Sin City: A Dame for the Kill Doesn't Kill

Sin City: A Dame for the Kill is a prequel coming in the middle of the two main storylines of the first movie Sin City.  It is based on Frank Miller's truly graphic, graphic novels by the same name.  We are again brought into the world of Sin City and Old Town where crime and life are dark, edgy and eventually the city will devour its residents.  Many of the same characters from the first movie including Powers Boothe as the evil Senator Roark, Mickey Rourke as the brutal but loving killer Marv, Jessica Alba as the mistreated Nancy and Bruce Willis as Hartigan.  And yes you're right many of those characters died in the first movie.

A Dame for a Kill is actually built around two stories.  The first is the settling of  scores from the original movie between primarily Nancy and Senator Roark.  The second story is a new one following the beast and seductress plot staring Eva Green and Josh Brolin as Ava and Dwight. Both stories are joined together a character that became a favorite in the first movie, Marv.  

That said, the new addition is just an okay movie.  Where the first movie had a dark edge and dark humor that permeated from most of the stories, A Dame for the Kill, while still having some of those moments, is often just violent.  Where the first movie had stilted language and over-the-top delivery, A Dame for the Kill has the same stylized deliver but too often the dialog was not just stilted but incredibly trite.

The second movie also seems to contain plot lines that serve only weak purpose.  It is not tight storytelling. I don't really get the point of the storyline involving the Senator and Johnny (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). There was also a  story of the seduced cop (Christopher Meloni) and Ava (Eva Green), which seems to have only the purpose of showing how cruel Ava the film's femme fatale.  Another storyline with little connection to the two main stories was the killing of evil "frat boys" by Marv. I kept feeling there was a link missing.  Perhaps they were relying on the audience member's knowledge of the graphic novels.  Unfortunately, I don't really have the knowledge.


There is nothing really new about the stylized special effects photography that was the one of the big attractions of the original.  There are even a few places that it is even over-done.   I suppose the biggest problem is that we have seen this movie before.  There is nothing really new.   It is also well deserved of its "R rating." It is violent and has no shortage of nudity.  Overall, Sin City: A Dame for a Kill is only okay.  Nothing really new to see.