Gruesome at times (the blood appears as pools or splashes of white in this monochrome world and is so abundant at times that you wonder if they would have been allowed the rating they have if it had been shot in colour) this is a hardcore comic book trip that will be unlike any other film you’ll see this year.

If you don’t want to walk down any mean streets perhaps it would be best to leave Sin City alone. On the other hand, if you want to take a walk on the wild side (and this does get very wild – with several dismemberments, implied torture, shoots, serial murders, imprisonment and threats of sexual violence – against very young victims) then this could be just your thing.

Think of a black and white Kill Bill Part 1 drawn in even broader strokes –and with fists standing in for flashing swordplay and you’re almost there. Mix that in with a measure of extremely dark humour and a willingness to embrace what might sometimes seem an over-egged melting pot of gore and cliché and this could be just the black and white night you’ve been looking for.

The original volumes of Frank Miller's Sin City: The Hard Goodbye, A Dame to Kill For, The Big Fat Kill, That Yellow Bastard, Family Values, Booze, Broads, and Bullets and Hell and Back are all available - published by Dark Horse Comics.

Follow this link to visit the official website: www.sincitythemovie.com

Sin City the books are available from Dark Horse Comics. The feature film is in cinemas nationwide right now.

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