sin city

I've just been to see Sin City. It was probably the best film that I have seen this year, with the possible exception of Kill Bill. It looked fantastic, ethereal black and white, with splashes of bloody colour. Robert Rodriguez, the director, with a little help from Quentin Tarantino, has managed to create an instant cult classic. When I booked the tickets, I was warned that the film contained scenes of bloody violence which in no way prepared me for the torture, murder and general mayhem of the film. Oh, and there was a lot of blood. Boy, was there a lot of blood. There was red blood and white blood and, on one occasion, even yellow blood. There were also a couple of real turn-your-head-away scenes too. But, I think that what I took away from the film was that it was all about love. Everything that happens in the film happens for love.

The whole cast were great but Bruce Willis and, for me the biggest surprise of the film, Mickey Rourke, stood out. I didn't even recognise Mickey Rourke until he had been on screen for about 5 minutes. His character, Marv, was a wonderful almost indestructible death machine, that smashed and tortured and killed his way through to the truth. Elijah Wood also deserves a special mention as one of the few actors I have seen so effectively kill any possibility of ever being typecast, and that was without even uttering a single word. Creepy is not the word.

I'm going to go again. What else can I say? This film is breathtakingly beautiful. You've gotta see it.

PS Oh, alright, I admit it, it is a boys film, what with it's hookers in leather and garters carrying machine guns kind of plot, but it's a glorious boys film.