Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

was the second movie I mentioned in an earlier blog post during my visit to San Francisco last week.  I waited a bit to write this review because I wanted to think about the most succinct way to summarize the good and the bad of this film--and because a lot of movies share those traits.  In the end, I agreed that the way Kyle had described it pretty much was as tight as it could be:

The good:  More of the same.
The bad:  Not as well done.

So, I enjoyed it, but not as much as I enjoyed its predecessor, 2005's Sin City. 

This summary also explains exactly why Hollywood keeps churning out sequels:  they may not make as much money as their predecessors, but they are reliable moneymakers--for a while--because audiences know just what to expect to get from them. 

Some sequels, of course, do not fall victim to this structure.  Most that do not, though, advance the plot arc of a sequence of films, with characters growing and changing in each movie.  That sense of change, in both plot and characters, is what makes the best series of all types work well (and what I strive to do in my own series of novels).  This second Sin City installment paid lip service to that goal, but it didn't really hit the mark. 

If you liked the first one, odds are that you'll have a good time at this one--but not as good a time as you had at the first.  If you're curious to see how this highly stylized film plays out, you'll also want to check out this film.

On the other hand, if you didn't like the first, or if the trailer looks dumb to you, or if you're not in the mood for over-the-top dialog and bloody violence, give this sequel a pass.