Really the equivalent of that smiley. Pretty much a waste of a film. Need to digest. More to come. As of now the most disappointing sequel??? in quite some time.

While definitely not without its merits, Sin City: A Dame to Kill for represents a somewhat disappointing sequel in light of the heights that its predecessor reached. Whereas that film felt groundbreaking and slicker than most other films of its type, this one doesn't really differentiate itself from other stylized, heavily digital movies. Nevertheless, it is still more than sufficiently entertaining. Rodriguez's style is still fun to watch, the cast members are clearly having a great deal of fun playing with a smattering of noir tropes, and it's never boring. However, it lacks the same kind of special oomph that the first film had, and that absence is clearest at the end of the film. While the first film had a satisfying and nuanced climax followed by a clever coda, this one ends abruptly even though it intends to provide a moment of catharsis. I enjoyed A Dame to Kill For, and odds are good that many big fans of the original film will probably have fun with it as well; however, it's not the sequel that we were hoping the involved players could deliver.

B

Almost a decade after the release of the first Sin City film, an unconventional hit which wowed curious audiences with its digital wizardry, the topography of the decadent title metropolis is largely unchanged. The Old Town neighborhood is still populated with leather-clad prostitutes with their own system of justice. Musclebound, pill-popping Marv still haunts the foulest bars and smashes the faces of their foulest patrons. (Believable brawler Mickey Rourke capably reprises this role and its prosthetic mug, one of his most memorable turns between his Rumble Fish heyday and his redemptive Academy Award nomination for The Wrestler.) And the sun, as far as I can see, never rises; in this B&W realm, color is a relative rarity, glimpsed only in a sexy dame's emerald eyes or the crimson geyser of a dying man's blood. Yes, this world of hard men and their dangerous desires is largely the same, yet nine years have elapsed, and this proves a detriment to the second Sin City film, subtitled A Dame to Kill For and once again spearheaded by writer and director Robert Rodriguez alongside beloved, controversial comics mastermind Frank Miller, who directed a godawful film adaptation of The Spirit by himself in the intervening years.

The idea of blending films and graphic novels by positioning live-action performances in a computerized landscape is, alas, no longer novel, and certain core elements of Sin City experience are rather exhausting the second time around, particularly the nonstop film-noir-pastiche voice-over. No punch can be thrown without a comparison to a freight train. No bar can be entered without a purple and poetic description of its odors and textures. This is first and foremost a feast for the eyes, and I wished now and then I could turn down the volume of the intrusive voices. Also of note is a problematic multi-story structure which leaves arguably the least interesting of the many subplots—the one focused on Jessica Alba's troubled strip ingénue Nancy and her pining for the ghost of Bruce Willis' cop John Hartigan—for last, rendering the final 25 or so minutes a bit of a dull sit. There are pleasures and positives, too, including two very welcome new cast members: Eva Green, in her element and exuding seductive menace as the ultimate untrustworthy lover, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, charismatic and headstrong as a devil-may-care cardsharp aiming to undermine and win against his estranged father, an evil senator portrayed by a sneering, easy-to-despise Powers Boothe. And the high-style, shadow-on-shadow shot compositions Rodriguez imagines still have the power to amaze (or arouse, or frighten), even if they are no longer a genuine holy-cow revelation.

C+

It started out being one of my most anticipated movies of 2014. It certainly didn't meet those expectations but it wasn't a total let down. It severely lacked the great story telling of the first one and the great performances of Owen, Del Toro, and Willis (although he was barely in this one). Josh Brolin was bland, the story with JGL was basically pointless but Eva Green was gorgeous and so so good. It also needed more Dawson. She's smokin and I don't care what anybody says!

C

Showing a picture of Nick Stahl's Yellow Bastard is a reminder of a gaping hole in the sequel: it needs and does not have an antagonist as creepy and menacing as him and Elijah Wood's cannibalistic mute.

This

I agree, but I also found the fact that he had multiple photos and portraits of the yellow bastard unintentionally hilarious. Also Brolin's new face. That was the worst disguise in the history of disguises. They should have just got Owen back.

The film's biggest problem is it completely lacks the urgency the first film's stories had. All of them had an all or nothing type of energy to them. Here we have an epilogue set up as the main story and it's just completely paint by numbers and you know how it's going to end. JGL's character is interesting, but there is absolutely no pay off in the end. Boothe is a pretty boring villain, and he is the focus of 2/3 stories. Brolin's story fairs the best as it at least has a full beginning, middle, and end to it. I found Green and Brolin fine, and Marv and Manute's fight is probably the highlight of the film. It feels the most like the first film. But even here actors like Ray Liotta, Christopher Meloni, etc are wasted, or just their characters poorly executed. Meloni in particular should have been introduced earlier, his exit was so unexpectedly hilarious, and not in the good way.

Which brings it back to Rourke. He wasn't bad, but I found the role to be more parody this time out. His opening scene again is just stupid and goes no where. He pops up throughout the rest of the film for nothing more than a one liner and some brutal action (Which was fine) and as soon as he leaves the story, it gets dull again.

This was a film I was looking forward to a long time, and I knew after the trailers this wasn't going to be as good as the original. But holy shit, there is just nothing to get behind.

D+ / C-

boring and bad, but at least eva green gets nekkid a lot

Eh, Rodriguez and Miller may not be the sharpest tools in the history of the shed, but I believe they realize the comic value of a man waxing melancholy over a picture of a scowling, bulbous-headed yellow pervert. Particularly when the Powers Boothe character dryly grants his late son was perhaps not "presidential material."

