Sin City
May 2009 Reviewed by: Rad Bennett Format: Blu-ray	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Many films have used comic books and graphic novels as a basis for their images, but Sin City is the one and only so far that actually seems like a graphic novel come to life. This is no doubt due to having two directors on board: Frank Miller, who created the original print stories, and Robert Rodriguez, a genius at employing the latest digital techniques in making his films.

As multiple film split-screen images are shown, a Cine-Explore feature on disc 1 allows the viewer to see how closely the movie matches the novel. You might get, for instance, the finished image, the green-screen image, and the drawing from the graphic novel all displayed at the same time so that comparison (and contrast) is easy. It’s one of the best picture-in-picture extras I’ve seen and allows one to see how careful Rodriguez has been to achieve the effect of the original work while still having an eye to the differences needed to make it into a movie.

The movie was released in 2005 and contained three stories and a scene from the graphic novels. These were intercut so that the story with Bruce Willis was (logically) split to form the beginning and end. That version is presented here on disc 1, while on disc 2 we get a "recut, extended, and unrated" edition. What this really means is a separate presentation of each story, each one complete with its own title card and end credits. Since there is some overlap in characters in the third story, parts of it seem a little odd if you have seen the theatrical cut first. But both ways work just fine for me. I’d say if you haven’t already, go theatrical first and then watch the individual stories on disc 2.

I had seen the movie in the theater and then viewed the first DVD version. This time I was able to notice fully -- disregarding the look of the film, which is perhaps the real star -- how really magnificent many of the performances are. Bruce Willis as a cop trying to save a kidnapped girl’s life is the ultimate heartbreaking tough guy, while Clive Owen emerges as an action hero of great sensitivity and nuance. His scene in a speeding automobile (guest directed by Quentin Tarantino) with Benicio del Toro, as a supposedly dead bad-guy passenger with part of a revolver sticking out his head, is classic. Mickey Rourke’s tough guy has been is so solid that none of us should have been too surprised at his success in The Wrestler.

If you haven’t seen Sin City, it is mostly black and white, and I don’t mean the kind of namby-pamby washed-out gray stuff you see on television. The blacks are jet black and the whites are blown-out white and in between there’s what seems like a zillion shades of gray. Certain things are colored -- some eyes, some cars, sometimes the blood (not always red) and sometimes not. The use of color is spare yet intense and effective. On Blu-ray Disc the overall picture is awesome with more detail than you might have thought possible from any previous Blu-ray release other than Baraka. Sin City is the perfect demo disc with which to show off your monitor to your friends.

The audio is perfect as well. It has impact and focus but a singular transparency that is at times amazing, since there never seems to be any strain about it. It’s entirely appropriate and effective for each and every scene. I didn’t miss a word of dialogue, a single music cue, or any of the sound effects, and yet it makes appropriate use of the entire 360-degree soundfield. Both dynamic and frequency ranges are extraordinary. I cannot think of one negative about this soundtrack, thus the high rating.

There are a large number of extras, including three commentaries for the theatrical version, one with Rodriguez and Miller, another with Rodriguez, Tarantino, and Willis, and one in 5.1 with the audience reaction at the Austin premiere. There’s a set of Rodriguez extras; as usual with one of his movies this includes the "15-Minute Film School," an amazingly compact and tight piece that reveals all the basics of making this unusual movie. Another interesting extra is an extended first shoot of the Owen-del Toro scene with interjections from the director. One really feels part of the movie-making experience while viewing this segment. There’s also a sped-up green-screen version that shows just how little was there before the digital compositing was applied.

Sin City is rough film noir, quite gruff and ugly at times. It pulls no punches in portraying its seedy characters, which are vividly brought to life. The Blu-ray set is excellent as both entertainment and demonstration-caliber material. It’s going on my Best Blu-ray of the Year list, and it will take something truly remarkable to displace it near the top.

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