"Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" Review

After nine years, something has been lost in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez's follow-up to the original Sin City film from 2005. The visual aesthetic is still striking, and the performances are all perfectly zany. But the chapters in this new story don't gel quite as nicely as before. In turn, this Dame packs less punch that it leads on.

We pick up a few years after the end of the first Sin City. Senator Roarke (Powers Boothe) appears to have a larger role than before, with a tighter grip on the city now that Hartigan (Bruce Willis) is gone. Nancy (Jessica Alba) is struggling to find meaning in her life without Hartigan's guidance. She starts to find it with help from Marv (Mickey Rourke). 

At some point, the narrative is presented in a slightly disjointed fashion, seeming to try and service as both a sequel and prequel at the same time. I say "prequel" because we have Josh Brolin taking over the role of Dwight from Clive Owen. It works to some extent. The visuals are always eye-popping, and the acting performances are appropriately zany. But Brolin's segment often feels padded with unnecessary exposition, seemingly for the sole purpose of tying in more characters, like Chris Meloni & Jeremy Piven as a pair of foolhardy detectives. 

Brolin plays Dwight "pre-facial reconstruction surgury"; this surgery is what would lead him to look like Owen in the first film. We also get to see how Manute (Dennis Haysbert) got that funky gold eye...

I enjoyed the addition of Eva Green as the titular "dame" Ava, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Johnny, the bastard son of Senator Roark (Boothe), but I prefer Owen's rendition of Dwight to Brolin's. Rourke's Marv is arguably the most fun character to watch across both films.

Fans of the last movie or of Miller's original graphic novels are the only clientele that need apply. All others will be better off saving their money.

C