Welcome Back!
Before I get into the review I need to Preface it with some history.
In 2005 I was just getting out of 10th Grade, I was not quite sure what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I loved movies, the spark had been placed there back in 1993. But I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.
Along comes a little movie called Sin City. Heralded as Bloodier than Kill Bill and more stylish than any movie before it. I was intrigued. I went to see it opening day and I fell in love with it. the Bleak violent Noir setting, the beautiful cinematography, the Marvel of shooting completely on Green screen.
Cut to 9 years later, I've graduated Film school and worked on a bunch of films. And there is a sequel. is the Sequel as good as the first? Did it spark my creativity again? well Read to find out.
because this is a sequel/prequel it will spoil the first, so beware!
Pros:
I really enjoy dark noir movies like this. they're fun to watch and I can never quite see where they're going. I enjoy the world that was created int he first. at times it's almost like a western mixed with a hyper stylized noir.
Other than that, Brolin, Green and Gordon-Levitt did well in their characters. Particularly Joseph gordon-levitt, who proves yet again that he's one of the best young talent out there.
Cons:
Uh oh. Pretty damn fast with the cons. Yeah, its not a good movie. the first was a classing, beautiful and engaging. this one is the bastard younger brother. everything about it was a step down. the action, the cinematography, the cast, the choreography, the dialogue, the characters, even the damn lighting.
Sin City 2 takes the cool visuals of the first and spits all over them. The first had really cool comicbook esque feel this one felt like they shot a movie and both post converted 3D and black and white. every actor was lit like a bad soap opera, no contrast no definition, just normal bland lighting. the best lighting I saw was on Ray liotta's face in his tiny little scene. very little had the same feeling as the first. Maybe some of Eva Green's scenes but let's face it, she and her body made those shots beautiful.
I also didnt like how often color played a role. the first had only a few pieces of color mixed in, the Yellow Bastard, Goldie, the cop lights. it was almost all black with some white and even less color. this one felt like, some black, lots of grey and colors.
enough about the visuals. I could go on and on. mentioning how some characters floated off the obviously CG ground, or how some weapons hit with no physics attached, and others do an insane amount of damage out of nowhere.
no I'll transition the the Cast. I mentioned Eva Green, and her body, and Gordon Levitt, and Josh Brolin. But what about the rest? well, they fail across the board. Mickey Rourke looked great in the first, he looked unique and different. this one he just looked like mickey rourke with some prosthetics. he just kinda mumbles and grumbles through the movie, throwing out iffy one liner after one liner.
Jessica alba as grown into quite a poor actress. still decent to look at but she's lost a lot of luster. maybe she's always been a bad actress with a nice body but now she's just difficult to watch. and her acting serious is laughable.
Rosario Dawson and Bruce Willis phone it in. Dennis Haysbert plays the Weaker looking version of Manute. Jamie Chung is the weaker version of Miho. Basically it was just a few standouts and a bunch of shrugs.
Overall Dame to Kill For just lacked a punch. It felt like a cheap cash grab version of the first. Everything was a huge step down.
Storylines:
Dame to Kill For - Easily the best of the stories. the to leads did a decent job and overall it was well written and the visuals were solid. I just wish Michael Clarke Duncan was still around. Though the god awful Dwight transformation.
Just Another Saturday Night - I think this is just a small scene with Marv hunting some frat boys. so, uh, I don't know, it was there but didn't do much else.
The Long, Bad Night - Gordon Levitt was perfect as Johnny, he was slick and suave. I loved the card tricks and the little sight gag type stuff. Wasn't much of a storyline in the big picture but I guess it was a nice little story.
Alba - I can't find the name of this storyline for the life of me, but it's basically Jessica Alba trying too hard. she contracts Marv, just like Dwight did. she gets cuts on her face, just like Marv in the first. Basically it was just a rehash of the other storylines. but with Alba overacting all over it.
Final Notes:
this was such a wasted opportunity. I really wish it was better and It should have been.
Final Verdict: 21
Could have been so much better
Now to watch the first and get back to good movies.
