 If ever a movie was meant to be experienced in high definition, Frank Miller's Sin City is guilty on all counts! A groundbreaking masterpiece of mayhem, Sin City roars to life with both barrels blazing in this Blu-ray Disc set that includes the restored Theatrical Feature and the Unrated, Recut Extended Release. Plus, get in on the action with explosive new bonus features: "Kill 'Em Good Interactive Comic Book" and "Cine-Explore." The "Unrated, Re-cut & Extended" version shows each segment as a separate feature that can be "Play All" to get each segment shown in chronological order or individually selected. Each segment has its own D-Box motion codes. Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn), Frank Miller (The Spirit) and Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill 1 and 2, Pulp Fiction) direct an amazing cast of big-screen favorites (Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Brittany Murphy, Benicio Del Toro, Rosario Dawson and more!) in this acclaimed and visually stunning hit that's straight from the pages of Miller's hip series of Sin City graphic novels. Strap yourself in as a staggering sensory onslaught hits you right where you live. From the stylized, razor-sharp clarity of the unique, high definition visuals to the throbbing, phenomenally intense sounds of bullets spraying and bones crunching, this awesome, mind-blowing excursion into a sexy, twisted funhouse of cops, killers, hookers and hit men will tease, tantalize and thrill you as never before in Blu-ray Disc High Definition. Storyline: Four tales of crime adapted from Frank Miller's popular comics, focusing around a muscular brute who's looking for the person responsible for the death of his beloved Goldie, a man fed up with Sin City's corrupt law enforcement who takes the law into his own hands after a horrible mistake, a cop who risks his life to protect a girl from a deformed pedophile, and a hitman looking to make a little cash. Written by Tom Benton Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Kenneth Brown on April 21, 2009 -- The Spirit may have brought iconic artist/writer Frank Miller's filmmaking potential into serious question, but it hasn't sullied his reputation for penning groundbreaking,
genre-bending tales filled with compelling anti-heroes, corrupt fatcats, and ruthless villains. Such is the legacy of Miller's ultraviolent, multifaceted neo-noir series Sin City, an engrossing series of intertwined comics that not only pushed the
veritable envelope in every conceivable way, but managed to infuse biting, poetic prose and raw imagery with startlingly relevant examinations of love, lust, and loyalty. It was this same legacy that inspired director Robert Rodriguez to approach his
first cinematic adaptation of the material with the utmost respect. From the earliest fanboy buzz to the most tantalizing glimpses of stunning finalized footage, it was clear that Sin City was going to be a film unlike any other. Upon its
theatrical release, Rodriguez's unwavering devotion to Miller's source produced something few filmmakers have ever achieved: an indefinable work of art that defies expectation, confounds tradition analysis, and promises to stand the test of time. Bookmarked by a short of sorts involving a suave hitman (Josh Hartnett) and his prey, Sin City is divided into three nonlinear, overlapping stories. The first follows a hardened heap of stone named Marv (a nearly unrecognizable Mickey Rourke) who's framed for the murder of the love of his life: a yellow-haired prostitute named Goldie (Jamie King). As Marv's investigation leads him to a twin sister, his parole officer (Carla Gugino), a group of vindictive working girls, and, eventually, the home of a renowned Basin City Cardinal (Rutger Hauer), he winds his way deeper and deeper into a city he adores. Eventually, he encounters a vicious cannibal (Elijah Wood) and a horrible truth that leads him to question his feelings, his future, and his purpose. Rodriguez and Miller's second tale introduces a woman named Shellie (Brittany Murphy) who's threatened by her shifty ex-boyfriend, Jackie Boy (Benicio del Toro). When her current beau Dwight (Clive Owen) intervenes, the squirming whelp retreats and finds himself knee deep in blood at the hands of a hooker-with-a-machine-gun named Gail (Rosario Dawson). But when Dwight, Gail, and the rest of the girls (Devon Aoki and Alexis Bledel, among others) realize Jackie was actually a police officer, they have to ditch his body, avoid a gigantic thug named Manute (Michael Clarke Duncan), and preserve the already tenuous peace of the alleys. The third and meatiest pick of the litter focuses on a police officer named John Hartigan (Bruce Willis), a steady veteran who saves a young girl named Nancy Callahan (Makenzie Vega) from the clutches of the depraved son (Nick Stahl) of a powerful senator (Powers Boothe). But when the stalwart cop is betrayed by his own partner (Michael Madsen) after pumping several bullets into the rapist in question, he finds himself sent up the river for Junior's crimes to endure a lengthy prison sentence. Released years later, Hartigan tracks down Nancy (Jessica Alba), now a stripper at a local club, to make sure she's safe. Unbeknownst to him, the senator's son -- alive, well, and coping with a variety of deformities including hideous yellow skin -- has been using Hartigan to find Nancy and tie up loose ends. As the unlikely lovers are forced to contend with the very violent ghosts of their pasts, they have to exact justice on an unrepentant monster and come to terms with the seedy underbelly of Basin City. As conceived by Rodriguez, Sin City is a sprawling, breathtaking realization of Miller's stories that incorporates exceedingly faithful panel-to-screen visuals, unflinchingly brutal violence, and enough stylized gunplay to fill a dozen modern actioners. The seemingly endless reservoir of notable names he parades through the production is as impressive as it is perfectly cast -- Oscar-winning actors appear for mere minutes before disappearing, while relative unknowns steal scenes right out from under legendary heavyweights. It's a thrilling, unpredictable affair packed with unexpected deaths and multiple gut-wrenching climaxes. Yet calling the film a collection of shorts robs it of its cohesive brilliance; attempting to pluck out any one crucial support leaves the rest of the cards wavering in the wind. The screenplay itself plays with time, interconnectivity, and meaningful exchanges -- early asides and unrelated events are often revealed to have lasting ramifications for each character that calls Basin City home. Rodriguez doesn't simply toss every character he can into a noir-tinted blender, he guides them into specific configurations with increasingly calculating reason. He doesn't just breathe life into his adaptation, he gives Miller's every ink blot and cross-hatch its own twisted soul. I know Sin City isn't for everyone -- its unforgiving gore and sexuality may strike some as gratuitous and unnecessary, its ever-present narration may elicit accusations of pretension, and its jarring tonal shifts may lose the uncommitted along
the way -- but it's tough to deny that Rodriguez has delivered a dense and fascinating journey through the darkest corners of man's soul. More to the point, even though its heroes are few and far between, righteousness is a fading commodity, and villainy
continually rises to rule the day, the film offers a complex and bustling overview of a city spiraling out of control as despair takes hold of its best and brightest. In that regard, the film proves itself to be a well-cloaked masterwork that presents the
eternal struggle between morality and depravity with ever-evolving intensity. Rodriguez and Miller may not want their work to be over-analyzed, but it doesn't change the fact that Sin City is a nuanced investigation into the things that separate
man from monster. I for one am smitten. Sin City finally arrives on Blu-ray with everything a fanboy like myself could ask for -- two cuts of Rodriguez's faithful adaptation, a jaw-dropping, reference level video transfer, a powerful DTS-HD Master Lossless Audio track, and a slew of
supplemental materials culled from the film's standard DVDs. Suffice to say, any nitpick I can muster seems laughably insignificant in lieu of the high quality of Disney's thrilling 2-disc release. If you haven't already visited Amazon on instinct alone,
head there now and snatch a copy of Sin City at the lowest price in town.
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