After 9 years Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller finally made a sequel to their masterpiece from 2005, Sin City, and.... no-one went to see it. One of 2014's biggest and definitely the most surprising box office bomb, critics were also fairly unkind to the film. It's not as bad as some say it is, but it's best summed up as this: The Kick-Ass 2 of 2014. An enjoyable sequel which lacks the original's impact and misses the point, and struggles to hit a peak when the scene stealer from the first is off screen. In Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, we return to the nastiest, darkest and grittiest city in comic book movies for more brutal stories of justice, sin and moral corruption. In one Marv becomes an amnesiac, in another a cocky gambler finds himself in trouble when he beats the wrong man at poker, in another Nancy Callahan takes revenge on the man who caused the death of John Hartigan and another involves Dwight's encounter with a mysterious femme fatale played by Eva Green. What's noticeable about these stories? They emphasize action and that wasn't the point of the first.
Sin City was a great film because of its emotional power and characterisation. Here, mostly we're getting black and white shapes beating each other up like some generic beat em up flash game with little subtlety or grace. The script sags in places and the film refuses to focus on developing its characters or some sort of emotional impact. It never goes into unwatchable territory, but it's just curiously flat some of the time and it's hard to understand why. All you know is you'd rather be watching the first movie. It's still visually mind blowing and has some beautiful shots. It's well acted by its ensemble cast with Mickey Rourke and Eva Green being the standouts. There are many different voice overs but the film manages never to feel pretentious. You'll likely find yourself moderately enjoying it throughout without ever being particularly interested in what's happening. It's pretty safe to say Sin City 3 will not be happening after this, but the legacy of the original has not been tarnished.
6/10
