It is about time that the twisted minds at work behind more adult-geared comics were exploited for the sake of cinema. Comics are already in the form of storyboards, which need to be developed after a script written. The bonus is the script and dialogues are already there too.
Frank Miller's "Sin City" series is a good place to start. He has the unique ability necessary to be a good comic writer: to develop intricate, enthralling stories concise enough to fit in a comic. He also lends artistic viewpoints to the frames, following Dwight (Clive Owen) face-on as he falls down a sewer pipe, a gun blasting in each hand.
In truth, these aspects are only the icing on the cake. The Humphrey Bogart-style voice-over monologues and the willingness of the characters to bring about an absolute bloodbath to achieve their carnal desires is what really has kids and critics crapping candy canes.
"Save it, Father, I ain't got all night," says one character being read his last rites, strapped to an electric chair.
The story follows several characters going about what appear to be average days in ultra-machismo lives in Basin City.
Bruce Willis ("Die Hard") plays Hartigan, a cop on his last day of active duty before retirement. The story picks up with him waiting outside a warehouse where little Nancy Callahan is being held hostage. He's got, as his partner Bob (Michael Madsen) puts it in his best cheesy narrative voice, "a bad ticker."
Hartigan goes in anyway, either because he has a noble obligation or a death wish. Probably both. There's actually a moment in "Sin City" when Willis doesn't squint. That's versatility.
Owen ("Closer") plays Dwight, an ex-murderer who had facial reconstructive surgery and is apparently trying to turn over a new leaf. He still has a hell of a mean streak, like any good Eastwood-style tragic hero, but now he only uses it for the sake of vigilante justice.
"I'm Shellie's new boyfriend, and I'm out of my mind," Dwight says after sneaking up on Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro of "Traffic"), holding a straight razor to his eye. See? He'll kill you, but only because you're no good.
These characters, though impressively macho, pale in comparison to Marv, played by Mickey Rourke ("Get Carter"), who is accustomed to playing a bruiser.
Marv is caught in a frame attempt after his newfound love is murdered while they sleep in the hotel bed. His escape from the cops who have been tipped to his location is an introduction to his all-man mannerisms. He blasts through walls and tosses cops from their cruisers like a boy would throw papers from his bike.
"I don't know about you, but I'm having a gas," he says, holding some dude's face to the blacktop while driving at a high speed in his vintage muscle car.
"She was a dyke, but God knows why. She could get any guy she wanted with a body like hers," he says. He is describing his parole officer, to whom he goes for his medication, which he takes half a bottle at a time, pills spilling out of his mouth onto the floor.
Michael Clarke Duncan does his thing with that voice of his. Then there's Elijah Wood, who plays cannibal Kevin, who "keeps the heads and eats the rest." There's not much to the part, so he does fine.
However infinitely badass, the film has its shortcomings, which come unsuspectingly at the hands of the directors, Miller and Robert Rodriguez ("Desperado," "From Dusk Till Dawn").
The stories feel jammed into the script rather unnaturally, sort of like J-Lo-alike Jessica Alba in her leather pants. The stories don't really work together. They're each pulling in their own direction. The way the stories are introduced and the transitions between them aren't altogether natural.
Additionally, the monologues get a bit tiresome, even boring. It's only for a few minutes that the viewer feels the lag, but it's distinctly noticeable.
On the other hand, the revelations in the script are good enough to draw audible responses from the audience, but subtle enough that they don't feel gimmicky.
What it comes down to is, the script is genius on Miller's part, but proved understandably difficult for Rodriguez to adapt.
"Sin City" is a joyfully sadistic place with a few cracks in its infrastructure that should probably be ignored for the sake of a good time.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
