Sin City: A Dame to Kill For 3D Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For 3D Blu-ray Movie Review

"I get that way sometimes. Empty in the gut..."

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown November 14, 2014

It's been almost ten years since Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller stunned audiences and comicbook fans with Sin City (2005), a pulpy, visually striking gut-punch of a neo-noir genre pic that was both wholly original and startlingly faithful to Miller's own graphic novel series. No one had seen anything like it before, and the handful of imitators that followed failed -- and failed miserably -- to match its style, sophistication and critical acclaim. Unfortunately, A Dame to Kill For, Sin City's long, looong, looooong-awaited sequel, arrived earlier this year to a less-than-enthusiastic crowd of gawking onlookers, turned off audiences, bombed at the box office and managed to land itself on the very same list of misguided imitators topped by Miller's The Spirit (2008). A Dame to Kill For looks the part... sort of... but it's hollow, cartoonish and, for a film that takes itself so seriously, much too silly, with a killer cast undone by a script that goes nowhere fast and nowhere interesting.

The sequel weaves together two of Frank Miller's classic stories ("A Dame to Kill For" and "Just Another Saturday Night") with two new tales ("The Long Bad Night" and "The Fat Loss") in which the town's denizens cross paths with some of its more repulsive inhabitants. In "A Dame to Kill For," Dwight (Josh Brolin), a man hunted down by the only woman he ever loved, Ava Lord (Eva Green), is forced to watch his life go straight to hell. In "Just Another Saturday Night," Marv (Mickey Rourke) wakes up on a highway overlooking the Projects on the night John Hartigan (Bruce Willis) meets Nancy (Jessica Alba) in "That Yellow Bastard." Then, in "The Long Bad Night," gambler Johnny (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) meets a young dancer (Julia Garner) and sets out to put a stop to one of the city's most dangerous villains. Finally, in "The Fat Loss," Nancy deals with the climax of "That Yellow Bastard."

There's a moment, much too early in A Dame to Kill For, as a pair of comically undersized cars chase each other in a circle around Marv's head, that it starts to become clear Rodriguez and Miller are far more attached to the visual flair of the sequel than anything more substantive. Each shot ups some undefined ante, leading to erratic, disconnected cinematography beholden to CG wizardry and self-important id. Harsh contrast, bursts of color and comic-panel framing aren't used all that intriguingly, but predictably, and often without significance; a flash of gold, a dash of red, a splash of white blood, a shadow-drenched silhouette, most in service of spectacle that isn't there. Set pieces no longer leap off the comicbook page, they meander out of the FX team's offices. And the dialogue flatlines. So many words. So little actually said. It's steeped in grit and gumshoe gristle, sure, but it rarely creates characters that are as magnetic or compelling as those that populate the original Sin City. Likewise, the music simmers with hard-boiled fanaticism, dutifully throttling muted trumpets, growling saxophones, operatic strings and pulsing percussion whenever the stakes are raised. Yet it rarely evokes the rage, heartache and tragedy Rodriguez and Miller are aiming for.

Green, Brolin and Rourke's sprawling three-tier vignette seems the least out of place, and the most at home within the Sin City film universe, but even it struggles to match the ferocity, intensity and intention of the first film or, for that matter, Miller's 6-issue "Dame to Kill For" limited series, originally published in 1993. The most electrifying vignette, meanwhile, belongs to Rourke and Alba, though Alba doesn't quite descend into revenge-fueled madness as convincingly as Nancy's arc demands. Otherwise, familiar faces hit too-familiar notes (Rourke, Rosario Dawson), re-casted mainstays are miscast (Dennis Haysbert replaces the late Michael Clarke Duncan and Jamie Chung steps in for Devon Aoki), new characters have difficulty leaving a mark (Gordon-Levitt, among others), and briefly glimpsed newcomers strike out (Christopher Meloni and Jeremy Piven). The actors certainly show up, feeding on the energy of their co-stars and leaping headlong into every green-screen fray, but it's often so deliriously over-the-top and underdeveloped that their performances are memorable in all the wrong ways. Not that much blame should be laid at the feet of the cast. They're given precious little to work with and even less that caters to each actor's skill set. From faulty pacing to anticlimactic endgames to dead-end plotting, it's a mediocre prequel wrapped in an aimless sequel, without the dark-alley viciousness or hellcat swagger that made Sin City such a standout.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For 3D Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

