FAQ for
Sin City (2005) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags are used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Sin City can be found here

Sin City is based on a series of comic books by American comic artist Frank Miller. The first series appeared in Dark Horse Presents comics, issues 51-62 from April of 1991 to June of 1992, and was called simply Sin City.

In a nutshell, the movie is based on four stories that take place in fictional Basin City. Although Basin City is located somewhere in the U.S. midwest, it is based on the not-so-attractive parts of New York City and Los Angeles. The stories are told in the same style as the original comic books, i.e., black and white, although the movie adds a lot more splashes of color.

In the first story, The Customer is Always Right, The Man [Josh Hartnett] fulfills his promise to a customer [Marley Shelton]. In the second story, That Yellow Bastard, Hartigan [Bruce Willis] saves 11-year old Nancy Callahan [Makenzie Vega] from being raped by the Yellow Bastard/Roark Jr [Nick Stahl]. Marv [Mickey Rourke] searches for the killer of his beloved Goldie [Jaime King] in the third story, The Hard Goodbye. In story four, Dwight [Clive Owen] defends Gail [Rosario Dawson] and her girls from dirty cop Jackie Boy [Benicio Del Toro], accidentally killing him and then trying to hide the body. The four stories end with Hartigan meeting up with Nancy [Jessica Alba] and Roark Jr eight years later. In the final scene, the traitorous Becky [Alexis Bledel] sees The Man in an elevator and says goodbye to her Mom.

The stories featured in the movie were filmed out of order from the stories as written.

Chronologically, the first story is That Yellow Bastard. This is known because in the book we see Dwight at Kadie's bar, when Hartigan enters; Dwight and Ava have just broken up, while in A Dame To Kill For (to be included in the second movie), Dwight states that he hasn't seen Ava for 4 years.

The second is The Hard Goodbye, which, again based on the books, takes place during A Dame To Kill For (some of the scenes overlap). So this places The Hard Goodbye about 4 years after Hartigan's suicide.

The Big Fat Kill is next: there's a reference to the events of The Hard Goodbye by Gail: "Miho's been aching for some exercise, and things have been so quiet after [the events of The Hard Goodbye]," and before that, Shelly says to Dwight "...before you came back with your new face," which is a reference to A Dame To Kill For. Logic suggests that it's months after Marv killed the Cardinal (remember, he was in prison for 18 months).

The Customer Is Always Right, the original comic, is only the opening scene of the movie with The Colonel and The Customer. In the Extended & Recut version a second part is added, which shows The Colonel/The Man with Becky in the elevator. The first part is, according to Rodriguez, a few months before the events of The Hard Goodbye. The latter part is right after The Big Fat Kill, as Becky has clearly been to the hospital to treat the gunshot-wound she received in the end of The Big Fat Kill.

A more complete timeline (although it's missing some stories), with spoilers, can be found here: http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptationscomic/sincity/sincitytimeline.html

The Hard Goodbye is referenced by its original title, Sin City.

Miller intended Sin City to be a mere 48 page story. Instead, as Miller himself said, "It got outta hand. It's all Marv's fault, he started bossing me around." The first story ended up being about 200 pages, total, and Sin City got it's own magasine, in which the later stories were released (with a few exceptions, see the next entry).

The original Sin City was collected into graphic novel format in 1993 (Sin City book 1) and was later re-titled The Hard Goodbye at the time of the movie's release. This is, in the movie, essentially "Marv's story".

Other stories used for the film were

- The Big Fat Kill, the third Sin City series, originally published from November 1994 to March 1995 in five issues, later collected into graphic novel format in 1995, as the third book. "Dwight's story" in the movie.

- That Yellow Bastard, the fourth series, originally published from February 1996 to July 1996 in six issues, later collected into graphic novel format in 1997. "Hartigan's story" in the movie.

- The Customer Is Always Right, the first-ever Sin City short-story, originally published in the issue The Babe Wore Red And Other Stories, in 1994. Can be found in the collection Booze, Broads & Bullets, published in 2000. The opening scene of the movie.

The one part of the movie that was not based on a comic was the ending scene of the theatrical release, with The Man and Becky. It's part of TCIAR on the special edition DVD.

1. The Hard Goodbye: Originally Published as Sin City over issues 51-62 of Dark Horse Presents and the 5th Anniversary Special. Later collected into a graphic novel in 1993, and retitled THG in 2005.

