Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For, film review - Surprisingly dull despite the sex and violence

Wayward, repetitive storytelling makes the film an endurance test

Jessica Alba as Nancy Callaghan in Sin City 2 (Dimension)

The latest Sin City is a major let-down after the brilliance of the original film in 2005.

The problem is certainly not the visuals. The entire film has the sleek, stylish look of a Saul Bass credits sequence.

In adapting Frank Miller’s graphic novels, the filmmakers invoke the glory days of film noir in ingenious fashion, combining black and white, flashes of colour and voice-over.

As a stylistic exercise, the film is impressive. Powers Boothe excels as the finger crunching, crooked politician villain.

What makes the film a test of endurance is the wayward, repetitive storytelling.

The filmmakers flit between different (but interlinked) episodes involving femme fatale Eva Green, card sharp Joseph Gordon-Levitt and vengeance-seeking stripper Jessica Alba in very clunky fashion.

In spite of the shock tactics - the self-consciously extreme and cartoonish sex and violence - this trip to Sin City is surprisingly dull.

Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller, 102 mins, starring: Starring: Eva Green, Jessica Alba, Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Juno Temple