Sin City
Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller and Quentin Tarantino
Starring Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba
Release date: April 28, 2009

Every so often a movie comes along that startles and stirs conventionalism and ushers in a new brand of filmmaking; filmmaking which possess dualities ranging from oddly enchanting to vigorously ruthless. In 2005 Robert Rodriguez‘ film version of Frank Miller‘s graphic comic Sin City was that force of a movie that abandoned traditional comic book adaptations and elaborated upon the film noir genre, which has been around since the late 1930s, by initiating a unique update while still holding true to the meat and potatoes behind a genre that glorified gloomy alley ways, dampened cobblestone streets and gorgeously delicious femme fatales possessing diabolical schemes and knives prepared to be impaled into the backs of delusional men.

Now don’t think that if a director wakes up one morning deciding to reinvent and upgrade a genre that his illusions will turn into an artistic triumph. Evidence for such directors making boneheaded decisions by injecting hyper-serum and hypnotic imagery are Michael Davis’ Shoot “˜Em Up and, surprisingly, Frank Miller’s The Spirit. Not so much do these films qualify as cinema but they are better placed within the category of pointless parodies. These two such films were still able to break the conventionality that’s tied to the gangster picture as well as the action picture. But one ingredient they forgot to include in their dream projects, and that’s a heart dedicated to initiate and defend its change.