2. A Dame to Kill For: First Sin City story to have it's own book. Originally published over 6 issues. Later collected into a graphic novel.

3. The Babe Wore Red and Other Stories: A one-shot, includes the short stories And Behind Door Number Three..., The Customer is Always Right, and The Babe Wore Red. All stories were later included in Booze, Broads, & Bullets

4. Silent Night: A one-shot, later included in Booze, Broads, & Bullets

5. The Big Fat Kill: Originally published over 5 issues, later collected into a graphic novel.

6. That Yellow Bastard: Originally published over 6 issues, later collected into a graphic novel.

7. Daddy's Little Girl: First published in A Decade of Dark Horse #1, reprinted in Tales to Offend #1, later included in Booze, Broads, & Bullets

8. Lost, Lonely, & Lethal: A one-shot, includes the short stories Fat Man and Little Boy, Blue Eyes and Rats. All stories were later included in Booze, Broads, & Bullets

9. Sex & Violence: A one-shot, includes the short stories Wrong Turn and Wrong Track. Both stories were later later included in Booze, Broads, & Bullets

10. Just Another Saturday Night: Originally published as Sin City #1/2, a Wizard magazine mail away offer. Later republished for the mass market as JASN. Later included in Booze, Broads, & Bullets

11. Family Values: Original Graphic Novel, the only one of the longer stories that was originally published as a book

12. Hell and Back: Originally published over 9 issues. Later collected into a graphic novel.

13. Booze, Broads, & Bullets: Collection of all the previously published one shots and short stories. Actually published after HAB, even though the numbering on the spines of todays novels has BB&B as #6, and HAB as #7. This is because while the HAB series was published before the BB&B book, the collected volume (the book) was published after.

The stories actually read better in their published order, rather than chronological order. This is because the stories often make references to the other stories which were published before them, and wouldn't make sense if you tried to read them in chronological order (For instance, That Yellow Bastard takes place long before A Dame to Kill For, but if you read TYB first, there's a cameo by Dwight where he references Ava which wouldn't make any sense if you hadn't already read ADTKF.) I personally would reccomend reading the ones that you've already seen in the film too, as there's lots of little things that were glossed over in the film which will enhance your experience when reading the novels (like the scene I just referenced), but if you don't want to, that's up to you.

The published order is:

1. The Hard Goodbye (re-title) AKA Sin City (original title)

2. A Dame to Kill For

3. The Big Fat Kill

4. That Yellow Bastard

5. Family Values

6. Booze, Broads, & Bullets

7. Hell and Back

Booze, Broads, & Bullets is actually a collection of short stories which were originally published throughout the run (between THG and HAB). All of them were printed before HAB though, and if read as as unit, it makes the most sense to read it sixth (If nothing else, you have to read the 3 Blue Eyes stories from BB&B before you read HAB).

At least some editions contain the main title Sin City in the name, for example Sin City: A Dame To Kill For or Sin City Book 2: A Dame To Kill For and so on. The earlier (or original) collected volumes have bigger page-size than the re-prints that came out at the time the movie was released.

The song in the trailer is an instrumental version of the song "Cells" by a UK band called The Servant. The track Nancy is dancing to is "Absurd" by Fluke.

The IMDb lists Robert Rodriquez and Frank Miller as principle directors. Quentin Tarantino is credited as a special guest director. Rodriquez and Miller shared the directing duties for the film, but each of them focused on certain parts of the movie. For example, Miller was mostly responsible for directing Devon Aeoki, as Miller loves her character Miho very much. Tarantino directed just one scene in the segment The Big Fat Kill: the one where we see Dwight imagining a conversation with the now-dead Jackie-Boy/Jack Rafferty, until the police stop him. He did it to return a favor for Robert Rodriguez, who scored Kill Bill vol. 2 for $1.00. Tarantino agreed to direct one scene for the same price. He also tested shooting in digital (HD), of which Rodriguez is a supporter, when Tarantino is (or at least has been) a promoter of shooting film.

