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Sin City (film)
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Sin City is a 2005 film written, produced and directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez. It is based on Miller's graphic novel series of the same name.
The film is primarily based on three of Miller's works: "The Hard Goodbye" focuses on a hulking man who embarks on a brutal rampage in search of his one-time lover's killer; "The Big Fat Kill" focuses on a street war held between a group of prostitutes and a series of mercenaries; and "That Yellow Bastard" focuses on an aging police officer who protects a young woman from a grotesquely disfigured serial killer. The movie stars Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Clive Owen, Devon Aoki, Alexis Bledel, Michael Clarke Duncan, Rosario Dawson, Benicio del Toro, Michael Madsen, Powers Boothe, Josh Hartnett, Jaime King, Brittany Murphy, Mickey Rourke, Nick Stahl, Elijah Wood and Rutger Hauer, among others.
Sin City opened to wide critical and commercial success, gathering particular recognition for the film's unique coloring process, which rendered most of the film in black and white but retained coloring for select objects. The film was screened at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival in-competition and won the Technical Grand Prize for the film's "visual shaping".
Plot The Customer is Always Right In a penthouse on the roof of a skyscraper overlooking Basin City, a fancy party is in progress. A woman, dressed in a red evening gown, is alone on the balcony. A man, who is narrating, comes up behind her and offers her a cigarette. They exchange a little small talk, and she mentions that she is frightened, but is tired of running. He tells her that he will save her, and take her far away. They kiss, then he shoots her. She dies in his arms. He says that he does not know who she was running from, but will cash her check in the morning.
(On the DVD commentary, Frank Miller explains that the victim in this story (the Customer of the title) is actually committing suicide. The unnamed woman had dated a mobster, and when she tried to break it off, he said that he would kill her in the most terrible way possible. She then used her connections to hire a hitman (known as the Salesman) to provide her with a quick death.)
That Yellow Bastard (Part 1)
On the docks of Sin City, aging police officer John Hartigan is attempting to stop serial child murderer Roark Junior from raping and killing 11-year-old Nancy Callahan. Junior is the son of the powerful Senator Roark, who has paid off many police to cover up his son's crimes, including Hartigan's partner Bob. Bob tries to convince him to walk away, and appears to succeed, but then Hartigan sucker-punches him, knocking him out cold. Hartigan then makes his way into a warehouse, knocking unconscious two local criminals Shlubb and Klump, who are guarding Roarke Jr's Jaguar E Type. Junior is inside with the frightened Nancy and two armed henchmen, who are making sure that Junior and Nancy "get along" before leaving them alone. Hartigan shoots and kills the henchmen, but Junior shoots Hartigan in the shoulder, grabs Nancy and runs out to the docks. Hartigan catches up to Junior and shoots off his ear, causing him to drop Nancy. He then proceeds to shoot off Junior's arm and genitals, before being shot in the back several times by a recovered Bob. Bob tells Hartigan to stay down, but Hartigan knows he must buy time for backup to arrive (as Bob will kill Nancy if they are alone) so he tries to pull his reserve gun, causing Bob to shoot him several more times. As the sirens approach, Hartigan lapses into unconsciousness knowing that Nancy is safe, justifying himself with the words "An old man dies, a little girl lives; fair trade", happy to exchange his life for hers.
The Hard Goodbye Marv, a hulking thug, is in a hotel room with the beautiful Goldie. After making passionate love, they fall asleep. Sometime later, Marv awakens to find that Goldie has been murdered. Sirens sound, and Marv reasons that he is being framed, by someone with money and influence. He fights his way past the corrupt police officers and storms the streets, vowing to avenge Goldie's death. He stops at the apartment of Lucille, his lesbian parole officer, to patch up wounds sustained in the fight. Lucille, knowing Marv has a "condition", has difficulty believing his story and unsuccessfully warns him to give up on his mission.
Marv heads to Kadie's Bar in search of information. After a while, he is approached by two hitmen, who order Marv into the back alley behind the bar, where they plan to shoot him. There, Marv turns the tables and beats them to death after interrogating them. Marv then shakes down various informants, working his way up to a corrupt priest|Frank Miller]]), who reveals that a member of the Roark family was behind Goldie's murder. Marv kills the priest and steals his car, but is then attacked and shot at by a woman with a strong resemblance to Goldie. Marv, recognizing that he has not taken his medication for his "condition" for a long time, considers her to be a hallucination.
