Best of Frightfest: ‘Sin City: A Dame to Kill For’ Dirs. Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller

Best of Frightfest: As the twentieth anniversary of Arrow Video Frightfest approaches, we at team THN take a look back at some of the best and brightest films that have screened over the last two decades. Today we look at the divisive Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.

It is no wonder that it can be a little difficult to find people who have a similar amount of affection for the Sin City sequel that they do for the original. Coming out a whole nine years after the 2005 original, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For had been held in production limbo for a frustrating amount of time. While the original certainly has fans and was deemed a success critically and commercially, there’s no denying that the nine year gap was never going to do the sequel any favours. And while A Dame to Kill For certainly isn’t as vivid or as groundbreaking as the original, it still has a lot going for it in terms of violent and stylish thrills. 

With four stories, a mix of adaptations from the graphic novels and an original from Miller, the form very much remains the same. We have the centerpiece ‘A Dame to Kill for’ following Josh Brolin’s Dwight as he sets about becoming a private investigator, only to fall into a scheme hatched by his former lover Ava (Eva Green). Elsewhere, we have Joseph Gordon Levitt’s cocky gangster getting more than he bargained for, Mickey Rourke’s Marv retracing his steps from a violent night, and the return of Jessica Alba’s Nancy, looking for revenge for the death of John Hartigan (Bruce Willis). 

The sequel to Sin City remains a visual marvel. The recreations of the comic-book panels remain startlingly close, while the highly stylised black and white photography with digital splashes of colour feel even more distinct with a bit more of a technical gloss applied to them. While it arguably doesn’t seem as novel as the first time around, there’s no denying that there’s still a captivating element to hyper-stylised action. 

Where the film is less successful is in producing stories that feel like they really justify a return to the seedy streets of Miller’s world. The centre-piece trades in many noir cliches, but is thankfully buoyed by Eva Green’s femme-fatale, a role she so effortlessly folds into with a turn that is fun, wild and undeniably provocative. Gordon-Levitt is also great in his role as Johnny in the original story written for the film, the story which is perhaps the strongest of the four contained within it. 

The retreads with characters from the original feel far less driven than they did beforehand. The story of Nancy’s revenge is particularly less than compelling, if only because that story felt like it had closure the first time round. Marv’s tale also feels less adventurous than before , with Rourke also not quite bringing the gruff charm that he did in the first spin. 

Nonetheless, A Dame to Kill For is still as close in spirit to the original as one could have hoped for following its delayed production and nine-year gap. If it had come out only two years after the original, there is a chance it may have had a warmer reception at the box-office, and maybe even critically. But as it stands, this is a sequel that is as pulpy, as campy and as violent as the original, that just had the unfortunate luck of arriving a little too late to its own party. 

Arrow Video Frightfest returns for its twentieth year on 22nd August 2019. Full details about the event can be found on the Frightfest website.