Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)

Rated R. Running time: 1 hour 41 min.

Our content ratings: Violence 8; Language 7; Sex/Nudity 7.

Our star ratings (0-5): 3.5

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in

Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23

 For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

Proverbs 4:17

The main reason for seeing this gore-fest, unless you are into sadistic violence, is the unique style of the art and dialogue of the film. Based on Frank Miller’s graphic novels, the black and white photography stands in stark contrast to the splashes of red—usually the red hair of a couple of the “dames” and a dress. Interestingly, the filmmakers chose not to use this color whenever someone is shot, sliced, diced, beheaded by swords, or their eyeball gouged out—this would have been “over kill,” the effect of the change from B&W to color diminished–the body count being as high as that of a small war. As one character says, Sin City is “hell,” or at least a good stand-in for it with so many unsavory characters seeking ill-gotten gains, vengeance, and weaving an elaborate murder plot that involves seducing another to do the actual killing.

The hardboiled prose and the fate of the femme fatale Ava Lord (Eva Green) will bring to mind Mickey Spillane and his first novel I the Jury, though that author, back in the Fifties, never could have gotten away with the film’s graphic sex. This film is definitely bound to offend the tastes of most people of faith, but for those interested in offbeat films with bizarre situations, this is a film to see!