Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

My relationship with film is best illustrated by the fact that I managed to avoid it for almost 8 years after its premiere. Rodriguez has never been among my favorite directors, and even in moments of weakness, I only gave him a maximum of 3 stars, and with the passing years, I feel that I am moving further away from his work. Therefore, today I am much stricter when it comes to his films. Since the first trip to Sin City, Rodriguez has not advanced anywhere, and he hasn't understood anything or learned anything new. In this film, we can once again witness the failure of narrative techniques and the pitiful inability to work with characters. The film quickly becomes an unintentional parody of itself. Miller's exaggeratedly affected comic book vision needed cinematic cultivation and sensitive development of its world, not mechanical takeover and cramping literalness. Rodriguez did not become a visionary, but rather a discoverer and advocate of a typical dead-end in filmmaking. If it weren't for the fetishistically seductive visuals and the presence of Eva Green, who lends her deceptive femme fatale with confidence and wit like no other actress, I would rate it even lower. Overall impression: 35%. (12/27/2021)

The second to Sin City is again full of very suggestive and imaginative visuals, but story-wise it is noticeably weaker than its predecessor, which had the primacy of the first (and therefore novel) film. From the cast, the one who impressed me was Eva Green, who enjoyed her role properly. In short, a sequel that didn't need to be made at all, but then again I would be lying if I said that the screening was a waste of time. (09/22/2014)

More than a film proper, it is an add-on to the first one, or perhaps a "data disk", if you will. The original Sin City was incredibly stylish, innovative and pioneering in its time. The era when movies were improving on green screens and 3D effects became a trend is long gone, after all, 9 years is a long time, now all that is taken for granted. And so, the second installment looks cool at best, and that's it. The three confusingly edited stories are impersonal and you won't root for the heroes as you did before. Maybe you will admire Eva Green's and Rosario Dawson's boobs, maybe you will also like the laconic but action-oriented Mickey Rourke, but it definitely won't pin you to your seat. It is too sterile and boilerplate for that. (09/10/2014)

Pointless recycling of what we've seen before, but without any of the dramaturgical lightness and plot momentum of the unrivalled first film. The scenes are connected by rather flimsy bridges and the film as a whole doesn't escalate, surprise or even shock with a single bit of entertaining brutality, the kind the first one was packed to bursting with. The only thing that they managed to retain is the irresistible atmosphere of "sin and moral depravity" and the hilarity of Rourke's character, who’s amazing and could have carried the whole thing on his shoulders alone much, much better. This is just a dud, it can’t be denied... 50% (10/10/2015)

The "Sin City" stories are the best thing to come out of comics since the 1990s. No question about it. The film version is also more than worthy. I wouldn't approach the two films as separate projects, but as a single unit, and I'm very comfortable with that. Acting wise, Eva Green reigns supreme with another unmistakable variation on Angelique from Dark Shadows, Jessica Alba has gone dark and the whores from the old town have the beautiful twins, wearing the face of Jaime King, in their midst. Julia Garner with her curly head is a delight too, and who else would one want to bind but Juno Temple? (09/06/2014)