Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

"This has turned into a long, bad night"

3.7/5 stars - Originals are hard to live up to, but still worth a watch.

One of the stories is set a few years after Sin City (2005), with Alba's storyline. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For tries to up its game with more crazy violence and gritty story lines.
As part of the game up-ing, there is a lot more cheeky cheeky dancing from Jessica Alba, as she monologues her thoughts on the city and how she feels after the death of her man (Willis).

Devon Aoki is replaced by Jamie Chung as Miho, again with no dialogue, but her action-ninja vibes are strong in this film. I didn't even realise they were different actors, but I haven't seen Sin City '05 in a while.
Rosario Dawson is back as Gail, with many a wig and leather clothing. Her acting is also on point, but oh my those outfits.

Manute, played by Michael Clarke Duncan in Sin City '05, returns this time played by Dennis Haysbert. This part of the film is in fact a sequel to the '05 film, as we see how Manute got his golden eye. Manute is the guard of Ava (Eva Green), whose storyline is actually a prequel to one of the stories in Sin City '05. (Ava is the character who's poster was banned from being shown on billboards as it was too racy. My gosh, if they thought the poster was too much, what did they think about the film!?)



Josh Brolin is Dwight - what? That's another recast !? Okay. When watching the film you won't feel like people are getting recast because of the full-on storyline. Dwight was previously played by Clive Owen. - Brolin does a bang-up job.
In this same storyline we see Mickey Rourke return as Marv (all the familiar faces). You've got to hand it to them for getting the same actors in for the roles (all but Clarke Duncan, rest his soul. Oh yeah, and Aoki). Juno Temple also makes a small appearance in this storyline, rocking around the place in either a corset or less - if memory serves, a character of Old Town, Sin City.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has the shortest storyline of the lot, playing Johnny, who comes to Sin City to make it big - though of course this goes from bad to worse - you don't play poker and take all the winnings from the heavy hitters without repercussions. Kudos to him for acting abilities and his character's guts.

Like its predecessor, A Dame to Kill For is heavy with the bloodshed, gore and black and white vibes, saving the colour used for Ava's green eyes and red lips, and Marcie's whole form is colour - maybe this is because of all the people in the city, Marcie seems to be the most innocent.

For the particularly gruesome parts, the players are either all white, no definition, on a black background or vice versa. This does help keeps the gruesome bits graphic and interesting rather than "I've just thrown up in my popcorn out of terror".
All in all, I enjoyed this film a little more than Lucy - probably because I new what I was getting into. Even though the first film was really interesting and intriguing, this installment has bravely tried its hand.