We're Going To Las Vegas??? No? Oh Crud, We Are Going To See Sin City???

Tomorrow morning is the day for my critic screening of Sin City: A Dame To Kill For. I have been dreading it since the last Sin City. I went against my better judgement to see it. What I saw and felt during the film was dirty and uncomfortable. I know some people out there will not agree with me at all with this blog, but I have my opinion and feelings, and as a critic am inclined to share them.

I love comic book and graphic novel films. I grew up loving comic books and superheroes. Now that I am older, I have found comics and graphic novels that are written more for late teens and adults. Some of them are great to read. Some of them even better than their movies, like most books. However, when it comes to comic book writer, Frank Miller, he knows how to hold readers captive with the help of his artists who ink some incredible panels. If you look back, Frank Miller's other popular graphic novel, 300, the art is true the same. Frank Miller also did The Spirit, which he directed and was awful. Hopefully they will make Frank Miller's Ronin into a film, but with better judgement.

The problem with these franchises is the fact that the directors and cinematographers can get the look of the film right, but can't get the ideas across in film that come across so well in print. I am not too big on the Sin City comics, though I have read them all. There is something wrong about them that translates through both print and film. Before I make my comment on Sin City, I want to first share with you my reasons on thinking and feeling this way. 

A few years back, Gothic rock star, Marilyn Manson, was performing in Iowa when a person bringing a prop on stage had a smiley face sticker on it. Marilyn Manson acted like that smiley face was the plague, he swore, recoiled and ran off stage. This started a riot at the concert that ended up with lots of injured people and 33 arrests. I don't know how many of you have been to a Marilyn Manson concert. I haven't, but I have seen videos of the crowd who show them in some kind of trance. You know that feeling when there is something terrible, but you can't take your eyes off of it like you are in some trance. I believe that this is the way Marilyn Manson wants his crowds to feel.

In The Phantom of the Opera, a young woman becomes enchanted with aura of evil that surrounds the phantom. Just when you think that the phantom has won, the young woman sends him a ray of sunlight, a holy kiss. The phantom can't take it and fades away. Like some vampire exposed to the sun.

In my opinion, I think that vampires exist today. Not the "Let me suck your blood, bleh"  but the kind that are ready tosuck some of your soul away one ticket at a time. These celebrities make their livings by promoting violence, sex, drugs, rebellion and other things that can stick in your mind way after the entertainment happens.

So, back to Sin City. With the first film, I went to see it and looked around at some of the people in the audience. They had the same looks that those people had at the Marilyn Manson show. It's awful, but we can't look away. The artistic value is neat to look at, but the film doesn't have any characters that aren't involved in anything good. It is bad people fighting bad people. There is no bright ray of sunshine that comes across in the film at all. It's violent, crude, gory, see through clothing making it pretty much nudity, and what do we get out of it? What lesson do we learn. I understand people go to movies to escape and not think for two hours or so, but almost every film we watch, every film that we love is all about the story. Overcoming odds or capturing the bad guy. Symbolism that helps you look inside yourself and inspire you. None of that here. Just dirty and gritty characters, locations, and situations.

The film tricks us. It looks cool, but offers no faith and hope of rescue from it. Charity becomes a bad thing, and frankly, I don't think the writers and filmmakers of the Sin City films don't want to portray that. I think they lack the faith not to portray anything but the bad. The idea of a holy kiss or sunlight or smiley face stickers is disgusting to them. Who do they really care about, you or them? They are in it for a paycheck. They don't care who they hurt. There are people that will disagree with me on this, but that is how I think and feel.

I will be reviewing Sin City 2 tomorrow so that I don't turn in a biased opinion. I will be fair to it just as I am with every other film I see. I hope that I will walk out with a little sunshine in my pocket that I didn't come in with, but I'm not holding my breath. My review will be available on Friday.