DVD Review: ‘Sin City’ sequel scores high
Nine years after “Sin City,” Robert Rodriguez and renowned graphic novel author Frank Miller have returned to the scene of the crime — well, the many scenes of the many crimes — with a sequel superior to the original. Much of the original cast returns: Mickey Rourke, Rosario Dawson, Powers Boothe, Jessica Alba, Bruce Willis (very briefly), and Jaime King. Dennis Haysbert takes over from the late Michael Clarke Duncan; and Josh Brolin replaces Clive Owen.
Once again, Rodriguez and Miller have shot the entire cast in green screen with a few props, then filled in the rest of the frame with computer-generated and drawn backdrops that approximate Miller’s graphic style. Nearly everything is in black and white, with occasional touches of color.
At over two hours, the first film felt too long, cramming together too many stories. (An argument can be made that the expanded version that came out on home video — with more than 20 minutes added — worked better.) The new film is roughly 20 minutes shorter than the original, which makes it easier to watch.
“Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” was released in 3D; films shot in 2D and then computer-processed into 3D in postproduction usually are unimpressive. Here, however, the technique fits in much better, since the backgrounds are computer-generated to begin with.
The new video release comes in two forms — a single DVD; and (for not that much more money) a three-pack that includes the DVD, along with Blu-ray and 3D Blu-ray discs.
There are fewer supplements than most Rodriguez releases, suggesting an Ultimate or Gold or Collector’s edition somewhere in the future. Here we get 15 minutes of the actors talking about their roles and another 20 minutes about the stunts and makeup. By far the oddest extra, however, is the entire movie in green screen, before the backgrounds were added, sped up so it zips by in about 16 minutes. It’s a cool notion, though it’s hard to imagine watching more than a few minutes.
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (Anchor Bay, Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray, DVD combo pack, $39.99; DVD, $29.98)
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ANDY KLEIN is the film critic for Marquee. He can also be heard on “FilmWeek” on KPCC-FM (89.3).