Before I get into the review I need to Preface it with some history.
In 2005 I was just getting out of 10th Grade, I was not quite sure what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I loved movies, the spark had been placed there back in 1993. But I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.
Along comes a little movie called Sin City. Heralded as Bloodier than Kill Bill and more stylish than any movie before it. I was intrigued. I went to see it opening day and I fell in love with it. the Bleak violent Noir setting, the beautiful cinematography, the Marvel of shooting completely on Green screen.
Cut to 9 years later, I've graduated Film school and worked on a bunch of films. And there is a sequel. is the Sequel as good as the first? Did it spark my creativity again? well Read to find out.
because this is a sequel/prequel it will spoil the first, so beware!
Movie Review: Sin City, A Dame to Kill For
I really enjoy dark noir movies like this. they're fun to watch and I can never quite see where they're going. I enjoy the world that was created int he first. at times it's almost like a western mixed with a hyper stylized noir.
Other than that, Brolin, Green and Gordon-Levitt did well in their characters. Particularly Joseph gordon-levitt, who proves yet again that he's one of the best young talent out there.
Cons:
Uh oh. Pretty damn fast with the cons. Yeah, its not a good movie. the first was a classing, beautiful and engaging. this one is the bastard younger brother. everything about it was a step down. the action, the cinematography, the cast, the choreography, the dialogue, the characters, even the damn lighting.
Sin City 2 takes the cool visuals of the first and spits all over them. The first had really cool comicbook esque feel this one felt like they shot a movie and both post converted 3D and black and white. every actor was lit like a bad soap opera, no contrast no definition, just normal bland lighting. the best lighting I saw was on Ray liotta's face in his tiny little scene. very little had the same feeling as the first. Maybe some of Eva Green's scenes but let's face it, she and her body made those shots beautiful.
I also didnt like how often color played a role. the first had only a few pieces of color mixed in, the Yellow Bastard, Goldie, the cop lights. it was almost all black with some white and even less color. this one felt like, some black, lots of grey and colors.
enough about the visuals. I could go on and on. mentioning how some characters floated off the obviously CG ground, or how some weapons hit with no physics attached, and others do an insane amount of damage out of nowhere.
no I'll transition the the Cast. I mentioned Eva Green, and her body, and Gordon Levitt, and Josh Brolin. But what about the rest? well, they fail across the board. Mickey Rourke looked great in the first, he looked unique and different. this one he just looked like mickey rourke with some prosthetics. he just kinda mumbles and grumbles through the movie, throwing out iffy one liner after one liner.
Jessica alba as grown into quite a poor actress. still decent to look at but she's lost a lot of luster. maybe she's always been a bad actress with a nice body but now she's just difficult to watch. and her acting serious is laughable.
Rosario Dawson and Bruce Willis phone it in. Dennis Haysbert plays the Weaker looking version of Manute. Jamie Chung is the weaker version of Miho. Basically it was just a few standouts and a bunch of shrugs.
Overall Dame to Kill For just lacked a punch. It felt like a cheap cash grab version of the first. Everything was a huge step down.
Storylines:
Dame to Kill For - Easily the best of the stories. the to leads did a decent job and overall it was well written and the visuals were solid. I just wish Michael Clarke Duncan was still around. Though the god awful Dwight transformation.
Just Another Saturday Night - I think this is just a small scene with Marv hunting some frat boys. so, uh, I don't know, it was there but didn't do much else.
The Long, Bad Night - Gordon Levitt was perfect as Johnny, he was slick and suave. I loved the card tricks and the little sight gag type stuff. Wasn't much of a storyline in the big picture but I guess it was a nice little story.
Alba - I can't find the name of this storyline for the life of me, but it's basically Jessica Alba trying too hard. she contracts Marv, just like Dwight did. she gets cuts on her face, just like Marv in the first. Basically it was just a rehash of the other storylines. but with Alba overacting all over it.
Final Notes:
this was such a wasted opportunity. I really wish it was better and It should have been.
Final Verdict: 21
Could have been so much better
Now to watch the first and get back to good movies.
Comments
Post a Comment