The involvement of Tarantino is connected to Rodriguez resigning the Director's Guild of America (DGA). When the production of the film began, the DGA told Rodriguez that according to their rules, a film can't have more than one director. Rather than complying with their demands and not giving Miller a full director credit (which he thought that Miller would deserve, as he wanted Miller to be on the set directing to ensure that they stayed true to the original), Rodriguez resigned the Guild. At that point, he had no reason not to promote Quentin as a "Special Guest Director," which was a jab at the DGA as well as being great for marketing.

Quentin did not have a cameo role in the movie. Some viewers have suggested that the character Weevil, who is sitting next to Marv at Kadie's bar during the segment That Yellow Bastard, is Tarantino, but Weevil is played by Tommy Nix.

Rodriguez said that they had filmed the stories in their entirety to be faithful to the books, and that the scenes missing from the theatrical release would be re-inserted into the movie on the Special Extended & Re-Cut version of the movie.

While some scenes were indeed added, totaling just under 8 minutes of actual footage added, some scenes weren't there and are assumed to not ever have been filmed.

Several scenes had been altered slightly, with some characters replacing others and changes in dialogue.

Among the scenes totally missing were:

The Hard Goodbye: The dialogue between Marv and his mom is cut short.

The Hard Goodbye: There's a hilarious scene in which Marv, after he and Wendy have agreed to go after Goldie's killer, is unable to sleep at night with her in the same room and actually manages to confuse her with Goldie and gets slapped for it. This is a continuation of Marv losing all clarity of thought when Wendy lights him a cigarette in the car as he is again reminded of Goldie.

The Big Fat Kill: Dwight refers to The Battle Of The Hot Gates. In the book there's a picture of a Spartan warrior, and the situations are compared. Miller actually wrote the graphic novel 300 about the battle a few years later, which in turn was filmed by Zack Snyder in 2007.

That Yellow Bastard: Hartigan simply looking Nancy Callahan up in the phone book to know where she lives. Unlike the Roarks, he knew her real name. This caused some confusion, as some people wondered how was he able to find her.

That Yellow Bastard: When Hartigan is being "interrogated" by Liebowitzs, he hallucinates jumping from the chair, breaking his handcuffs and hitting Liebowitzs in the head, causing a mushroom cloud-explosion ("[I have] the power of God"). Miller admitted stealing the idea for the mushroom cloud-explosion punch from a Mad Magazine story called Supa-Dupa-Man. The scene ends with Hartigan realizing he's still in the chair and that it was just his mind playing tricks. It can be speculated that the scene was removed because of its similarity to the scene of Dwight imagining the dead Jack Rafferty talking to him in the car (the scene directed by Tarantino), but no official explanation has been given.

First of all, the main difference is that on the latter version the stories are to be viewed separately. Although it was advertised to be about 20 minutes longer, the truth is that there is about 7 minutes of actual added footage; the rest is because all the stories now have credits at the end, which makes up for another 13 minutes total.

For an accurate comparison between the two versions, see here: http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=2717&In=WikE

*not sure whether the the running times mentioned in the above URL are for NTSC or PAL.

Beyond the extended cut of the film, there are plenty of reasons to get the extended cut package.

According to the back of the package, included with the "Extended, Recut, Unrated" version are:

- Original theatrical release There are three alternate audio tracks that go with the theatrical version: Rodriguez & Miller commentary; Rodriguez and Tarantino Commentary (with Bruce Willis popping in at the end); audience reaction track, recorded at the premiere in Austin, TX.

- 15-Minute Flick School Every special edition of a Rodriguez movie has a film school feature that talks about some of the details of how the movie was made that would have been impossible to cover in a commentary.

- The Long Take 14 minutes of footage taken of Dwight and Jackie-Boy in the car as directed by Tarantino. Part of the point of this--some of which was used in the final version of the film--is to show how much flexibility is afforded by using digital technology. You can simply keep the camera rolling and have the actors work their way through the scene, including extra input from the director.

- Sin City Live Shot at a party for the filmmakers, cast, and crew. Features Rodriguez performing with his band.

- 10-Minute Cooking School Rodriguez loves to cook, and this is his second mini-doc on how to prepare food-in this case, the Sin City breakfast burrito. Fun to watch...but I haven't tried to make the food.

- High-Speed Green Screen Version All the raw footage from the film, condensed into about a 12-minute running time. A piece for the curious who want to know what the whole thing looked like when it was being shot.

- Sin-Chroni-City Interactive Game Really more of a database than a game--breaks the events of the story into their correct timeline and lets you see how characters, locations, etc. all connect to each other. *Not included in some R2 edtitions, if in any.

