Sin City movie Review

I was thinking about the Sin City movie a while ago and how a lot of people that I have talked to and a lot of reviews that I have read indicated that they generally enjoyed the "Hard Goodbye" and "That Yellow Bastard" storylines, but they did not really care for the "Big Fat Kill" part.

Even though I personally liked all parts of the movie, I couldn't help but think about the reasoning behind the favorable and unfavorable reactions that people had. After careful consideration (aka, my mind wandered over the subject for a relatively long time), my best guess was that it had something to do with the inner struggles of the stories' main characters.

To be more precise, Marv (from "Hard Goodbye") and Hardigan (from "That Yellow Bastard") were both characters who were driven from within but had to constantly struggle with thier own limitations. Marv had his limited intelligence and questionable sanity, and Hardigan had to work against his aging body and "bum ticker". Mix those inner struggles with the fact that they pretty much had the whole world working against them, and that they ultimately (spoiler) paid for those struggles with their lives (end spoiler), and it makes from some pretty compelling characters.

And then you have Dwight (from "Big Fat Kill"). He's young, he has all his mental faculties in order for the most part, and he had a whole possy of bad-ass beauties to fight for and to watch his back. He struggled, but most all of his enemies were easily identified, fought, and crushed and he had hardly a scratch as a result. Not nearly as compelling nor nearly as empathetic. At least, not if that is the limit of your exposure to old Dwight McCarthy.

The one thing that I tend to bring up to people who mention their distaste for "Big Fat Kill" is that it is actually the follow-up to another Sin City yarn called "A Dame to Kill For" (and my favorite volume in the collection). This is the story that shows you the inner deamons that Dwight had to overcome in order to become the cool, quick-to-action hero seen in the movie. In "Dame" you see Dwight as a recovering alchoholic. You see his repressed passion as he works odd jobs to live a lawful and socially acceptable life. You see him use his friends for his own gain instead of putting his life on the line for their sake. You see him unsure of his own convictions. And (spoiler) though he doesn't die, he does go through a transformation of his own by the end (end spoiler). Ultimately, you see a more compelling character. And I think that once you are associated with that side of the man, you will be able to appreciate his hero-complex as seen in "Big Fat Kill".

Thankfully, everyone will be able to see the compelling side of him when the Sin City movie sequal comes out next summer. It will be composed entirely of the "Dame to Kill For" story arc (as far as I've heard so far). Very cool.