SIN CITY

Saw it at 11 AM EST. Went to one of those digital projection theaters to get the full benefit of the visuals. It was worth it on that score, but as a movie, it should have stayed a comic book.

Mickey Rourke gives a career-resuscitating performance, but shit, he does that every second or third movie he's in these days (he was the best thing about The Pledge and the dogshit Stallone remake of Get Carter), and still nobody cares. Oh, well, at least he's not Eric Roberts, reduced to music videos (he's currently the heavy in clips by the Killers and Mariah Carey, and if you tune into MTV at the right time you can catch 'em back to back). I liked Clive Owen much better last night, when I watched the DVD of Closer. I like Bruce Willis, but in this - eh. And Jessica Alba's appeal is totally lost on me - I much prefer Carla Gugino, or Rosario Dawson. (Memo to self - search Internet for Alexander vidcaps to avoid wasting a Netflix queue-spot.)

The violence was too over-the-top, and I say that as someone who owns the special edition DVD of Day Of The Dead. There's a difference between splatter and snuff, and this movie goes over the line, whether the blood is red, white or yellow. It's more horror than noir, and I think it's being marketed dishonestly.

I guess it's a moderately interesting technical achievement, even if there have been two Star Wars movies and Sky Captain before it (not to mention Tron). But at bottom, I think, like every other Rodriguez movie, this is lots of hype and a few nuggets of substance...not enough, though.