Nine years ago Sin City (2005) gave us something that
felt fresh and managed to, as accurately as possible, put a graphic novel on
screen (the most faithful comic book adaptation?) The hardboiled noir like
style and dialogue was carried off with skill, offering a pastiche of 40s and
50s noir cinema, which in turn paid tribute to the hard talking pulp characters
of Chandler and Hammett.
What has happened in
those nine years that has led to Sin City
2: A Dame to Kill For is hard to say, but the results are disappointing. A Dame to Kill For, again directed and
written by Rodriguez and Miller comes off as a poor attempt to parody Sin City. Much like 2008’s The Spirit. The dialogue of A Dame to Kill For is hackneyed, the
direction clumsy and confused in its narrative. Only Joseph Gordon-Levitt, new
to the series, seems aware of all this and embodies his character with subtle
awareness that seems to prevent him from becoming a lazy caricature.
Unlike many recent comic
book/graphic novel adaptations, the first Sin
City is not marketed to death, so seek it out and watch it again rather
than suffering A Dame to Kill For.
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