Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For
Directors: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez
Cast: Eva Green, Mickey Rourke, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Length: 102 min
Country: Cyprus, USA
Have you guys seen that new Kenco advert? It’s about this kid in Honduras who turns his back on gang culture and escapes the dangerous inner city to earn a living as a coffee farmer. You could be cynical about Kenco’s motivations in all this, but the advert itself is well-made and pretty moving. Sadly, it was also probably the most engaging part of my cinema-going experience when I went to see Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For.
In case you missed the original (quite possible given that this sequel comes almost a full decade later), Sin City was a pulpy, daft anthology film best remembered for its distinct (and sometimes gorgeous) look. Through digital wizardry co-directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller (who also wrote the comics of the same name) cultivated a unique black-and-white style punctuated with occasional snatches of colour. Blood is red, police lights are blue, and blonde hair is, err, blonde, etc. The same aesthetic has been carried across to this second instalment which returns to Basin City (see what they did there?) for a new quartet of stories, some original and some taken from the comics.
The centrepiece is a battle of wills (and fists) between Josh Brolin’s morally ambiguous photographer Dwight and Eva Green as Ava, the titular dame. Unsurprisingly people do a lot of killing for her. Elsewhere, Joseph Gordon-Levitt brings the smarm as cocksure gambler Johnny, Mickey Rourke breaks things as the oversized Marv, and Jessica Alba returns as Nancy, the stripper left thoroughly damaged by the events of the first film.
Sin City 2 just feels vacuous and oddly toothless. I can’t imagine anyone over the age of 14 being shocked by its stabs at gore, but shock value is the only reason for its inclusion.
The combination of noirish looks and hard-boiled sleaze still holds some appeal but an interesting colour palette can’t obscure Sin City 2’s problems which are set deep in the film’s marrow. It’s an obnoxious film, with violence and fetishism always on its mind. The men are thugs and the women are whores and the whole thing is so overwhelmingly juvenile that I spent most of its running time wondering why I should care about anything it has to say.
I’d be more inclined to forgive this ugliness if it wasn’t so damn boring. Violent films aren’t a new phenomenon and many of them are great, important works of cinema. Rodriguez himself has built a career on whittling down tropes of murdery exploitation into something accessible and entertaining, but Sin City 2 just feels vacuous and oddly toothless. I can’t imagine anyone over the age of 14 being shocked by its stabs at gore, but shock value is the only reason for its inclusion.
Miller’s script feels like the root of problem. It seems content to have characters spend most of their time getting in boring, consequence-free fights and spouting out one-liners. This wouldn’t be such a problem if said one-liners weren’t so inane and the action so forgettable. I only saw the movie yesterday and I’m already struggling to recall specifics about it.
Joseph Gorden-Levitt has charisma but his character is so much of a tool that it’s hard to care.
The actors don’t do much to help the situation. Rourke looks the part perfectly but mumbles through most of his lines; whenever Brolin’s on screen he’s mostly just broodingly angry or angrily brooding; Joseph Gorden-Levitt has more charisma but his character is so much of a tool that it’s hard to care. Jessica Alba gets the most compelling story but she looks bored for most of it and the whole thing gets wrapped up so quickly that it’s hard to get involved.
Luckily Sin City 2’s villains are a lot more fun. Powers Boothe hams it up suitably as arch-baddie Senator Roark but Eva Green is probably what most people will remember. She’s in full scenery-chewing mode here and breathes life into the film when she’s on screen, doing a lot to break up its dourness.
These moments of theatricality and cinematic flair are frustrating because they force you to wonder what went so wrong with the rest of the production. It ends up feeling like a waste of time for you and the people involved, many of whom are talented and could probably have spent their energy on something more worthwhile.
It’s unlikely that Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For will hold out in cinemas much longer. It’s underperformed critically and commercially, and I can’t imagine many will mourn it. Eugh, this review came off a lot more aggressive than I had intended but it’s difficult to feel guilty when the film itself is so profoundly unlikeable. Maybe there’s just no place for Sin City while it keeps giving in to its basest instincts. Go and watch that Kenco advert instead.
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