... sin city

went to see sin city last night... very interesting movie. i've always loved what i've read of the comics, and i'm very much thinking about buying them now i've seen the movie. it was like watching a comic book come to life - everything that the batman/spiderman/x-men resurgence should be but isn't quite achieving. my greatest hope is that with the awesomely successful delivery of sin city to the screen, we will sooner than later see grendel on the big screen as well. that might be a long bow to draw, but it's what i think.

one of the things that surprised me most about the film was how little i was involved in it. the very medium of cinema means that without distractions - a ringing phone, dogs barking outside, needing to check up on the oven - it is possible to be more fully immersed in the film you're watching than in virtually any other mode of viewing. maybe vr will one day approach this, but that's mindstorm territory and i'm not about to go there today. so it felt a bit strange that i felt so little pull to enter the movie.

i did film study at university for a while, so i'm pretty well able to dissociate myself from many things i view, but that's usually against a pull to enter the world of the movie. i didn't feel that pull at all with sin city. rather, the very artificiality of its look, the outlandish story, and persistent voice-over narration all combined to make it somethign watched rather than something one became caught up in.

don't get me wrong. there were gasps and laughs aplenty. bold, stark characters of unspoken origin and intent. the closest i think we have to this in any other film so far was in detective story in the animatrix.

very good film technically. hard to believe it was all shot against green screen, but it really couldn't have been done any other way. story wise - there's nothing edifying about this movie. Christians beware - this film is a descent into the sinful nature in a way that makes me personally glad that i have been brought into the kingdom of God, and which (if it has a grain of truth at all) confirms my bitter and pessimistic view of human nature. sin city is well-named, a great and terrible film.

two thumbs up.