I’ve been a big fan of the Sin City comics for quite some time, so I was delighted last year when I discovered that a Sin City movie was in production, and even more delighted when I found out that it was going to stay true to the comics and had a huge all-star cast attached.

And then we finally got to see it last week, and only three and a half months after it was released in the US. In the meantime, I had to studiously avoid watching copies downloaded over the internet and keep myself going by re-reading the comics. And in the end, both Tegan and I found that it was well worth it when we finally got to see it on the big screen.

The film is visually stunning – it’s quite amazing how well they managed to capture the ‘look and feel’ of the comics in an altogether different visual medium. I’m quite a pedant at the best of times – I sat there and picked apart reasons why the Lord of the Rings films were deficient in the ways they varied from the books, but I was highly impressed by Sin City the movie’s faithfulness to its original form. There were a few minor variations, but they did not in the slightest subtract from the film – in fact, they were instances where the film actually was improved by the variations from the comic. I note that the standard reason given by Hollywood for huge variations between books and movies based on them is to improve the story for the way it is told on film – but I find that this defense rarely rings true. In the case of Sin City, the differences were minor and they were actually welcome.

However, I could not recommend this film for everyone – it is quite brutal and violent, although in a different kind of way. Because the film retains the look and feel of a comic, much of the violence is stylised or occurs off screen, however the brutality remains in concept and it was fairly shocking. I found myself reacting fairly strongly to some of the events, even knowing what was coming. For example, in once scene where a woman is shot and killed – I knew it was coming, the scene looked just like the comics. The gun shot was silenced, there was no blood, hardly any sound – and yet I still jumped in my seat. I guess that’s the mark of a well made film – that it can extract such a response even from people who are expecting what is to follow.

Overall, it’s the best movie based on a comic adaption that I have ever seen. For me, it was far more satisying than any Batman, Superman, Spiderman or X-Men film – although I must admit some bias, as Frank Miiller’s Sin City and 300 comics are my favourite comics of all time. I hear that there is talk of a sequel to Sin City and I certainly hope that is the case. My favourite short story from the Sin City comics, The Babe Wore Red, wasn’t included in the movie, and there’s at least one more major storyline from the comics that would translate well into a film. I hope that the success of the movie may also inspire Frank Miller to produce more Sin City comics – the last of them came out in 2000, so we’re about due for another hit.

Now, I wonder where I packed those Sin City magnets when we moved house? I think people seeing them on our fridge may soon finally understand what they were about…