On a quasi-related note, there is reportedly an enormous continuity/logic hole in this film. The first was not fresh enough in my memory to catch it, but I have read others' debates regarding it, and there does not seem to be any way to properly explain it. In the first, Marv is executed, and a newspaper is shown reporting Senator Rourke's (Boothe) condemnation of Marv's crimes. Yet in the sequel, Marv outlives the senator.

SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR

I wasn't looking forward to watching this "sequel", but I did have to check it out. What did I like about this picture. I thought JGL was good and his storyline was nice. Eva Green and her story was good. She was very beautiful and I love her voice. Once the film began I was brought back to the style that I found so interesting from the first Sin City. Powers Booth was good as well. He definitely is good at playing a character you can hate. I liked the level of violence and gore that was in the picture. Now what I wasn't so excited about was the Alba plot line. Her stripper scenes were nice but I wasn't a fan of her scarring herself up before getting her revenge. Also, I'm tired of that Rourke character. He's just over the top. Didn't get much enthusiasm out of Brolin's character either. Overall, I liked the action, style and most of the storyline even though some of the delivery of the dialogue was eh.

Grade - B

I had a lot of fun with this. Loved visiting this world again. It's not quite as great as the first but I can't say I was disappointed. I am getting tired of Eva Green playing the same roles though. I do like her and she was the best thing about 300: Rise of an Empire. But I wasn't overly impressed by her here. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was very good. And most surprisingly so was Jessica Alba. I didn't think it looked cheaper than the first either. Granted I haven't seen the original in years but I loved the visuals in both films. Thought this one looked just as cool as I remember the other looking.

8/10 (B+)

I liked it, although throughout the whole thing I kept on thinking about how the time sequence of these films worked 'cause I watched the first film yesterday.

It's also really uneven. The JGL storyline felt like total filler and didn't really add anything to the movie to me.

I thought the Levitt story was fun. It helped that he was very good in it, but I still found it enjoyable.

The Gordon-Levitt story is great, in my opinion. My favorite in the film, particularly the ending. He won his game and dies, however abruptly, with satisfaction.

I think JGL's storyline would have faired better if it didn't have the depth of a 10 year old's English assignment. How he got that good and gambling in Sin City would have been a much better story, and a different villain.

As David said earlier, Roark is a boring villain. Which is a shame as he was this ungettable "king" of Sin City. In his one and only scene taunting the bed ridden Hartigan he is truly bad ass. Here he's gotten to twice, and very easily. It almost makes you wonder why John Hartigan needed to commit suicide anyway. Nancy and JGL brought him down very easily.

And LOL at him knowing who Alba's character is and not caring. Considering he killed a no named hooker from the same bar in JGL's storyline without blinking an eye. Yet she is an actual threat, and all he does is smile. Not only that, he seems very held up on Junior's death, and she is not only the reason why he was deformed and became the Yellow Bastard, she is the reason he's dead. Not having her killed is just stupid.

Eh, I do not necessarily find Senator Roark "boring." Powers Boothe delivers a strong enough performance. He plays a sneering bureaucrat well. Rather, I believe the film could use another antagonist who is more overtly vulgar and vile (and a more immediate physical threat), such as the supremely creepy Elijah Wood character in the first.

I agree him doing nothing regarding the Jessica Alba character rings false, particularly considering how mindful he obviously is of loose ends and perceived blood debts.

I agree that Boothe was fine. I just think the material he was given was very uninteresting. I think a Sin City story about his rise to fame or his dark politics would have been a great story to go. As to your other point about Marv screwing up the continuity I think that was the other Roark that Marv killed in his story. He does appear in The Yellow Bastard, sitting at the bar watching Nancy dance.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Violent, bloody, seedy, sexy, thrilling, and packed with ultra cool dialogue and perfect cinematography, this is a film noir in all its boundary-pushing glory. Artistically, aesthetically, and thematically, A Dame to Kill For is fantastic. When you watch a Robert Rodriguez or Quentin Tarantino movie, you just know you are watching something a cut above the rest. Not once did I doubt that I would get a awesome film. Granted, it's not as good as Sin City; it wobbles slightly towards the end, and the lack of a strong character/A-list actor to anchor the film is noticeable, but what Rodriguez has done here is create a captivating and cool sequel with a group of has-beens and some artistic flair.

Josh Brolin's storyline works the best, and he just has such a noir-esque voice that he was pretty much born to be in this film. Levitt's storyline is also very, very good but ends on a sour note. Alba's storyline is over the top, but it's patchy and ends the film awkwardly. But overall; awesomeness oozes from every shot in this film. Eva Green, fuck me, SO FUCKING SEXY. If I was alone, I would have wanked off at every one of her scenes. The great thing is, I saw the trailers, I knew she was bad and I knew she turned on Brolin, but she is such a great actress that the minute I saw her I instantly got taken in, so when she turned on him about midway through the film, a bit of me was still surprised. Fantastic experience. Levitt acted great too. Powers Boothe was awesome as always, and it was nice to see Stacey Keach get a few lines in.

Just look at that cast: Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Powers Boothe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Eva Green, Jamie Chung, Stacey Keach, Josh Brolin, Ray Liotta, Christopher Lloyd, Jaime King, Dennis Haysbert, Lady Gaga, and Jeremy Piven - it's the who's who of has-been actors, but it just works so well together. I love this visual style. It's so much like a graphic novel, and I could watch more and more of these films.

A/A-