Eva Green Plays Ava With A Great And Restrained Taste

The collaboration between Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller brings forth a dark crime novel, "Sin City," with its noir visual style and a cast of characters aiming for a gritty performance in pursuit of an affordable seat. It's been nearly a decade since the release of "Sin City," originally drawn from Frank Miller's books, which, in some aspects, served as a shot-for-shot storyboard. "Sin City" featured sleek car grills and CD bars in a dystopian visual style, portraying ominous figures traversing through the city's terrifying streets, casting giant shadows. Primarily black-and-white, with red lips or green eyes burning from monochrome backgrounds, the film resembles a noir painting on acid or a snapshot of a heinous crime, alternating between black and white as necessary.

Voiceover, weary and disheartened, is provided by James M. Cain's flat-effect playbook. Some vignettes have been better kept together than others, but overall, it was highly entertaining, presenting a stylized approach that has fortified the material as much as possible. It felt fresh.

As "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" is now truly not the same, essentially, it's only in 3D, which adds some fantastic effects but is not really necessary.

Robert Rodriguez approaches the material with the same enthusiastic visual style that tweaks every frame for maximum theatricality. The cast, some reprising their roles from the first film (Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Jamie King), and some new characters (played by Josh Brolin, Lady Gaga, Christopher Meloni, Christopher Lloyd, Joseph Gordon-Levitt), all inhabit a city of despair and resignation, forsaking hope and taking a breath of despair.

Miller's writing for the film brings back the gritty-noir framework with some added twists. At certain points, the film goes beyond, and loses focus, especially in the interstitial section of the vignettes where you hear the creaking gears. Thanks to it, it looks beautiful and counts the references to classic movies. "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" starts on a snowy Saturday night in Marv's ruthless, battered, and rage-filled life (Mickey Rourke). He stops at Nancy's (Jessica Alba) naked bar, her angular figure glowing in the world, and he's out for revenge against a bunch of preppy jerks. His memory is flawed. It's "Same Old Same Old" for the poor Marv.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt embodies a new character in the Sin City universe, a rebellious young gambler, a high-stakes poker player with a strong resolve to infiltrate a senator's (Powers Boothe, menacingly brilliant) shadowy past and ruthless ways to gain entry. Johnny beats them at their own game. If he crosses the senator, the senator will have you killed. But Johnny will show him. It's personal.

In "Nancy's Last Dance," Alba's character is entrenched, haunted by the appearance of Hartigan (Bruce Willis) — her protector turned savior. Nancy isn't doing well; she's drinking too much, crying in her rundown apartment, cutting her hair, and spiraling her every thought toward revenge. And finally, Eva Green enters as Ava Lord. She sashays in as "Dame to Kill For." She has kissed a frog in the middle of sex and forgotten, you can do anything you want. There's a scene where Eva, completely naked, dives into her pool and Rodriguez shows it to us doubled, two naked bodies turning toward each other, splashing in 3D water towards us. It's a kaleidoscopic moment, an approval in the boudoir, the socio-pathic titillation that her invention has done to powerful men. Dwight (Josh Brolin, first played by Clive Owen) has a past with Ava, and knows she's bad news, but can a man resist what he desires? Eva Green portrays Ava with a fantastic and controlled taste, embracing her nudity or vulnerability when needed, her green eyes burning from her black-and-white face, and what can a man do? Eva Green gives an excellent and controlled performance, embodying Ava with a taste for the dramatic, whether it's tears or sexuality or her helplessness when needed, her green eyes burning brightly from her monochrome face, and what can a man do?

Rodriguez and Miller have both been criticized for categorizing women as angels or whores and displaying their bodies in such a way that objectifies them, a critique that often feels like you're watching a 1974 exploitative film. But "Sin City" distinctly revels in a noir-inflected thriller and comic book aesthetic, where women are cunning predators, exploiting their sexuality for gain in the world of Sin City. While men are often physically or economically more powerful than women, they are also portrayed as naive and foolish, captivated by their lustful gaze. The portrayal of women in Rodriguez/Miller's presentation may be a point of discussion, but it feels akin to the full-immersion approach of a graphic novel.

"Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" lacks originality, mainly because we've seen it once before. Nothing new is revealed through the story or style. However, Rodriguez and Miller are entirely committed to their vision,