Summer 2014: Top 10 To See – No. 10

No.10 – Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (Aug 29th)

It’s been 9 years since Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller and guest director Quentin Tarantino bestowed a new noir classic upon film going audiences. The first film was met with wide critical and commercial success, quickly generating calls for a sequel.

This summer finally sees the release of that sequel, a film which has been carefully curated again by Miller and Rodriguez and sees the return of Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis and Jaime King, as well as an impressive host of new talent that includes Joseph Gordon Levitt, Josh Brolin, Eva Green, Ray Liotta and… Lady Gaga?

The basic narrative will echo the previous film; there will be several intersecting storylines based on stories found in the original graphic novels, driven largely by a femme fatale and the men who either seek her or protect her, and there will be a lot of violence, blood and gore. Albeit beautiful violence, blood and gore, as the film will once again utilise the stylised digital black-and-white look of the first film, with touches of colour that will stand to tell it’s audience something about each character (e.g. the dame that everyone in the film is killing for has red lipstick and bright green eyes to highlight how desirable and dangerous she is).

The contrast between the pops of colour and black-and-white is a spectacle on-screen and brings the visceral world of Sin City to life in a way rarely seen outside of the pages of a comic book. With 9 years of work behind it, we can hope that Sin City: A Dame to Kill For will be a worthy sequel to one of the last decade’s most unique cinematic works.

Whilst the morals of Sin City won’t be to everyone’s taste (most characters are driven by either sex, money or power – or all three in some cases), there’s no doubt that this will be one of the more visually stunning films to hit screens in the latter half of summer 2014!