Frank Miller fans, you can finally hold you heads high. Of course, knowing that the Sin City graphic novels existed was reason enough to before. But as we’ve all seen, Miller’s previous attempts to break into Hollywood were, in short, pathetic. Not so with Sin City and I imagine that, aside from a story and characters that could be powerful even if they were directed by a team of semi-trained monkeys, the assistance of Robert Rodriguez was no small help (look past Spy Kids and see Once Upon a Time in Mexico).

I can’t think of a single movie that had a single scene that made me want to stand up and applaud. This one did it to me at least three times. Sin City is really three stories taken directly from the graphic novels: “That Yellow Bastard,” “The Hard Goodbye” and “The Big Fat Kill” each with it’s own cast and “hero,” of course the heroes in Sin City are just as bad as the bad guys, and In many cases much, much worse. For example, during a portion of “The Hard Goodbye,” my new all time favorite hero Marv (played with panache by Mickey Rourke of all people) “hacks his way to the truth,” literally. Looking for the man who killed a hooker named Goldie, his friend, who he had just met, just because she was kind to him. When he eventually finds the man responsible, he tells him “You can go ahead and scream now.” I think that was good advice.

The “Yellow Bastard” storyline involves John Hartigan (Bruce Willis) as an (unlikely) 64-year-old cop who’s about to retire, who’s life goes down the drain after he saves young Nancy from the clutches of Junior, the son of a powerful senator. Hatrigan takes about 600 shots to the back, but still manages to blow the assailant’s balls off.

Clive Owen plays Dwight in “The Big Fat Kill” storyline. This is possibly the least interesting but best played storyline, and it certainly has some of the best lines, “Don’t ever give an Irishmen a reason to seek revenge.” Dwight is a Lancelot, always coming to rescue damsels in distress. Sometimes they need his assistance, like Shelly (Brittany Murphy), a waitress in a local exotic club, and other times they don’t, like the ladies of Old Town. When Jack Rafferty, a dirty cop (Benicio Del Toro) gets a little too frisky with one of the girls in Old Town, the fun begins. Here is the only bad casting job in the film, Del Toro’s talents are wasted in this role, I suspect that Rafferty will shine in the directors cut.

The visual experience makes this a one of a kind. Shot entirely, except for one set, in front of a green screen and shown in black and white (with some color added here and there for effect) it’s not as if the pages came to life, but more like the audience has been sucked into the books. It’s a tribute to the actors that makes this style pay off; a sloppy or half hearted performance might knock the audience out of the experience and loose them entirely.

The Rodriguez/Tarantino team up really shines. The stylized violence is non-stop graphic but… tasteful? When you realize that after a while you’re essentially just pounding wet skull fragments into the ground, you’re not too disturbed since you can just say to yourself ‘It’s just a comic book’ and go back to your Skittles.

Dave can be reached at dkerr@detroitbuzz.com. Netflix DVD Rentals. NO LATE FEES; Free Shipping. Try for FREE!