What a strange movie. Based on the Frank Miller graphic novel series, this movie is visually stunning but leaves a lot to be desired. This is a very violent movie, and even the “comic book” feel of the movie doesn’t make it any less violent. It’s violent with a capital V. At some point (maybe 30 minutes in?) Denis turned to me and said, “Does anybody LIVE in this movie, or do they all die?”
The movie follows three characters, Marv (Mickey Rourke), Dwight (Clive Owen) and Hartigan (Bruce Willis). They all live separate lives in Basin City and yet they all frequent the same places and know the same people. Marv is a thug who seeks justice after a hooker is murdered. Dwight is a man who seeks justice when his new girlfriend (Brittany Murphy) is beat up by a corrupt cop (Benecio Del Toro). And Hartigan is a cop who serves 8 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, when released, tries to protect the girl (Jessica Alba) who was the target of the original crime 8 years ago.
All the characters use that James Cagney/Edward G. Robinson crime-speak that is so popular in the comic book genre. It’s annoying in the first ten or fifteen minutes, but then the movie gets over itself and moves on to more normal dialogue (albeit still slightly cheesy in that comic book sense).
I’m finding it difficult to actually REVIEW the movie. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t like it much either. I guess that’s all I can say.
3 phone calls to mom out of five. Mainly for the black and white visual style of the movie.
I watched the first ten minutes of this film and turned it off… Never even tried to watch it again.
Just awful in my opinion