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Message: <blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 2158366" data-attributes="member: 812">I gave Sin City a 7 out of 10, which is pretty high for me.It looked spectacular and included one stomp-down amazing performance (Mickey Rourke as Marv) and a number of really good performances (Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Rutger Hauer, Jaime King especially), and unfortunately a couple of limp, unprepossessing performances (Rosario Dawson and Jessica Alba).It also had a little script trouble that I suspect comes from the translation of comic book to screen -- or at any rate highlights the differences between the two media.Anyway, the Rosario Dawson/Jessica Alba problem was the most obvious one. And I'm a fan of Rosario -- she was GREAT in Josie and the Pussycats. She should have OWNED that screen everytime she appeared. But she didn't. Frankly, her whole army looked like a bunch of teenage girls trying desperately to look tough and sexy. And failing.Except for Miho. Miho was great. But the rest of those women looked uncomfortable in their outfits (and maybe that's why Miho did better than the rest -- she was wearing a lot more) and unable to stand up to their leading men. Rosario was okay in close-ups, but in full-figure shots she wasn't electrifying the scene the way she ought to have been.And Jessica Alba just can't act. She was okay as long as she didn't open her mouth, but every line that came out was flat and empty and unconvincing. Which is a real shame because it was a great part. I heard that when she was preparing for her "cowboy" dance Rodriguez refused to give her lessons, claiming that Salma Hayek hadn't needed any for HER performance in From Dusk Till Dawn.Jessica, that sound you hear is your scrawny ass getting beaten by Salma Hayek.(which I would pay to see, by the way. Never mind)The script problem is a little more subtle, but I think it's what is keeping a number of people from being as enthusiastic about this film as they might otherwise be.The script lacks suspense.In film, suspense is a very specific thing, created by one particular technique -- by letting the audience know something the characters don't. Our heroine is rifling a hotel room. There is no suspense unless we see the guest returning to his room and the heroine doesn't know. If we don't know the guest is returning, we don't feel any suspense.In a comic book, this principle doesn't hold. Comic books don't need to do this because they can work on the "page-turning" effect that books use -- where it's what you DON'T know (how it's going to turn out) that keeps you going. But a film doesn't have to keep you going -- it goes along without you turning the pages. What a film has to do, to be exciting, is to show you what's coming and then make you wait until the dire situation is resolved.That's how tension is generated in film, and Rodriguez didn't generate much tension.I'm pretty sure I'll go see it again. I liked it a lot, please keep in mind, and I suspect I'll like it even more when I can watch it on DVD, with each story as a coherent bit, not unecessarily jumbled together like they were.</blockquote>

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