Marv arrives at the Roark family farm, where he fights off a wolf, before uncovering the remains of many dead women. He is then attacked by a silent stalker, who he realizes is Goldie's killer (as only someone silent could have killed her with Marv not noticing while sleeping next to her). Marv is knocked unconscious and awakens in the basement, where the heads of the stalker's past victims are mounted on the wall. Lucille, who decided to look into Marv's story after he left, was noticed and kidnapped, and is in the basement with Marv. Lucille reveals that the man Marv fought is a cannibal and Goldie was a high-grade prostitute. She shows Marv that her hand was cut off and she was made to watch as the killer ate it. Having comforted Lucille as best as he could, Marv starts to work on breaking the bars on the window. He sees the face of the killer, and hears him being called away by someone in a stretch limo. Marv overhears the killer's name is Kevin and quietly swears revenge. He breaks free and tries to flee with Lucille, but a group of cops arrive and Lucille, still not convinced Marv was attacked by corrupt police, tries to surrender to them and is shot to death. An enraged Marv kills them off, hearing from their leader that Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark arranged for Goldie's murder.
Marv goes to Old Town, a section of Sin City reserved particularly for prostitution, because he wants to make sure that Roark is guilty before killing him, and he knows he can find out about Goldie there. Marv is captured and allows himself to be beaten by Goldie's look-alike, who is revealed to be her twin sister Wendy, in an effort to convince her that he did not kill Goldie, figuring she would eventually listen to reason. After revealing that Kevin killed Goldie and the others, Marv and Wendy collect weapons and return to the farm, hoping to finally avenge Goldie's death. Marv attacks Kevin and severs his limbs before leaving him to be eaten alive by the wolf. Marv takes his head to Cardinal Roark, who reveals that Kevin was a deeply religious boy who began eating prostitutes to swallow their souls. He persuaded the cardinal to join in, and when Goldie began investigating, she was killed. Marv kills the cardinal and is shot by his guards.
However Marv survives his wounds and is beaten by corrupt police in order to force him to sign a confession stating that he killed not only Roark and Kevin, but the other women that Kevin and Roark killed and also Lucille and Goldie. He refuses to confess, until the DA (also a member of the Roark clan) tells him that if he does not sign the confession, his mother will be killed. After breaking the DA's arm in several places, he agrees and is quickly convicted and sentenced to death. Hours before his execution, he is visited by Wendy, who thanks him for avenging her sister and spends the night with him, telling him he can call her Goldie. They sleep together in his cell holding each other.
Finally he is strapped into an electric chair and read his last rites before ordering the guards to hurry up as he "Hasn't got all night". The guards accept his wishes and proceed to electrocute him. After a few seconds, the switch is thrown off the see if Marv is still alive, to which he is and makes one last insult, asking "Is that the best you can do, you pansies?" to the guards. The switch is thrown on again, and he finally dies, as the doctor checks him after it is thrown off again and says, "He's gone".
The Big Fat Kill Shellie, a barmaid from Kadie's, is being harassed by her abusive ex-boyfriend Jackie Boy. Her current boyfriend Dwight is disgusted with his brutish rival, and shoves his head into a urine-filled toilet bowl, warning him to leave Shellie alone. An embarrassed Jackie Boy flees with his friends, heading to Old Town to cause further trouble. Dwight follows them and watches them harass young prostitute Becky. Also watching is Gail, one of the head prostitutes and Dwight's on-and-off lover.
When Jackie Boy threatens Becky with a gun, martial arts expert Miho sweeps down, severing Jackie Boy's hand with a manji shaped ninja star and killing his friends with a katana. She then causes his gun barrel to backfire and hit him in the head, which somehow does not kill him. As it becomes apparent he will not die quickly, Dwight asks Miho to finish him. Miho does not quite sever his head, making "a Pez dispenser out of him". As the prostitutes collect the dead men's money, they realize that Jackie Boy is actually a well-respected police officer; his death spells a certain end to the truce between the police and the prostitutes, and war against Old Town will be inevitable.
