Review for Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is the sequel to 2004's critically acclaimed film once again Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Sin City's creator Frank Miller. We are back in a prequel/sequel to the original film with a return of some classic characters as well as the introduction of some new ones.

Split into three interweaving stories 'The Long Bad Night' shows Johnny, an ace gambler with some mean skills with the cards. He challenges Senator Roark and wins. But he may live to regret that. 'Nancy's Last Dance' shows how after the death of Hartigan, Nancy becomes insane with rage and will go to any lengths to get her revenge. 'A Dame to Kill For' features Dwight as he tries to get even with the beautiful Ava who maybe the woman of his dreams... but soon becomes the woman of his nightmares.

All of these stories come in and out of each other in the typical way you expect from Miller and for me it doesn't work this time. I would have preferred three stand alone stories back to back, but the constant switching from one to the other became a little tiresome and unlike the first film where each story could have been its own movie, this one felt like they nearly didn't have enough material at all. At only 102 minutes this film felt much longer than that and it just felt like it never really got going, relying too much on the visuals to hold the film together.

As for these visuals? I would be wrong to say that they are not still impressive, but compared to the original it just felt like a Director/s going through the motions. Action is OTT and at times the constant white blood seemed less artistic and more just a way to hide it from the censors. The music is atmospheric and the way it is shot is certainly visually catching, but it just felt weak in comparison to the original.

All of the actors do a good job, with Josh Brolin and Joseph Gordon-Levitt fantastic gumshoe-like narrators. Mickey Rourke would have once again stolen the show as Marv if it hadn't been for the amazingly creepy performance of Powers Boothe as Senator Roark. Jessica Alba's portrayal of Nancy had a bit more depth this time, though again the 'stripper who doesn't strip' aspect is a little bizarre. Her mental breakdown as Nancy is great and seeing her with all the scars and short hair is scary. Of course, most of the comments have been made about Eva Green who puts on her breast... I mean best performance as Ava. She is absolutely hypnotic in this role and not just because she spends most of it naked.

All in all, the film is good, it's just not the lightning in a bottle that the original was. If it had been released closer to it then it may have had the same appeal. Unless you watch them back to back or are a huge fan of Miller or Rodriguez it may not have the same impact that the first one had and this is obviously one of the reasons why it bombed at the box office.

There are character featurettes on Jessica Alba as Nancy, Eva Green as Ava, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Johnny and Josh Brolin as Dwight. These are all short, but nice looks at each character and how the actor portrayed them.

Two featurettes about the Special Effects and Make Up which are pretty interesting, thiugh I do wish there had been a discussion on how the screenplay was created.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is not a bad movie. It looks good and if you are a fan of the original you will probably enjoy it, but the whole thing just feels empty and lacklustre. If you are a fan of the graphic novels you may get a kick out of revisiting these characters again, but this is certainly not a film to kill for.