Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Cast & Crew

Mickey Rourke

Marv

Jessica Alba

Nancy Callahan

Josh Brolin

Dwight McCarthy

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Johnny

Rosario Dawson

Gail

Bruce Willis

John Hartigan

Eva Green

Ava Lord

Powers Boothe

Senator Roark

Dennis Haysbert

Manute

Ray Liotta

Joey

Jaime King

Goldie, Wendy

Christopher Lloyd

Kroenig

Jamie Chung

Miho

Jeremy Piven

Bob

Christopher Meloni

Mort

Stacy Keach

Wallenquist

Juno Temple

Sally

Lady Gaga

Bertha

Marton Csokas

Damian

Robert Rodriguez

Director

Frank Miller

Director

Frank Miller

Screenwriter

Robert Rodriguez

Producer

Aaron Kaufman

Producer

Stephen L'Heureux

Producer

Alexander Rodyansky

Producer

Mark C. Manuel

Producer

Frank Miller

Executive Producer

Harvey Weinstein

Executive Producer

Bob Weinstein

Executive Producer

Zanne Devine

Executive Producer

Adam Fields

Executive Producer

Elizabeth Avellan

Executive Producer

Marci Madison

Executive Producer

Oleg Boyko

Executive Producer

John Paul Dejoria

Executive Producer

Kia Jam

Executive Producer

Ted O'Neal

Executive Producer

Tim Smith

Executive Producer

Show all Cast & Crew

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Critic Reviews for Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Audience Reviews for Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

• Apr 28, 2015

  Holy silhouettes the sequel finally arrives, a cool nine years after the original hit. A direct sequel that follows on from the original with all the characters we know and love, two stories from the original comic/graphic novel, and for some reason two entirely new stories. This time Tarantino does not direct anything leaving it to Rodriguez and Miller, whilst Rodriguez leaves the writing entirely to Miller...if any of that matters or you're interested. The movie is a jumbled mix of both sequel and prequel storylines which hark back before the original movie whilst tying up loose ends. The first tale called 'Just Another Saturday Night' follows on with the deeds of Marv who still looks out for Nancy. A very brief introduction which merely showcases Marv taking down some punk frat boys in his old neighbourhood. 'The Long Bad Night' is the first new tale which sees the young cocky card shark Johnny taking on his corrupt father (Senator Roark) at cards and beating him badly. He is warned to flee the city but shrugs this threat off and goes out on the town with his new blonde floozy Marcie. Roark and his goons catch up with him, severely beat him, take back their money and dump him. 'A Dame to Kill For' is a prequel that is set before the original story 'The Big Fat Kill' in the first movie. It shows Dwight as a private eye, trying to be a decent man, but is lured back to the dark side by the rich and sexy Ava Lord. Basically Ava wants Dwight to kill off her rich husband so she can claim all his fortune, naturally lots of double dealing, back stabbing and trickery ensues. 'Nancy's Last Dance' is the second movie exclusive tale which is set four years after 'That Yellow Bastard'. Nancy is still suffering from depression after Hartigan killed himself back in the first flick. Eventually sick of suffering in silence she asks (tricks) Marv into helping her kill Roark, her thirst for revenge must be quenched. So this is Sin City and we all know what to expect after the fantastic original movie back in 2005. Naturally this sequel gives you exactly what you crave with slightly bigger doses. The visuals are of course the movies selling point and they don't disappoint with those gorgeous bleak black and white comicbook-esque panel shots, the only things missing are the speech bubbles and text. Everything is once again mainly cast in shadow and silhouettes with only the odd hint of colour from various items, objects or body part. So amidst the bold stark blacks, whites and grey scale you might see a bright red classic car, or a splattering of red blood, or a pair of green eyes or a red item of clothing, red being the popular colour used more often. But seriously I don't need to talk much about the visuals, you all know why this franchise looks so lush, well wash rinse and repeat here, but that's a good thing. The small short stories are also just as good as before (they should be seeing as they are continuations) offering some great interweaving plots. The fact that we get a prequel mixed in along with the sequels/present day stories was a surprise to me, not being a fanboy of the franchise, and I liked that. At first I found myself struggling to figure out what was going on and this did require me to do a bit of quickfire homework on the older stories from the first movie, but once I had gotten my head around all the U-turns and twists I found myself enjoying it. I think the problems with this movie stem from the fact its been so long since the first movie. People's enthusiasm has understandably died down since 2005, not because the franchise is no longer any good but because the first movie was such a fresh and original blast which hadn't really been seen before. The visuals were amazing to see back in 05, a real graphic novel/comic come to life! of course since then special effects have improved and this visual style no longer has the wow factor it once did. The space between movies has also meant casting no longer retains continuity unfortunately. Most of the main characters are played by the same stars but many are not. Manute is now played by Dennis Haysbert who really can't and doesn't hold a candle to Michael Clarke Duncan, Bob is played by Jeremy Piven instead of Michael Madsen and Miho is no longer played by Devon Aoki. While this isn't the end of the world and most of the other players are still present and correct it did let the film down in my opinion. Had this not taken so long to be made then I'm confident the cast would have remained the same 100% which always feels better. Honesty I have always hated it when they recast a character for a sequel, even if it works, I just prefer continuity. Not knowing anything about the original yarn, at first I thought the casting of Brolin as Dwight was a horrendous cock-up because he looked nothing like Clive Owen. I have of course since found out his character origins and now know the character was suppose to look completely different for the prequel story. Alas the change of casting still has a negative effect because when we see the new Dwight with his new face that is suppose to be the face we know from the first film, it very obviously looks nothing like Owen. Speaking of the cast I must also add that I really don't understand why the awful looking Ava Green was cast in this, I'm guessing mainly for her period looking looks (the 50's). People are saying she can act but I just don't see it, plus I really don't find her attractive with her many body moles yeesh! I preferred the original choices of Selma Hayek and Rose McGowan. Even though I did enjoy the movie for the most part some things still did bother me, much like the first movie. As we get towards the climatic finale the action does become even more outrageous and reality bending. In fact much of the violence in this movie is like that, yes I realise its a comicbook flick adaptation but the thing I did like about this franchise (other than the sweetass visuals) was the fact the violence in general was gritty and semi-realistic (at first at least). Unfortunately both movies do descent into ridiculous action mode much like 'Kick-Ass' and other Rodriguez nonsense 'Machete'. Rodriguez's violent action style is very clear and in all honesty I don't like it for the most part, it has its place and can work but too much of it is not good and he uses it in virtually everything he does. This movie didn't quite have the same sense of grandness or scale that the first movie had, the cast isn't quite as impressive either, but I don't think it was ever gonna beat the first one. It tries to be sexy but in my opinion comes across as terribly vanilla half the time with laughable, apparently sexy outfits for the ladies and some rather limp strip club dancing to boot (what's sexy about a girl in cowboy attire?). Easily picks up top marks for artistic style and sticking to its adult orientated guns (always a plus these days). I love the trashy seediness, the period setting and some of the characters, although the excellent main score from the first movie is missed greatly. Its cold, its kinky and its dark, all agreeable ingredients which in my humble opinion gave us a reasonably solid followup.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Feb 04, 2015

  Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For takes a mediocre stroll around the hood. For an hour and 40 minutes, the story delivers itself in chapters. Chapter telling isn't a problem; however, the story-lines are poorly intertwined with each other, leaving a feeling of 3 separate arcs to follow. The film noir style that the picture employs also tones down any excitement; in the end the film feels very monotone in nature. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For goes black and white with a spot of color for its presentation. It gets tiresome fairly quickly, hampering the film visually. It is what it is, but the violence never feels cringe-worthy and the nudity never looks as extravagant as it should. The cast is nicely chosen. Despite a bland performance, Mickey Rourke finds himself with a likeable character. Eva Green always finds ways to stand out. She truly is a dame to kill for. Powers Booth is a nice watch. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For passes by at a steady pace, yet when the end credits start to roll, it's hard to feel like anything happened.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Jan 05, 2015

  It's been close to 10 years since Robert Rodriguez brought us Frank Miller's vision of urban decay and decadence to the big screen with the original Sin City (apparently I have never reviewed Sin City). The original film held the story together, even though it diverged into separate tangents, zig zagging like a runaway gunfight. It's not a masterpiece, but it is a great example of comic/film cinema that really represents the heart of Frank Miller's work. Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (we'll call it Sin City 2 from here on out) is quite frankly a mess, which is strange since this film has been in development from the moment the first film hit theaters. Many of the same characters from the original film return to cause havoc and mayhem in Basin City. There are some new faces and recasts, but the general idea is the same. A collection of stories all tied together into a bigger picture. I won't go into details, but it's the same concepts as the first film. They're just executed very poorly. I've seen the first film at least half a dozen times, recently watching it about a month before. While watching Sin City 2 I was lost on where this event fell into the chronology of the first film and wondering if there was a plot hole or not. I like movies that make you think, but when I'm sitting there trying to figure out if this is a filmmaker screw up it really dampens the experience of watching the film. The film cliches itself constantly. Within the first hour three characters are thrown from a moving car. It turns into a running joke and as the film continued on it was almost like I was watching a parody of the first film. What I hoped was going to be a continuation of the story Miller had created turned into a tedious experience that just had me hoping for the end. This turned into one of the worst films of the year and a huge disappointment for me. I don't know if it was the long length of time it took to get this film made or the need to present it in 3-D (ugh) or poor film making in general, but Sin City 2 is a stinker. If you have never seen the first film or even haven't visited it lately, you will be lost in the convoluted story that literally goes nowhere. If you're a fan of the previous film you will be disappointed.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Dec 03, 2014

  Exploitative and incredibly gratuitous, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is an ugly, nihilistic vision from Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez. The film follows three intertwining stories of revenge involving prostitutes, cops, politicians, and criminals. Most of the original cast returns and are joined by Eva Green, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Josh Brolin, and Dennis Haysbert. But despite the strong cast, there are some casting changes that come off as a bit awkward, and no one seems to be bringing their A-game. Also, the characters don't feels like the same ones from the first film, and there are inconsistencies in the plots. Still, the visual style is amazing and is easy to get swept up in. A shadow of the original, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is a morose and pointless sequel that lacks a lighthearted kitchiness to offset the dark and disturbing side of material.
  

  Super Reviewer