Dwight agrees to take the corpses to the local tar pit, while a traumatized Becky returns home. While driving to the tar pit, he has a hallucinatory conversation with Jackie Boy's corpse, who taunts him as he is chased by a police officer. Dwight talks his way out of the situation and arrives at the tar pit, but is suddenly shot by mercenaries. Meanwhile, head mercenary Manute arrives in Old Town and kidnaps Gail, explaining that an informant has revealed everything and that other mercenaries are currently invading Old Town.
Dwight kills several mercenaries but is knocked into the tar by a grenade; he sinks into the tar and nearly drowns before Miho arrives and saves him. However, the other mercenaries have escaped and have taken Jackie Boy's severed head with them. They chase after the mercenaries and have a car accident, followed by a violent shoot-out that ends with the death of both mercenaries and the retrieval of Jackie Boy's head. Dwight devises a plan and he and Miho return to Old Town.
As Gail is being tortured, she learns that Becky was the traitor, informing the mercenaries out of fear and greed. Manute receives a letter from Dwight via an arrow from Miho, offering Jackie Boy's head in exchange for Gail. They meet in the back-alley, where the trade is made, though the mercenaries plan to kill them anyway. Dwight suddenly activates a grenade he had placed in Jackie Boy's Head, completely destroying it and any evidence that could have been taken to the cops. The other prostitutes of Old Town then reveal themselves on the roof tops surrounding the alley and gun down the mercenaries. Amidst the gunfire, an injured Becky escapes while Dwight and Gail kiss passionately.
That Yellow Bastard (Part 2)
Hartigan, who survived his wounds, is recovering in a hospital. Senator Roark (Boothe), Junior's father, arrives and informs him that Junior is in a coma and all plans for the Roark legacy are now in serious jeopardy. Senator Roark reveals that Hartigan will survive, will be framed for Junior's crimes and serve the resultant jail term. Additionally, if Hartigan tells anyone the truth, the informed people will be killed. A grateful Nancy visits and thanks him. She promises to write letters to Hartigan every week while he is in prison and departs.
Hartigan complies and goes to jail, knowing it is the only way to protect Nancy and his loved ones, though he refuses to officially confess to the crimes, preventing any possibility of parole. He receives the weekly letter from Nancy as promised. After eight years, however, the letters stop arriving, and then Hartigan receives a severed finger instead. Realizing she could have been kidnapped by the Roarks, Hartigan finally confesses to all charges, knowing this will lead to his release and being able to help Nancy. Outside the jail, he reunites with his old partner, Bob, who has come to regret his actions. Bob drives Hartigan to the city, telling him that Hartigan's wife has remarried and has children. Unknowingly being stalked by a deformed, yellow-skinned man, Hartigan searches for Nancy, eventually finding her at Kadie's Bar, where she has blossomed into a beautiful 19-year-old stripper.
Realizing that the severed finger was a fake and that he was set up to lead the Roarks to Nancy, he tries to leave unnoticed but is seen by her, leading her to jump into his arms and kiss him passionately. Knowing they have been "made", they quickly escape in Nancy's car. Along the way, they are attacked by the yellow-skinned man but Hartigan successfully fights back, although the yellow man escapes and hides in the back of Nancy's car. Arriving at a hotel, Nancy reveals that she is in love with Hartigan and tries to seduce him, much to his discomfort. The deformed man then attacks them again, revealing himself as Junior Roark, though Hartigan now refers to him as the Yellow Bastard.
The Yellow Bastard, having been disfigured by the years of surgery necessary to regenerate his missing pieces, leaves Hartigan for dead and takes Nancy to the Roark farm to finally rape and kill her. Hartigan escapes, however, and tracks the Yellow Bastard to the farm, where he is whipping and torturing Nancy. Hartigan kills the guards and then corners the Yellow Bastard and fakes a heart attack to fool him into letting go of Nancy, giving Hartigan the chance to stab him before castrating him (with his bare hands) and beating him to death.
Hartigan tells Nancy his plans to reveal Senator Roark's corruption to the police and finally bring down organized crime in Sin City, in order to convice her to leave him. After Nancy departs, Hartigan, knowing that this would be impossible, and Roark will never stop hunting them as long as Hartigan lives, then commits suicide in order to ensure Nancy's safety once and for all. He reminds himself "An old man dies, a young woman lives, fair trade", before shooting himself in the head.
