Robert Rodriguez takes a break from his Trejo wielding Machete and returns to the streets of Sin City nearly a decade after the groundbreaking original. Once again co-directing with Frank Miller, Rodriguez delivers an entertaining, rugged sequel with wildly inventive visuals, grouchy genre characters but less prevailing plot strands.
Josh Brolin plays Dwight (replacing Clive Owen), a gristle-chinned PI besotted by alluring femme fatale Ava (Eva Green). Dwight is double-crossed and set up as a pawn in a murder plot so enlists the help of Mickey Rourke’s Marv and the girls of old town (led by Rosario Dawson’s Gail) to take revenge on those responsible. This central tale is woven with tales featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an egotistical hotshot hoping to score big on the gambling scene and Jessica Alba’s vengeful dancer Nancy, scheming to take out Powers Boothe’s corrupt Senator Roark.
The three stories are less deftly entwined than the original’s but are stunningly executed and enriched with wonderful characters and performances. Mickey Rourke mumbles under make up as the crater-faced Marv while Gordon-Levitt is fitting as the cocksure new kid but it’s Boothe and Green that steal the show. The main tale featuring Dwight and Ava is a tad too steeped in sub-genre staples with its double-crossing dame luring men into her lair. Even when delivered with Rodriguez and Miller’s panache and innovation this plotline still feels well-trodden.
Sin City’s green-screen bravado was once revolutionary but today feels commonplace with every other blockbuster superimposing great hunks of action. Despite this, Frank Miller’s stark style is so distinctive that Sin City 2 still feels fresh and scintillating; enhanced by Rodriguez’s skilful editing and energised direction. Even though the film fails to evoke or stir at a visceral level, its proficient pop-noir homage remains a superb fusing of art and action.
Despite being riddled with self-references, Sin City 2 is a sordid yet sumptuous lunge into cartoon darkness. With a style that still feels fresh in a summer of pap, it is blissfully cinematic due to Rodriguez and Miller’s slick visuals and meaty characters spawned from classic genre stereotypes. Scattershot editing and breathtaking direction combine to make an electrifying excursion that, despite not having as interesting stories as its predecessor, is hugely entertaining and invigorating screen pulp.
Daniel has awarded Sin City: A Dame to Kill For four Torches of Truth
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