Sin City (2.5/4 stars) and Kingdom of Heaven (1.5/4 stars)

I finally got to see Rob Rodriguez's Sin City, one of the most-hyped films of the year. It was more or less what I expected, a comic book committed to film. Like his best buddy, Quentin Tarantino (who somehow appears as a "guest director" in the credits), Rodriguez concentrates on style. The guy who did the comic books, Frank Miller, apparently was along with Rodriguez for the whole ride. There's even a site on the net that compares frames of the film with panels from the comic, and they're pretty much faithful.



Too bad the screenplay wasn't as strong. The film interlocks three stories - those of Mickey Rourke's Marv (the best of the bunch), Bruce Willis's Hartigan (ok) and Clive Owen's Dwight (pretty weak). But you're not watching Sin City for the story - you're watching it for the style. Think of Kill Bill, only better. Devon Aoki's Miho will chop up Uma Thurman's Beatrix any day of the week. Jessica Alba serves as the film's primary eye candy. She IS yummy, but too bad they weren't faithful when adapting her Nancy from the comic. She's wearing too much. (Yes, that's lame.)

Anyway, Sin City is worth watching for the cinematography. The interlocking stories has been done before, and better, notably by Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu in both Amores Perros and 21 Grams. The acting isn't noteworthy, and neither is the dialogue.

As for Kingdom of Heaven, I got to see it on the plane on the way over here (I'm in Singapore). I knew that the little Singapore Airlines screen wouldn't do the battle scenes justice, but I figured that it was better than most of the other offerings. (I'm saving Hitchhiker's Guide for the return trip.)



Ridley Scott, for once, bored me to tears. The story development is glacial, and very little happens over the first hour of the film. It was enough to almost put me to sleep. Orlando Bloom simply cannot act, Jeremy Irons mails it in, and Liam Neeson continues a disturbing trend and gets killed off early in the film. The big battles only start to pick up past the halfway mark, and even then, we've seen this kind of thing in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, particularly in the Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith battles.

Still, if you've somehow managed to avoid seeing LOTR, the battle scenes are well done as you might expect from Scott. Beyond that, there's not much more to recommend the film. If you're intrigued by Eva Green, go find Bertolucci's The Dreamers - you get to see all of her there, both her acting chops and her body.

Final verdict - you can pass on Kingdom of Heaven. Unless you're stuck on a plane and the next best option is Madagascar.