Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/390145
44 UCW OCTOBER 1-7, 2014 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM I found Sin City mildly enjoyable, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (102 minutes) is just more of the same and frankly, seemed a little bit beside the point. Increasingly, I find that Frank Miller as an artist is beating a dead horse. His style is unique, but he keeps bringing the same thing to the table day after day.It's like, trying a deep fried Twinkie — the first taste is interesting but after two bites the whole experience is sickening. The film opens with the resurrected corpse of Mickey Rourke stuffed into twenty pounds of latex and undeserved arrogance.See, the sequel/prequel is based primarily on the second graphic novel in the series, which features stories about characters that died in the first film or backstories for characters who appeared in the first film along with new characters. Marv is one of the characters who was killed in the first film and reappears here. In his segment, called "Just Another Saturday Night," we get to see him chase down some overprivileged fraternity boys who like to burn people alive. It's short and serves as a way of easing the audience back into the style of the first film. It also has an unfinished sort of feel to it — I was expecting a second half to appear at the end of the story, but that didn't happen. The second story, "The Long Bad Night" is told in two parts.Johnny (Joseph Gordon Levitt) is a good fit for the role and makes good acting choices that remind me of another neo-noir flick he was in called Brick. He is paired up with Senator Roarke (Powers Boothe), the father of The Yellow Bastard who tormented Nancy Callahan (Jessica Alba) in the last film.While this is the most compelling segment the ending smells like the writer ran out of ideas.In fact, it seems like the story was wrapped around another story in a failed attempt to make it more interesting.Splitting the narratives worked in the first movie because the stories twined together.Splitting this narrative was a lazy choice, both in scripting and directing. My least favorite segment was "A Dame to Kill For."While I didn't time it, it also seemed to go on much longer than the other bits.It appears in the middle of the "Long Bad Night segment" for no real reason, and brings back the character of Dwight (Josh Brolin, stepping into the role originated by Clive Owen).Dwight saves a lady of the night (Juno Temple) from an aggravated businessman (Ray Liotta), then receives a phone call from a former girlfriend named Ava (Eva Green, showing every little bit of what she's got). He agrees to meet with her, only to have her hustled away in a nefarious fashion by Manute (Dennis Haysbert).Manute also appeared in the first film, though narratively, this segment takes place before the segment in the first film. Dwight decides to follow them back to her place and stick his nosy nose where it will get him into the most trouble.Several switcharoonies later, Dwight is once again breaking into her house, but this time he brings Marv.It is a sad attempt to weave the narrative strands together and it doesn't work for me in the slightest. Mercifully, everything does come to an end eventually, including this segment. It is followed by the second half of "The Long Bad Night."After being tortured and tossed out on his rear by Senator Rourke, Johnny heads into a dark alley for some creative surgery, performed by random cameo Christopher Lloyd.After that, he ends up at a diner where he scrounges a dollar from random cameo Lady Gaga.The segment ends on a downer. The final piece of the film is called "Nancy's Last Dance."In it, we get to see what happens to interesting female characters when male writers pretend not to embrace stereotypes while getting lazy and embracing stereotypes.All things considered, I wish I had gone to a bookstore to read the second graphic novel instead of suffering through the theatrical version. JUSTICE... Every Person, Every Case, Every Day! For more information, visit Gilliam4Judge.com Paid for by Gilliam4Judge IN THE MORNING Weekdays 5:30AM to 10:00AM Neo Maxi Noir Sin City (Rated R) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200.