Epilogue An injured Becky departs from a hospital, talking on a cell phone with her mother. While riding in the elevator, she is met by the Salesman, who offers her a cigarette. Realizing who he is, and knowing he is there to deal with her, she tells her mother she loves her and hangs up.
Cast Notable Roles: (Organized by the story in which they primarily appear)
Production Proof of concept After a particularly bad Hollywood experience on the third RoboCop film, Sin City creator Frank Miller did not want to release the film rights in fear of a similar result. However, Robert Rodriguez, a long-time fan of the graphic novels, was eager to adapt it for the screen. His plan was to make a fully authentic adaptation, follow the source material closely, and make a "translation, not an adaptation".
In hopes of convincing Miller to give the project his blessing, Rodriguez shot a "proof of concept" adaptation of the Sin City story "The Customer is Always Right" (starring Josh Hartnett and Marley Shelton). Rodriguez flew Miller into Austin to be present at this test shooting, and Miller was very happy with the results. Soon production was under way with Miller wanting to be as involved with the project as possible (this "proof of concept" adaptation was later used as the opening scene for the completed film).
Digital backlot This is one of the first films (along with Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Casshern, and Immortel (Ad Vitam)) to be shot primarily on a digital backlot. The film employed the use of the Sony HDC-950 high-definition digital camera, having the actors work in front of a green screen, that allowed for the artificial backgrounds (as well as some major foreground elements, such as cars) to be added later during the post-production stage. However, it should be noted that three of the sets on the film were practical (i.e. constructed by hand). They were:
- Kadie's Bar, where all of the major characters make an appearance at least once and also the only location in which all objects are in color.
- Shellie's apartment. The front door and kitchen are real, while bathroom and corridors are artificial.
- The hospital corridor in the epilogue. Although the first shot of walking feet was done on greenscreen, the corridor in the next shot is real. The background becomes artificial again when the interior of the elevator is shown.
While the use of a green screen has become quite standard for special effects filming, the use of high-definition digital cameras is quite noteworthy in the production of this film. The combination of these two techniques makes Sin City (along with Sky Captain, which was produced the same way) one of the few fully digital, live-action motion pictures. This technique also means that the whole film was initially shot in full color, and was converted back to high-quality black-and-white. Colorization is used on certain subjects in a scene, such as Devon Aoki's red-and-blue clothing, Alexis Bledel's blue eyes and red blood, Michael Clarke Duncan's golden eye, Rutger Hauer's grey eyes, Jamie King's red dress and blonde hair, Clive Owen's red Converse shoes, Mickey Rourke's red blood, Marley Shelton's green eyes, red dress, and red lips, Nick Stahl's yellow face and body, and Elijah Wood's white glasses. The film was color-corrected digitally and, as in film noir tradition, treated for heightened contrast so as to more clearly separate blacks and whites. This was done not only to give the film a more film-noir look, but also to make it appear more like the original comic. This technique was used again on another Frank Miller adaptation, 300, which was shot on film.
Credits Three directors received credit for Sin City: Miller, Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino—the latter for directing one scene in the film—a rather sprawling number for a film budgeted at just $40 million. Miller and Rodriguez were very much a team as far as directing the rest of the film. Despite having no previous directorial background, Miller was greatly involved in the direction of the film, providing direction to the actors on their motivations and what they needed to bring to each scene. Because of this (and the fact that Miller's original novels were used as storyboards), Rodriguez felt that they should both be credited as directors on the film.
When the Directors Guild of America refused to allow two directors that were not an established team to be credited (especially since Miller had never directed before), Rodriguez first planned to give Miller full credit. Miller would not accept this, as he certainly could not have done it without Rodriguez. Rodriguez, also refusing to take full credit, decided to resign from the Guild so that the joint credit could remain.
Release of DVD versions The Region 1 DVD was released on August 16, 2005. The single-disc edition was released with four different slipcovers to choose from and featured a "Behind-the-Scenes" documentary. Then, on December 13, 2005, the special edition DVD was released, known as the "Recut, Extended, Unrated" edition.
