"SIN CITY" LEARNING ENGLISH WITH MOVIES - ESL LESSON

 

SIN CITY

 

Welcome to Learning English with movies!

 

2005’s SIN CITY is a neo-noir anthology film based on the Frank Miller Graphic novels and was directed by Robert Rodriguez.

 

The ensemble cast include Jessica Alba, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, and Bruce Willis, just to name a few.

 

Rodriguez is an American independent filmmaker who started his career with his self-financed film EL MARIACHI.

 

While studying film in his native Texas, Rodriguez wrote and produced a Spanish-speaking action film he financed himself.

 

The film was a success at the Sundance film festival, where Rodriguez not only caught the attention of Hollywood but also met Quentin Tarantino.

 

His friendship with Tarantino blossomed into several film collaborations, including FROM DUSK TILL DAWN and GRINDHOUSE.

 

For SIN CITY, Tarantino even directed one of the pivotal scenes in the film and was given a “guest director credit”.

 

Robert Rodriguez’s success in Hollywood allowed him to create his own independent production company.

 

Since then, most of his projects have been independently produced and filmed in his TROUBLEMAKER STUDIOS in Texas.

 

Rodriguez has also worked in big-budget Hollywood productions, including PREDATORS, ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL and THE MANDALORIAN.

 

After the success of SPY KIDS 2, which he shot digitally and with state-of-the-art equipment at TROUBLEMAKER STUDIOS, Rodriguez decided to adapt FRANK MILLER’s Cult comic series.

 

The film is a faithful adaptation of the graphic novels, not only recreating the same look of the comic but also using the same dialog and narration. For this reason, the film had no ‘real’ screenwriter and Frank Miller was given co-director credit.

 

SIN CITY is an anthology film, similar to Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, where a series of stories are told while also connecting them through characters and situations.

 

Much of the film is based on the first, third, and fourth books in Miller's original comic series; “The Hard Goodbye”, “The Big Fat Kill” and “That Yellow bastard”.

 

The bookends of the film are based on the short story "The Customer is Always Right", the sixth book in the comic series.

 

Like Pulp Fiction, the stories are interwoven and not told in linear or chronological order.

 

A new cut of the film was released later where the stories are separated and told in chronological order.

 

The film was a critical and box office success, and Rodriguez planned to release a sequel. Unfortunately, fans of the film had to wait almost 9 years until SIN CITY’s sequel; “A DAME TO KILL FOR” was finally released.

 

Unlike the 2005 original, the sequel was a critical and financial disappointment.

 

Talks of a possible TV series based on Frank Miller’s SIN CITY comics have been discussed with Frank Miller himself as producer.

 

The first main story of the film is “That Yellow Bastard”, where a veteran police detective named John Hartigan, played by Bruce Willis is looking for a kidnapped girl.

 

When he finds her, he also shoots and wounds the kidnapper, a child-killer named Roark Junior.

 

Junior, the son of a powerful senator, frames Hartigan for the crimes and is sent to prison.

 

While in prison, Hartigan receives letters from Nancy, the kidnapped girl he saved, and when he is finally released he goes to find her.

 

Hartigan is surprised to find that Nancy had become a beautiful exotic dancer in a bar.

 

Junior confronts them but Hartigan manages to kill him and save Nancy once more.

 

The second story, “The Hard Goodbye”, deals with a tough guy named Marv, played by Mickey Rourke, who is framed for the murder of a prostitute named Goldie.

 

While looking for Goldie’s killer, Marv would find Goldie’s twin sister Wendy.

 

Marv would also discover that the killer was a cannibal named Kevin, played by Elijah Wood.

 

He would find and kill Kevin, but because of Kevin’s political connections Marv is blamed for the murders and sent to the electric chair.

 

The Third story, ‘The Big Fat Kill”, centers on an ex-con named Dwight, (played by Clive Owen) who goes after his girlfriend’s abusive ex-boyfriend named Jackie Boy (played by Benicio del Toro).

 

After Jackie Boy threatens a young woman in the “Old Town” district, a group of tough prostitutes kill him in cold blood.

 

Dwight is too late to warn the girls that Jackie Boy was a Cop and as a result, the truce between them, the Police and the Mob is broken.

 

A war between the Prostitutes and mob mercenaries ensues, until Dwight manages to destroy the evidence and save the girls.

 

The Bookends of the film based on “The Customer is always right”, are about a suave, handsome hit man, called The Salesman, and how he flirts with his female victims before killing them in cold blood.

 

Frank Miller also makes a cameo as a priest, while Robrt Rodriguez makes an appearance as a SWAT team member.