Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (6/10): Lacks the emotional impact of the first film

"Sin City is where you go in with your eyes open, or you don't come out at all."

There has been a widespread claim that if you were a fan of the first film you will definitely love this sequel, but it wasn't the case for me. I called Sin City a masterpiece nine years ago when it first came out, but A Dame to Kill For doesn't even come close to that claim. One could argue and say that the novelty of these dark graphic novel adaptations has warn off considering that when Sin City first came out the visuals were groundbreaking unlike anything we had seen before. Perhaps it may have something to do with the fact that I haven't enjoyed the recent adaptations (the last one I really liked was 2009's Watchmen), but I know that my disappointment doesn't just come from this. A Dame to Kill For is as visually striking as the first film and it captures that pulpy film noir essence really well once again. What Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez don't do well however is build the suspense and connect the intertwining storylines like they did the first time. You have all these interesting characters returning and some new faces, but the stories didn't resonate with me this time around. Despite using the same formula and delivering in visuals and style, the three different storylines don't connect together. The film still has that same dark feel to it where it seems you are watching a comic book come to life, but the stories aren't as interesting and the narration isn't as gripping. So despite enjoying the visuals, this film was a huge disappointment for me and I don't think that the reason for it was that the novelty has worn off because it was the best aspect of this sequel.

Most would agree that the best character in Sin City is Marv (Mickey Rourke) and thankfully we get a lot of him once again. The story is at its best when it centers around him. Some of the new characters were also fun to watch. Joseph Gordon Levitt as Johnny was one of my favorites in this sequel. His character is suave and cocky, but always fun. His scenes facing off the main villain played by Powers Boothe are the highlight of the film along with Marv. We also get a lot more scenes from Nancy (Jessica Alba) and this time she has more depth to her character as well. Josh Brolin also gives a solid performance as Dwight, but unfortunately his segment is the weakest. So we get all these cool characters and everything seems to be perfect once again, but somehow the stories don't intertwine as effectively as they did the first time. The stories aren't as shocking and they lack that emotional punch that Sin City delivered the first time. The film is gratuitously violent once again, but it isn't effective. The impact was missing. There were also several characters that took me out of the film. I loved Bruce Willis in the first film, but there was no need to include him here. He took me out of the movie. The longest segment in this film involving Josh Brolin and Eva Green was also the least interesting. Green has fun with her character once again like she did in the 300 sequel, but this time her storyline is way too familiar. All she does here is be nude and seduce men. The subplot where she seduces Christopher Meloni was completely unnecessary, as were his scenes with Jeremy Piven. 

So despite some of the interesting things that A Dame To Kill For had going for it, it has several flaws which make the story drag at times. This is the sort of film in which you should be having fun, but I found myself bored with some of these segment. The narration might seem silly at times, but it worked the first time as a parody of noir films. This time it felt dull. I know my review sounds negative but it is because I expected a lot more from this sequel. I still had a fun time watching Marv once again, I also appreciated that Alba had more screen time, and loved the addition of Joseph Gordon-Levitt to the already incredible cast. Unfortunately there were some elements that didn't connect with me and the stories failed to fit together as they did the first time.

My Review: Predators (6/10)

¨They can hear you. Smell you. They see you.¨

One of the reasons Predators stands out from it`s predecessors is because Robert Rodriguez was behind this project. His studio, Troublemaker Films, produced this movie in order for him to have controlling rights over it. His first decision was to sign Nimrod Antal as the director. Antal had directed Vacancy, Armored, and the movie that opened the doors for him in Hollywood: Hungarian film Control. Armored was a huge disapointment for me last year and a movie I really disliked, but Predators was an improvement considering I went into it with very low expectations. Predators is much better than the AVP sequels or even the second predator film and it does the original 1987 movie justice. Of course it is not as good as the original movie because, well that one was original and we had never seen the predators before, but now we have been bombarded with them in four other movies and finally in this sequel the suspense is back and so is the fear of the unseen. The movie builds off very nicely from the begginning introducing each character and setting the mood of the film. The location chosen for filming was excellent and contributed to set the atmosphere. The screenplay for this movie was written by Alex Litvak and Michael Finch, but it was one of the weakest things about this movie which was full of cheesy dialogs and copied phrases from the original.

The movie begins with Royce (Adrien Brody) falling from the sky into a jungle. His parachute opens up just in time, but he can`t quite remember how he got to this place. He runs into another man who seems to have got there in the same conditions, Cuchillo (Danny Trejo), a member of a Mexican drug cartel. All of a sudden they begin to be shot at by a Russian Sptesnaz soldier named Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov), but Royce evades him and ends up pointing a gun at his face and letting him know that they are not the enemy. The three men run into an Israeli sniper named Isabelle (Alice Braga) who claims she has never been in a jungle like this one. They have all been parachuted from the sky and the last thing they remember is seeing a white light and then waking falling in the air into this mysterious place. Isabelle claims to have seen more parachutes fall near her so they continue to search for answers and run into two men fighting: Mombasa (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), a revolutionary african fighter, and Stans (Walton Goggins), an inmate who was going to be sentenced to death in two days and a former FBI most wanted criminal. The six run into a Predator camp where they find all sort of dead body`s which are kept as trophies and here they run into Hanzo (Louis Ozawa Changchien) a Yakuza enforcer, and Edwin (Topher Grace), a doctor and the only one who doesn`t seem to fit the profile of the group. They soon discover that they`re not on their planet and that they have been brought here as game for hunters.

The major difference this film has with the original is that no Arnold Schwarzenegger look a like is cast. Instead, Oscar award winner Adrien Brody was chosen for the lead and he did a pretty good job. Alicia Braga is also good in this film and is perhaps the most likeable character. She makes a reference to the 87 movie mentioning how an elite military group was killed in the jungles of Guatemala by a creature similar to this. My favorite character however was the quiet and reserved Hanzo. The first half of this movie was excellent and did a great job of creating suspense, but the last half really let me down once Laurence Fishburne`s character came into play. I really thought that his appearance was going to improve the movie, but the screenwriters really messed up from this point on. Once the predators are no longer hidden the movie losses that mystery, although the action is pretty entertaining. The major problem I found with the second part of the movie however was that several of the characters changed personalities from one moment to the next only to give the film a more dramatic effect. The first part of the film is worth 4 stars, while the second only 2 out of 5. Predators is a far better sequel than the other movies and can be enjoyed if taken lightly.