The Special Edition was a two-disc set, featuring both the 126-minute theatrical release, along with the 147-minute Extended edition (this edition restored edited and deleted scenes that were missing from the theatrical edition). Bonus material included an audio commentary with director Rodriguez and Miller, a commentary with Rodriguez and Tarantino, and a third commentary featuring the recorded "audience reaction" at the Austin, Texas Premiere. Also included were various behind-the-scenes documentaries and features, as well as a pocket-sized version of the graphic novel "The Hard Goodbye", which is commonly priced at US $17.00 in bookstores. Shortly after, the same DVD/book package was released in a limited edition giftbox with a set of Sin City playing cards and a small stack of Sin City poker chips not available anywhere else.
The initial Region 2 release only features a 7-minute featurette on the movie. HMV stores had limited quantities of the four slipcases. Amazon.co.uk released another limited edition which housed the film, and the three books it is based on, in a hard case. In October 2007, the Recut, Extended, and Unrated edition was finally released in the UK. Although it does not feature the reproduction of "The Hard Goodbye", it does come in Steelbook packaging. This version of the movie was initially exclusive to HMV stores, with an RRP of Ł9.99, but is now available at most retailers in the UK.
Soundtrack
Original music was composed by Rodriguez as well as Graeme Revell and John Debney. The three main stories in the film ("The Hard Goodbye", "The Big Fat Kill" and "That Yellow Bastard") were each scored by an individual composer: Revell scored "Goodbye", Debney scored "Kill" and Rodriguez scored "Bastard". Additionally, Rodriguez co-scored with the other two composers on several tracks.
Another notable piece of music used was the instrumental version of the song "Cells" by the London-based alternative group The Servant. The song was heavily featured in the film's publicity, including the promotional trailers and television spots, as well as being featured on the film's DVD menus. The lyrical version is downloadable via The Servant's .
"Sensemayá" by Silvestre Revueltas is also used on the end sequence of "That Yellow Bastard".
Sequels Sin City 2 is the currently unproduced sequel to Sin City. Although specific plot details remain unknown, it is generally believed the film will be based on Miller's A Dame to Kill For, certain stories from "Booze, Broads and Bullets" and an original story involving Nancy Callahan.
Production on the film has been delayed, most notably due to Robert Rodriguez's involvement with a scheduled remake of Barbarella.
Even though the events confirmed for this film take place before certain events of the first film (allowing deceased characters such as Marv, Manute, Jackie-Boy, and Goldie to return), they take place after the death of Hartigan, who will most likely not return. Bruce Willis has confirmed that he will not be involved in this film, but he has stated that he would love to reprise the role, if Frank Miller were to write some new Hartigan material for a subsequent sequel. It is unknown whether Becky or The Salesman / The Colonel will return to reprise their roles for this film. Miller has stated that they will do "a couple of 'Blue-Eyes' stories, and the character The Colonel is featured in all of them; the return of Josh Hartnett for the role of The Salesman / The Colonel depends on whether the characters are the same in the movie-continuum as they are in the comics. The use of "Blue-Eyes" may also be due to the possibility that the third film will consist primarily or entirely of Hell and Back, which features her as an important character.
Angelina Jolie was said to be Rodriguez's first choice in the role of Ava Lord, so much so that he was delaying production to correspond with her pregnancy, according to Rosario Dawson, but a subsequent article stated there are three rumored front runners for the role of Ava: Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, and Rose McGowan. Frank Miller himself confirmed that he and Rodriguez were interested in having Jolie as Ava, and that the director was discussing the possibility with her. Jolie later discussed in an article that she read the comic and planned to meet with the director when the movie was planned to be made. However, after this she reported that she would be having a year out of work in 2008 to spend more time with her family and partner Brad Pitt. Therefore, it was very unlikely that she would be available for Sin City 2. Following this it was reported that Angelina Jolie has been replaced by Rachel Weisz as the front runner to play Ava in Sin City 2.
Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp, from Rodriguez's Once Upon a Time in Mexico, have also been rumored to star in the role of Wallace. Depp has been rumored to star not only in Sin City 2, but in Sin City 3 as well. According to Rodriguez, the role of Wallace was written with Depp in mind.
Frank Miller has confirmed that he and Robert Rodriguez have completed a script, but while at the 2007 Comic-Con, he blamed the Weinstein brothers for the delay.
External links -
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- – Database articles, images and other files about Frank Millers and his comics adaptation.
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