Sin City Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Sin City Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 12, 2008

A gritty, dark, and visually stunning take on the famous comic book “Sin City” (2005), a joint effort between graphic artist Frank Miller and director Robert Rodriguez, arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Canadian distributors Alliance Films.

A charming hitman (Josh Hartnett) approaches a beautiful girl (Marley Shelton) on the balcony of a high-rise in Basin City. The girl likes the hitman. The two talk, smile, and hug each other. Then the hitman kills the girl and silently walks away. As she has asked him to.

An old cop (Brice Willis) with a heart condition heads to the city’s docks where a known to the police pervert (Nick Stahl) has captured an innocent girl. His partner (Michael Madsen) appears just as the cop corners the pervert. The cop shoots the pervert, but his partner shoots him in the back. The girl is saved, the pervert eliminated, and the good cop jailed.

A disturbingly ugly man (Mickey Rourke) meets a beautiful prostitute (Jaime King). They make love, talk, and fall asleep. When the man wakes up he discovers that his date has been brutally murdered. The police appear. The man runs away leaving plenty of cops licking their wounds. He ends up at the home of his lesbian parole officer (Carla Gugino), and announces that he won’t find peace until his date’s killer is punished. The man embarks on a treacherous journey that will lead him to a cannibalistic murderer (Elijah Wood) immune to pain.

A shady character (Benicio del Toro) and his posse enter the home of a beautiful girl. The character has once dated the girl, but she has moved on and is now seeing a different man. He hits her in the face and heads to the bathroom. The girl’s boyfriend (Clive Owen), who has been hiding behind the bathroom door, stuffs the character’s face in the toilet and tells him to leave her alone. The character and his posse walk away. Back in Basin City they hook up with a group of prostitutes running their own show. They challenge their leader and end up dead.

Don't touch her again!

Those of you who have read Raymond Chandler’s books about funny-talking but sharp-shooting detective Philippe Marlow should have a pretty good idea where Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez found an inspiration for their Sin City. Detective Marlow’s memorable one-liners, bad luck with women, and impressive ability to get himself beat up as often as possible, seem to have shaped up a lot of the main protagonists in this stylish neo-noir film (there is a reason why Powers Boothe is given the role of Senator Roark).

The actual film also follows the literary tone of Raymond Chandler’s writings. In fact, just as Phillip Marlowe talks to the reader, so do the main protagonists in Sin City - they tell us about their feelings, pains, and desires. They also talk to us about their failures. The difference between Phillip Marlowe and these characters is that some of them get killed; Raymond Chandler's man typically walks away with a bruise or two.

Despite of the heavy resemblances mentioned above, however, Sin City is most definitely a film with an identity of its own. Its visuals are striking and unforgettable, while its atmosphere is so intoxicating I have a difficult time comparing it to another film with a similar narrative.

Sin City also impresses with its terrific visuals. The simple, but utterly stylish, black and white color-scheme, occasionally spiced up with a splash of red, yellow, blue, or green, effectively enhances the film’s gloomy noir tone. As a result, a lot of the brutality and graphic imagery come off as chic rather than kitsch, and as each of the stories progress it becomes painfully obvious that had Sin City been filmed in color it would have never been as effective and intoxicating as it is in black and white.

The cast is absolutely phenomenal. Mickey Rourke’s performance alone is worth the price of admission – his deep and jaded lingo is by far the most effective in Sin City. There are some true gems that he utters, some vulgar, others infectiously hilarious, that will surely put a smile on a lot of faces. Yes, style definitely meets substance here!

Sin City Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC, and granted a 1080p transfer Franck Miller's stylish noir extravaganza Sin City arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Alliance Films.

I spent the last twenty four hours looking at this disc, and the more I look at its basics the more I like what I see. I was somewhat suspicious of Alliance Films, primarily due to their questionable track record in regard to SDVD, but, suffice to say, Sin City on Blu-ray looks mighty impressive. The color-scheme in particular is simply fabulous. The blacks and whites are lush and deep, while the occasional yellows, blues, greens, and reds add a sense of finesse to the picture which I quite enjoyed. Contrast is also mighty strong. Frankly, I don't see how the film's slick CGI effects could look any better outside of a first-class theater. In fact, blown through a digital projector, Sin City looks nearly identical to what I saw in my local theater. This being said, the actual quality of the Blu-ray transfer is also fantastic – I did not detect any scratches, marks, or dirt spots. On the contrary, other than some mild video noise that I spotted during a few selected scenes, Sin City looks excellent. Finally, I definitely was not bothered by excessive edge-enhancement or macroblocking patterns. (Note: This is a Region-Free release, produced in Canada, which you will be able to play on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location).

Sin City Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are four different tracks on this Blu-ray disc - English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, and French: Dolby Digital 5.1. I opted for the English DTS-HD MA 5.1 track and did a few selective comparisons with the French DTS-HD MA dub. To make a long story short, the audio treatment here is every bit as impressive as the video treatment is. The English DTS-HD MA track is notably potent, with very active rear channels, and a thumping bass that will surely please fans of dynamic audio presentations. Furthermore, there is a wide range of nuanced theme-sounds that come off the speakers marvelously (Miho's sword cutting her opponents is a good example). The dialog on the other hand is very easy to follow. I did have to turn the English subtitles on when the two Irish goons were conversing, but other than that I was very pleased with the clarity of sound. As I noted above, I also did a few selective comparisons with the French DTS-HD MA track. Well, while the technical characteristics appear identical, as they should be, the actual dub is rather lifeless (you cannot even begin to compare Mickey Rourke's narration to the French narration). Most everything seemed identical. Finally, I wish to note that the optional English and French subtitles are yellow, which is slightly disappointing in my opinion as I believe that keeping them white would have been much more in sync with the film's color-scheme.

Sin City Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfortunately, there are not supplemental materials to be found on this Blu-ray disc.

Sin City Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A stylish and gritty tale of revenge Sin City has finally arrived on Blu-ray via our Canadian distributors Alliance Films. The quality of the actual disc is solid. The audio and video presentations are very pleasing and, given the excellent price tag the Blu-ray comes with, I have no problem recommending Sin City to you. The lack of supplemental materials is a bit disappointing, but if you are a fan of the film an upgrade over the SDVD should be very easy to justify.