SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR (2014) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

sin city: a dame to kill for (2014) movie

Genre              |   Crime Darama

Classification   |   MA 15+

Running time   |   102 minutes

Released         |   18 September 2014

cast

Mickey Rourke ... Marv
Jessica Alba ... Nancy
Josh Brolin ... Dwight
Joseph Gordon-Levitt ... Johnny
Rosario Dawson ... Gail
Bruce Willis ... Hartigan
Eva Green ... Ava
Powers Boothe ... Senator Roark
Dennis Haysbert ... Manute
Ray Liotta ... Joey
Christopher Meloni ... Mort
Jeremy Piven ... Bob
​Christopher Lloyd ... Kroenig

director

​Frank Miller
Robert Rodriguez

writer

​Frank Miller ... (written by)
 
Frank Miller ... (graphic novels)

cinematographer

​Robert Rodriguez

music

​Robert Rodriguez
Carl Thiel

film editor

Robert Rodriguez

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box office result

Worldwide             $​​39,407,616 ​

Australia                 $​​​542,546

North America       $​​13,757,804

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movie minutiae

During the seven-year gap between the first SIN CITY (2005) and the beginning of principal photography on this film, Brittany Murphy and Michael Clarke Duncan passed away, forcing Robert Rodriguez to re-cast their respective roles of Shellie and Manute (Dennis Haysbert).

Due to Devon Aoki's pregnancy at the start of production, the character of Miho was also re-cast, with Jamie Chung replacing Aoki.

​Jeremy Piven also ended up replacing Michael Madsen as Bob.

Dwight McCarthy's cigarrettes are "Red Apple" brand, most known from Quentin Tarantino's movies. Tarantino is a good friend of Rodriguez's and worked as guest director on SIN CITY (2005).

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related movies

SIN CITY (2005)

SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR (2014) MOVIE IMAGES

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SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR (2014) STORY SYNOPSIS

The damaged denizens of Sin City return for another round of stories from the mind of Frank Miller....

In "Just Another Saturday Night," Marv (Mickey Rourke) struggles to recall a nasty run-in with some frat boys.

In "A Dame to Kill For", Dwight McCarthy (Josh Brolin) forsakes his battle with his inner demons to help Ava Lord (Eva Green), the woman of his dreams and nightmares.

In "Nancy's Last Dance," Nancy Callahan (Jessica Alba), mad with grief and rage over Hartigan's death, vows revenge.

SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR (2014) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 23 August 2014

​​Pop Movee Rating

SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR For takes audiences back to comic book writer Frank Miller’s noir-inspired, ultra-violent city that seems to have no limits to the lawlessness of its inhabitants. It’s been nine years since Robert Rodriguez brought Miller’s graphic comic book stores to the big screen, whose presentation was a visually literal interpretation of its source material. This provided the 2005 film a certain novelty value as it gained publicity for its unique approach and the broad range of acting talent attached to the project. The result was a film that performed well above what it should have, given its R-rated story content.

A DAME TO KILL FOR does not have the same novelty value as the 2005 film...

In terms of style, it is much the same as the first film, so this follow-up movie has to be judged on the quality of its story and whether or not Rodriguez is able to create something different within the boundaries of the SIN CITY universe.

Additional complexity exists for A DAME TO KILL FOR For, as Rodriguez and writer Frank Miller have decided to employ a five-part non-linear narrative that assumes the audience will have enough knowledge and memory of the first film for these new stories to make sense. (Given the audience this film is appealing to, it’s a fair assumption, but it’s a calculated gamble on the part of the film-makers.) 

The first story, based on the ‘Just Another Saturday Night’ comic, sees the return of Mickey Rourke’s Marv. This character is the connective tissue of the SIN CITY stories and, like his part in the first film, acts as a narrative force-of-nature who keeps the action moving; albeit in a none-too-subtle manner. This opening story is relatively short and really serves to reintroduce the audience to the first film’s most popular character. Interestingly, this segment serves to extend the concept that Marv is an other-worldly force avenging himself upon those despicable enough to take their depravities out upon the helpless and the hapless. Its one of the many dichotomies that exist within this film, where those characters who have the most questionable techniques of conflict resolution actually have the best intentions.

