Fat Yellow Goodbye

It's not quite time for the Summer movie season to start. There's still an entire month left, but it doesn't mean that highly anticipated movies aren't being watched. No, this movie was just a warm-up to the main event that will be Summer '06.

Frank Miller's Sin City, as adapted by Robert Rodriguez with an assist from Quentin Tarantino, is the first movie to actually be marketed as a straight graphic novel to film adaptation. With no needs for storyboards and with the majority of the scenery digitally painted, Rodriguez and Co. fast tracked this film from initial production to release this last Friday. An all-star cast, two renowned directors, and a wholly-involved creator had kept my hopes for this movie high. Going in with much trepidation, I'd have to say it was nothing less than satisfying.

My first exposure to Frank Miller's work was in fact his fan-favorite "Dark Knight Returns." Artistically, it's leaps and bounds above his previous work for Marvel on Daredevil, and shows early signs of what was to come with Sin City. Thematically and verbally, however, it is the closest to Sin City than any of his mainstream work. The early narrative style, the bold character designs, and the graphic action sequences of DKR are all in Sin City, and nothing could prepare me for what I was to experience when I picked up the first collection.

A brutal, noir thriller, Sin City translates to the big screen quite stunningly. Frame for frame, every character, every brick, every shockingingly violent death comes across all the more strikingly in black and white. No more is this apparent than if one reads the novels themselves. The high contrast art style doubles as an exclamation point to the darkness of the city and its inhabitants. Visually, the movie is amazing. I'm all the more intrigued to catch a digital presentation as the movie itself was shot for the format. The visuals aren't all this movie is about though. It's the performances that sell it for more than what it is.

Jam-packed with highly recognizable faces, every actor in this movie gives their all, no matter how small the part may be. There are just a few, however, that I'll touch on for brevity's sake. Mickey Rourke, as Marv exudes a brutality perfect for the role. Clive Owen, as Dwight, keeps his cool and is the confident smooth talker he portrays. Bruce Willis, as Hartigan, aptly plays the former cop with a silent, gritty devotion only he can accomplish. Each of them anchors the movie's vignettes solidly, but without a stellar supporting cast, it would fall out from under each one of them.

I'm duly impressed they were able to stay as faithful to each story as possible. If it weren't for Rodriguez imploring Miller in the first place, this movie would never have happened. In any other hands, one might end up with a Catwoman. Instead, we ended up with what has to be the first great comic book movie of the year.

Overall Score: 3.5 out of 5