Title: Sin City
Edition: 2-Disc Blu-Ray
Directors: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Frank Miller
Film Rating: 
Blu-Ray Features Rating: 
Review by: Bill Jones
The Film
Amidst a series of quality comic book film adaptations over the last decade, the 2005 collaboration between film director Robert Rodriguez and comics veteran Frank Miller, Sin City, remains arguably the best in terms of keeping true to the source material.
More a direct translation of three of Miller’s books than a film adaptation, Rodriguez utilizes the iconic black-and-white imagery, hard top muscle cars, badass but flawed heroes and gorgeous women to create a beautifully stylistic piece of film noir.
Sin City is bookended by “That Yellow Bastard,” in which Hartigan (Bruce Willis) plays the good cop amidst a sea of corruption. Over a number of years he battles Roark Jr. in his efforts to prevent the rape of Nancy Callahan (Makenzie Vega/Jessica Alba).
In between, viewers are treated to “The Hard Goodbye” and “The Big, Fat Kill.” In the former, Mickey Rourke takes on the role of Marv, a quite possibly demented monster of a man who is seeking revenge for the murder of a beautiful woman who was kind enough to spend a night with him. Working his way up the ladder, Marv takes a no holds barred approach to carrying out this revenge. The latter follows the story of Dwight (Clive Owen), who is on a mission to dispose of the body of a cop, Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro), to prevent a war between the police force and the Old Town Girls – a dangerous group of prostitutes who govern their territory under the leadership of Gail (Rosario Dawson).
The star-studded cast – which also includes Brittany Murphy, Powers Boothe, Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood and Miller himself – carries its weight, but it is the faithfulness to dialogue, props, vehicles and artistic style that truly shine in the film. 
Sin City the film is the comic come to life in almost every way, and Rodriguez even translates cool ideas from the book, such as Marv’s checklist of equipment, panel by panel into film.
Rodriguez only takes a few liberties in the film, such as adding color back in for certain things – blood, specific cars and a red dress – but they are a welcome change that serve the translation to film well. Otherwise, the big heroes (the kind of guys who get filled with lead and keep going) and bigger action, scantily clad or oftentimes topless gorgeous women and memorable inner monologues are all there. Sin City is everything it should be.
The Blu-ray Transfer and Extras
The transfer to 1080p high-definition is absolutely stunning. Animated films often shine on the high-definition format, and Sin City is aided by the fact that most of the movie was shot in green screen. The environments and colors were done in post-production with computer animation, so the detail is incredible. Rodriguez also focuses on close-up shots of the characters, and the blood and sweat all come through in great detail.
The extras are very similar to those of the 2-disc “Expanded” DVD version. In addition to the theatrical version of the film, the first disc contains three commentary tracks – one with Rodriguez and Miller, another with Rodriguez and Tarantino, and a final track with the audience reactions from the Austin premiere. The first of the bunch is the best, with picture-in-picture popping up everywhere. Rodriguez and Miller offer insight into the translation, while the film is shown next to green screen takes and panels from the books, showing just how closing the film followed the source material.
The second commentary is less insightful, but offers a bit more on the technical aspects and background of making the film. Tarantino appears for the segment he directed, and Willis stops in as well. The final commentary is throwaway, unless one wants the midnight showing experience of a packed theater cheering at the big moments, but from the comfort of his own home.
The second disc is where all the major extras come into play. First and foremost, the individual stories are recut as separate features with added scenes. 
The additional content only clocks in around 23 minutes, and feels like less when watching the features, but it is a cool new way for longtime fans and viewers to see the film. Rodriguez also brings his “Film School” and “Cooking School” segments to Sin City, offering more insight into the technology behind the film and a recipe for Sin City Breakfast Tacos.
The “Kill ‘Em Good” interactive comic book is a Blu-ray exclusive, which combines Miller’s comic panels with voice-overs from the film in a fast-moving compilation of audio and visual elements. The comic itself is cool, but the interactive elements are rather pointless.
The rest of the disc contains the menagerie of the usual extras, including features on Tarantino’s guest direction, convincing Miller to do the movie, props, costumes, makeup and trailers. It also contains a very cool “all green screen” version, where the film is sped up to run from start to finish in roughly 10 minutes, with no special effects. The viewer simply sees the actors with their props on the green screen stage. It offers an invaluable look into the work on the part of both the actors and the special effects crew.
Sin City’s Blu-Ray features replicate many of those already included on the Expanded DVD, with many now in 1080p and all with surround sound, at a cheaper list price. It’s a lot of the same, but fans of the film who have neglected to pick up the Extended edition or upgraded to the high-definition format should not hesitate to pick up this collection. Neither should anyone interested in filmmaker, as the features, while sometimes repetitive, provide a wealth of information.
For more info, http://video.movies.go.com/sincity/