The second and fourth story, ‘The Long Bad Night Part I & Part II’ feature Joseph Gordon Levitt, who plays a cocky young gambler by the name of Johnny. This two-part segment was written by Miller especially for the film. At first, it seems that Johnny has come to Basin City is search of his next big score but, as the audience discover, Johnny knows that this will be the last time he gets to deal a winning hand. Levitt is a fine young actor, but this segment of the film does little more than subject him to the brutal excesses of Powers Boothe’s returning character of Senator Roark. In terms of the two-film mythology, Boothe’s character is the focal point of the danger the inhabitants of Basin City must endure to survive. He provides all the necessary menace required in the Levitt segment to make the audience despise him and reappears in the concluding segment as part of Jessica Alba’s Nancy character’s journey for revenge.

The third story is the film’s ‘A Dame to Kill For’ segment and reintroduces the character of Dwight, this time played by Josh Brolin; whereas the character was played by Clive Owen in the first film. To add to this actor-change, this Dwight story is set before the Dwight segment from the first film. Rodriguez and Miller address this physical change and provide circumstances in which Brolin’s Dwight ends up looking more like Clive Owen’s Dwight, but it doesn’t quite work. The physical transformation seems contrived and too slavish in its desire to conform to the previous film. Brolin’s performance is quite good and, given the overall level of depravity most of the characters in the film exhibit, is one of the few beacons of goodness with some sense of what is moral and what is not. 

The majority of Dwight’s story revolves around his relationship with Ava Lord, played by Eva Green. Ava is Dwight’s former lover and is a seductress the likes of whom no man can deny. Ava, however, turns out to be the Devil in disguise. She manipulates everyone around her and her main concern is determining how much suffering she can inflict upon those who are not prepared to submit to her. It’s a tad disturbing that Green inhabits the character so well, as it gives pause to think about how much of the character is Ms Green and how much is acting. The conclusion of the Dwight and Ava story relies less on Brolin and Green, as a number of supporting players are brought in to support to help deliver the segments set-piece finale. Dennis Haysbert as Manute, Rosario Dawson as Gail and Devon Aoki as Miho are all present throughout this part of the story and new characters played by Christopher Meloni and Jeremy Piven also make an appearance as two hapless cops who get drawn into Ava’s power game.

‘Nancy’s Last Dance’ is the film’s final segment and see the return of Jessica Alba’s Nancy, along with the ghostly vestige of Bruce Willis as John Hartigan, and deals with her desire to wreak vengeance upon Senator Roark for causing Hartigan to commit suicide. The story also relies heavily upon Marv to help Nancy get her plan to succeed. Unfortunately, this segment falls flat as the deux ex machina employed in the final moments is utterly ridiculous even for a film whose source material requires a complete suspension of disbelief. The ending is all the more problematic because the film’s convoluted narrative design doesn’t allow any of the character’s to progress other than to move from a life of ongoing despair to the release of death. Neither alternative is particularly appealing.

Technically, A DAME TO KILL FOR doesn’t stray very far from the style of the 2005 film. While it’s a very graphic film, it’s less confronting than its predecessor. Some of the concepts and imagery from the original movie were genuinely disturbing.

A DAME TO KILL FOR backs off some of the more depraved content, substituting it with a greater amount of sexualisation. Rodriguez and Miller make a definite choice to move away from content such as cannibalism and paedophilia and examine more of the psycho-sexual expanse that exists between men and women. In some cases, such as the short scene with Ray Liotta, the men are the predators and in somes cases, such as the character of Ava Lord, it’s the women.

The narrative also looks at the concept of duality within individuals, especially with Eva Green’s character. Ava is the ultimate temptress seeking to dominate all before her but she achieves it by becoming the very thing she despises – the quintessential damsel in distress. It’s an interesting juxtaposition and it has the effect of making Dwight far more sympathetic than he has any right to be given the manner in which his relationship with Ava comes to an end.

SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR brings very little to its intended audience that is new, but that’s really the point of this film.

A place as bad as Basin City will never change no matter how hard people try to make it a better place. Its story supposes that the powerful will always inflict themselves upon the weak, the rich will torture the poor and those with good hearts become so desensitised by what is happening that they stop living and just merely exist.

Given the downbeat nature of the story, a lot rests upon the technical prowess of the film-makers to make a movie that is visually engaging and extends the audience member’s appreciation of something new within the framework of something familiar.

Unfortunately, A DAME TO KILL FOR does not achieve this, as too much of the film looks and feels the same as the first film. Given its flat comic book style, the great danger this film runs is that its core audience will feel just as comfortable watching its predominantly monochromatic colour palette on the small screen as the big screen and will leave this film to watch on DVD, Blu-ray or digital download.

SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR (2014) USEFUL LINKS

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For - Wikipedia
​Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) - IMDb
​Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) - Rotten Tomatoes​

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