The pictures? They were just the initial lure, the eye candy to distract your peepers and get the interest bubbling in your gut like so much cheap soup. Now comes the first real punch: the trailer, full of noir and narration and the lingering promise of rain-soaked vistas all brought to life in vibrant monochrome with just the occasional colour highlight splashed or stabbed or thrown upon the screen. Sin City’s here, people, and you’d best be ready.
Those two filmmaking fellas, Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller are back, see? Set their studio up to bring us the linked tales of A Dame To Kill For, once more letting a little light shine upon the dark urban sprawl (not too much, mind).
Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s trying his luck this time, appearing in The Long Bad Night as Johnny, a gambler who loses more than he expects when he wins against the wrong opponent. And once again we have Mickey Rourke as Marv, whose stories this time (Just Another Saturday Night and the titular A Dame To Kill For) are set before last time's The Hard Goodbye. The title story will see him pitted against femme fatale Ava Lord (Eva Green) and teamed up with private eye Dwight McCarthy (Clive Owen and Josh Brolin; facial reconstruction – it can be a tricky thing.)
Miller once more adapted his stories, ripping them from his graphic novels and seeing what sticks when it hits the screen. All returning for a second shot are Bruce Willis as Detective John Hartigan, Rosario Dawson as Gail and Jamie King as Goldie and Wendy. And there are other new faces, including Ray Liotta and Jeremy Piven and Dennis Haysbert. If this sort of thing to floats your cinematic boat, you’ll want to head down to the harbour for Sin City: A Dame To Kill For on August 29.