There's no disappointment to be had with A Dame to Kill For's 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation. Crisp, clean and perfectly proficient, there isn't a flaw to be found; at least none that can be spotted without inching through the film frame by dazzling frame. Black levels are deep and inky, contrast is stark but striking, midrange grays are wonderfully preserved and color pierces the black-and-white imagery with gorgeous ease. Detail is terrific too, with razor-sharp edge definition, exceedingly well-resolved fine textures and exacting delineation. Sin City's shadows may not be forgiving, but if it's meant to be seen, it's on display. If it's meant to be hidden, it's left to the imagination. Just as the filmmakers intend. Macroblocking, banding, ringing and noise are MIA as well, and there aren't any compression anomalies to report. The only eyesores are those in which compositing or green-screen seams are apparent, but all those trace back to the source, nothing more.

The sequel arguably looks even better in 3D. Presented on a separate disc with an equally stunning MVC-encoded experience, the 3D version of the film offers one of the most effective and immersive 3D images of the year. Foreground elements step forward beautifully and naturally, sword tips and gun barrels slide out of the screen smoothly and effortlessly, and the streets and skylines of the city retreat into the distance convincingly. Even when silhouettes dominate the frame, the film doesn't exhibit the pop-up storybook appearance I feared it might, and the native 3D photography pays off in spades. There also isn't any aliasing to endure or any significant crosstalk to contend with (for those whose televisions are prone to ghosting). Again, a few CG-laden shots prove distracting, but the encode isn't at fault. All told, the film's 2D and 3D video presentations are among the highlights of the set.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For 3D Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For also features an enveloping, able-bodied DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track; the disc's other highlight. Dialogue is comfortably grounded in the soundscape, intelligible at all times, and carefully prioritized among the action, betrayals, car chases, fist fights and shootouts. Narration comes on rather strong, but then so does Frank Miller's writing. It suits the material, works quite well and begins and ends with the filmmakers' intention. Dynamics are excellent too, without exception, and the LFE channel is aggressive whenever called upon and restrained whenever a softer touch is required. The rear speakers, meanwhile, are assertive and engaging, latching onto the film's noir score, wrapping the listener in the sounds of the crime-ridden city, and ratcheting up the impact of the mix the moment fists start swinging or bullets begin flying. The resulting soundfield is both fully immersive and immensely satisfying, without anything in the way of issues or mishaps. Ultimately, the sequel itself may not amount to much of a killer, but its AV presentation is out for blood.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For 3D Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• High-Speed Green Screen Version (HD, 16 minutes): Rather than a full-fledged green-screen version of the feature-length film, we get the movie in fast forward, sped up to the point that the entire movie becomes a 16-minute pre-visual effects reel sans dialogue.
• Character Profiles (HD, 14 minutes): A series of cast and crew interviews examine Eva Green as Ava Lord, Jessica Alba as Nancy, Josh Brolin as Dwight and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Johnny. But that's it. No Marv. No Gail. No Senator Roark. No Manute.
• Makeup Effects of Sin City (HD, 7 minutes): The Walking Dead's Greg Nicotero and director Robert Rodriguez discusses Nicotero and his team's work on Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.
• Stunts of Sin City (HD, 6 minutes): Rodriguez and stunt coordinator Jeff Dashnaw provides an overview of the stunts of A Dame to Kill For, Dashnaw's eleventh film with Rodriguez.
• Original Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2 minutes): A high definition trailer for the first Sin City. Strangely, though, no theatrical trailers, teasers or TV spots are available for the sequel.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For 3D Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is stuck squarely in the past, consumed more with ties and callbacks to the first film than with establishing something all its own. Style fully trumps substance this go-round, and while the results certainly look like a Sin City sequel, they rarely feel like anything more than a pale imitation. Better luck next time, I suppose. If there is a next time. The film's Blu-ray release at least serves up the goods, with a terrific, 5-star AV presentation. Just don't expect to find any extensive special features. There's none to be had. Bottom line? A rental is probably in order. Fans of the original movie have the best shot at enjoying the sequel, but then again, it's fans of the original that are the most likely to walk away disappointed.