Sin City - Blu-ray Review

Details: By Loron Hays; 23 April 2010

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</script></div>{/googleAds}Entering into the mono-chrome world of Robert Rodriguez's and Frank Miller's Sin City isn't a difficult procedure; it's kinda like a little mini-vacation to New Orleans... without all those annoying Mardi Gras beads and their implied meaning. On blu-ray, though, the film dominates with its muted saturation of color and visually pops off the television screen with a new crispness never seen in the theatre; the actors are tougher their jaw lines sharper - and the women, despite the violence that surrounds them, are even more curvaceous and desirable than anyone had previously thought possible.

Chock full of great actors (Benicio Del Toro, Clive Owen, Powers Boothe, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, and Elijah Wood) and actresses (Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy, Rosario Dawson, Carla Gugino, Jaimie King, and Alexis Bledel), Sin City was never meant to be taken seriously by either director including the special guest director Quentin Tarantino but what is meant to do is be a whole lot of violent and sexy noirish-type fun. While there are some fabulous shots and directed segments, the film suffered only a little -from its fragmented storytelling style as the original theatrical version sometimes suffered in powerful visuals with little punch to the story and, as a result, felt a little overstuffed just like the Christmas turkey some reviews suggested the movie was.

That complaint; however, is addressed with the second disc in this set as the film viewer can opt to see each story separated from the film and told completely without the overlapping of some the film's other stories. These segments are unrated and include scenes that should have been smoothed into the original version, but for this reviewer this is the preferred way to see Sin City. It is through separating the stories that the stories in each segment shine; they don't take second fiddle to the visual effects and only enhance an appreciation for the original film once you see everything put back together in its whole.

While Sin City's visual gloss was never questioned (unlike how it was with The Spirit this past December), it is easy to see just how influenced Rodriguez was by Miller's art and his respect for the comic is intact no matter which version you watch despite the fact that Nancy (Alba) does wear a top much to the dismay of every single fan of the comic - while dancing in the bar. Rodriguez keeps the camera in a fluid motion, complete with quick cuts and smart editing selections, and orchestrates some of the scenes just as if they were the frames in Miller's serial comic. Occasionally, some of the colors in the real world seep through; blue eyes, colored cars, converse shoes, and massive amounts of red, red blood, but for the most part there is a perpetual sepia tone to the film that gives it a yellowish gray cast throughout its running time.

With its debut on blu-ray this week and The Spirit last week, I am sure there are more than a handful of fans who are eagerly awaiting news from Rodriguez and Miller about a return visit to the city that never sleeps. Excited that the rights to Sin City are finally out of Miramax's hesitant hands, it seems a sequel to Sin City is finally back on the table and in the works which is why Rodriguez keeps making kid-type movies - as long as an eager studio picks it up and understands what they have: Sin City, much like New Orleans after dark, is strictly for the adult animal.

Component Grades
Movie		DVD


DVD Experience

Blu-ray Details:

Screen Formats: 1.85:1

Subtitles: English SDH; Spanish; Portuguese; Chinese

Language and Sound: English DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 Surround; Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1; SpanishPortuguese, and Chinese. It's also equipped with D-Box.

Other Features: Color; interactive menus; scene access; Audio Commentaries; Recut Stories; Featurettes; Teaser; Trailer; D-Box.