Graphic novelist Frank Miller teams with director Robert Rodriguez and myriad stars to bring his creation from paper to the screen to tell us three distinct but interweaving tales from the dregs of Sin City. John Hartigan (Bruce Willis) is one of the few honest cops in the city, and desires only to save a little girl before he dies, Marv (Mickey Rourke) has his mind set firmly on revenge after the love of his life is murdered and he is framed, and Dwight (Clive Owen) goes from helping his girlfriend to trying to stop an all-out war.

CRITIQUE

Sin City is a mean and cool movie. It’s dark and has some sick twisted humor, but most important of all the stories are highly engaging and the main characters you love to root for. The technology used in shooting the movie is absolutely brilliant (also utilized in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow) and it lends itself to simply awesome special visual effects, and the whole movie becomes a visually stimulating experience. The cinematography seems grand as it’s aided by the special effects, but there are many cool zooms and pans to give the stories a sense of urgency and danger. It’s also interesting to note that the movie is presented in black and white, which actually works better for the stories and makes the movie feel like the comic book.

Aside from this, it’s also worth to point out the many stars in the movie are just right for their characters. Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke and Clive Owen are simply excellent, and the supporting cast is great, from the likes of Benicio Del Toro, Jessica Alba, Nick Stahl, Rosario Dawson, Devon Aoki, Jaime King and Elijah Wood. Chances are you’ve seen Sin City already so it’s no use telling you more good things about it, though if you’re looking for more check out the first review of the DVD here.

The second disc allows you to watch all four stories individually with new title cards at the beginning. The “unrated/extended/uncut” material comes in the form of a few deleted scenes edited back into the short movies. The new footage of Hartigan in prison is worth checking out, and the rest of the footage is nice to watch as well, but the DVD promotes 25 more minutes added (for a combined approximate running time of 148 minutes), but this is misleading as each of the movies have their own end credits. Multiply the 4-minute credits by four and you have sixteen minutes of credits, which is a bit ridiculous, leaving viewers with only about nine minutes of actual new footage.

THE VIDEO

Buena Vista presents Sin City in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. The video quality is the same top notch presentation from the first DVD. Optional subtitles include English and Spanish.

THE AUDIO

Buena Vista presents Sin City in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround and DTS 5.1 Surround. The audio presentation is very strong and the surrounds are very active.

THE EXTRAS

Disc 1 – Special Features:

The audio commentary with Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez covers a lot of good information and specifics about the graphic novels, the movie, the characters, the actors, and more. There are also interesting stories from the set and other musings.

The commentary with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino offers most of the same kind of info, but manages to include different viewpoints, comments and stories, as Rodriguez starts off solo and is joined by Tarantino around the time of his segment, as well as special guest Bruce Willis during the third act of the movie.

You can also choose to view the movie with a recording of the Austin premiere audience and hear their reactions which include laughs, gasps, coughs, and more. It’s a fun experience and a neat idea, but there are also many silent spots.

How it Went Down: Convincing Frank Miller to Make the Film (5:42) is exactly that as Rodriguez and Miller retrace the basic steps how they got together to make the movie. A few of the stars also offer their thoughts on Miller.

Special Guest Director: Quentin Tarantino (7:14) tells you how the director came onto the project to direct his one scene. Rodriguez and Tarantino appear in an interview together and comment on filmmaking, among other things. On-set footage and some film clips play throughout.

A Hard Top with a Decent Engine: The Cars of Sin City (7:36) shows you how the production got a hold of the fast and cool cars, and getting them ready for action on the set.

Booze, Broads and Guns: The Props of Sin City (10:58) looks at various props that play an important part in the stories, featuring interviews with Rodriguez, Miller, the prop master, and the property master. Also referenced is the bar that bridges the three stories, and more.

Making the Monsters: Special Effects Make-Up (9:05) focuses on the prosthetic make-up applied to actors Mickey Rourke (Marv), Benicio Del Toro (Jackie Boy) and Nick Stahl (Yellow Bastard). Interviews feature the special makeup effects supervisor, Rodriguez, Miller, and Tarantino.

Trench Coats and Fishnets: The Costumes of Sin City (7:35) is pretty self explanatory as it looks at the costumes in terms of design and color as best fitted to each character. Interviews feature the costume designer, Rodriguez, Miller and some of the actors.

Sin-Chroni-City is an interactive feature where you can explore the stories and characters in various ways according to time and place.

Rounding out the extras is the teaser trailer (1:53) and the theatrical trailer (2:07).

Disc 2 – Rodriguez Special Features:

15-minute Flick School (12:25) is an excellent featurette narrated by Robert Rodriguez that gives viewers great insight into how the director staged many shots and worked with the green screen. Really cool stuff.

All Green Screen Version (12:28) shows you the whole movie in really fast speed accompanied by some of the music score. It’s a neat idea.

The Long Take (17:46) features an uninterrupted reel of Tarantino's segment, which offers viewers a cool look at directing and working with actors to get scenes right. Rodriguez spends two minutes introducing this extra via narration and showing on-set footage.

Sin City Live in Concert: Night at Antones (9:19) is concert footage with Bruce Willis and Rodriguez’s band playing on stage at a party.

The 10-minute Cooking School (6:25) features Robert Rodriguez making delicious-looking Sin City “breakfast tacos.” Since he worked many nights that lasted until the morning he decided to make himself some snacks. Tasty tacos!

Also included with this package is the complete Sin City graphic novel “The Hard Goodbye”. The packaging design could’ve been improved, such as the stacking of the two discs, and the novel takes up a lot of width.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Sin City is simply a very cool movie with a lot of violence and bad language. It’s dark and has some sick twisted humor, and the stories are highly engaging and the adventures of the main characters are worth following. My only complaint about the DVD is the presentation of the special features. The menus are anamorphic, but all the featurettes are presented in fullscreen (with a widescreen ratio), which is very disappointing. It’s a big oversight on the part of the DVD production team. Also, it would’ve been better if all the extras had been on one disc and not broken up over two discs. In the end, with all things considered, this is the definite DVD edition of the movie and it comes highly recommended.