Sin City: A Dame to Kill For - C

Rated R, 102 minutes

At least "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" is fun to look at

Frank Miller is a gifted comic book artist, with "300" and the "Sin City" series to his credit, so it's unfortunate that some of his visually stunning works don't always translate well to the big screen. The crime drama "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" is one of those efforts that falters, a follow-up to the successful 2005 neo-action crime film "Sin City," a groundbreaking film in terms of its striking colors and stylized visuals, and many of the cast members from that film appear here too, including Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Powers Booth and Rosario Dawson, while some new ones appear too, including Stacy Keach, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ava Green, while others such as Dennis Haysbert and Josh Brolin replace actors from the first film. Modestly entertaining and dripping with style and an intriguing fakery, the colorful visuals are about all "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" has going for it, everything else is a bit of a mess; like its predecessor, the weak storytelling hampers what could've been a great movie. Co-directed by Miller and Robert Rodriguez with a screenplay by Miller, it's based on two of "Sin City's" stories with a couple of new ones: "Just Another Saturday Night"; "The Long Bad Night"; "A Dame to Kill For" and "Nancy's Last Dance" are the four intersecting stories told here, with the film getting worse as it goes along, with "A Dame to Kill For" probably the weakest of the four, primarily due to the fact that it needs a stronger actress than Green - say like Angelina Jolie - (Rodriguez's first choice) to carry it. The last, "Nancy's Last Dance" is hurt by the fact that it relies heavily on the questionable acting skills of a bad actress like Alba to carry it. Designed as sort of a prequel to "Sin City," none of it makes much sense, especially if you're not a fan of Miller's work or the first film (which would be me). I was a little distracted by some of the inconsistencies in "A Dame to Kill For," such as why only Rourke wears heavy makeup; why Brolin's character drives a '65 Ford Mustang compared to all the other 1940s vehicles and why Alba's character looks, sounds and dresses much more modern than any of the other women in the film.  There's plenty of violence in "A Dame to Kill For" (though much of it stylized) along with an unnecessary amount of nudity to keep you engaged, given that the story, based on Miller's novels, is about as ridiculous as they come (though maybe that's the point). Admittedly, the visuals are dazzling from start to finish, making "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" mildly enjoyable, but it's also one of the dumbest, best-looking films I've seen since the first "Sin City." A saying in the South about a person lacking common sense goes "he doesn't have a lick of sense about him," which also applies to the stylized but vapid "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For." Not a lick of sense about it, but it's at least it's fun to watch.

Wes's Grade: C