- Various mini-docs on the cars, costumes, makeup, props, and directors.

The opening where The Man kills the girl in the red dress is a standalone short story called The Customer is Always Right. It has nothing to do with any of the other stories, and is complete as you see it on screen. The idea is that Hartnett is a hitman, and the woman paid to have herself killed (hence the line "I'll never know what she was running from. I'll cash her check in the morning"). Miller explains this on the DVD commentary. Further, Miller expands that he told Marley Shelton, the actress who plays The Customer, that the point was the she got involved with a man who turned out to be a professional criminal. When she tried to break up with him, he promised her a horrible death. Rather then facing that, she hired The Man to kill her, but to do it as gently as possible. Hence the line "I didn't come here for the party. I came here for you," at which point The Customer realizes he's the hitman. Whether this was what Miller actually had in mind when he drew the story or something he came up when asked for an explanation is open to speculation. In any case, that explanation is not necessary for understanding of the scene. You see what you are meant to see, and you are meant to draw your own conclusions.

This scene was actually shot as a "test shoot" that Rodriguez organized so that he could prove to Miller that Sin City could be done "right." It was later shown to the other actors in order entice them into signing onto the project. It was shot months before the film went into full production.

As an opening to the film, it serves as an introduction to the passion and violence of Sin City, and it also serves to introduce Josh Hartnett's character as a hitman.

Additionally, Miller has confirmed that, in the comics, the assassin is in fact The Colonel (issue Sex & Violence, BLAM! section, page 29), who is featured in the "Blue-Eyes" -short stories and Sin City Book 7: Hell And Back. Whether the characters are one and the same in the movies remains to be seen, as some shorts that are to be filmed for the second movie feature The Colonel.

The closing--with The Man and Becky in the elevator--is not from any of the novels, but written specifically for the movie. It was inserted to bookend the film, so that it opens and closes with The Man. If you have seen the opening, you should know what he's there to do in the end.

In the novels, Becky did not escape the gunfight in the alley.

See the FAQ for Sin City 2 here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458481/faq#.2.1.9

Two key scenes are required to piece it together.

1. Marv is in the car with Wendy, and he tells her that he heard it has something to do with Cardinal Roark, but that sounds crazy. Wendy says "No it doesn't, Goldie worked the clergy." Goldie was a hooker, so what Wendy means is that Goldie often had sex with priests for money. Marv replies "Just like that, a whopper of a puzzle piece falls smack in my lap. I'm too dumb to put the whole picture together yet, but..."

2. The other scene is where Marv is about to torture Cardinal Roark. He was explaining how he and Kevin killed and ate whores, and then he says "And then your... Goldie almost ruined everything", if we put two and two together... Goldie was regularly around Clergymen. How could she have ruined everything for Kevin and the Cardinal? By seeing something that she shouldn't have seen, and learning exactly what they were up to. They couldn't risk her telling anyone, so she had to be next. The initial plan was to do her just like the others, but the Cardinal says to Marv "She stayed in public places", so they couldn't get to her. He continues "And then with you...You were so convenient. You'd broken man's jaw that very night. Who would believe a thug like you?"

So basically, Goldie was killed because she learned what Kevin and the Cardinal were doing. She was not eaten like the others, so that they could frame Marv. Marv was framed because he was there, and was convenient to setup as the fall guy for the entire string of killings.

Basically, Dwight is exactly what he says he is, a murderer with a new face. The story of "Dwight's new face" is told in the graphic novel A Dame To Kill For, which is the second novel in the series. The Big Fat Kill, the Dwight story in the film, is the third novel in the series, and takes place after ADTKF. ADTKF is scheduled to be adapted for Sin City 2, if and when they ever get around to making it.

What follows explains Dwight's new face in detail, and is a spoiler for Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For starts off with Dwight looking completely different than he does in The Big Fat Kill. He is bald, and has a much rougher look. To try and make a long story short, basically, an old flame of Dwight's named Ava (said Dame to kill for) comes back into his life. She has a new husband, who she claims is sadistically torturing her. Basically, Ava manipulates Dwight into killing Damien Lord (her husband). Then Ava reveals that it was all part of her plan to eliminate her husband, pin it all on Dwight, and inherit Damien's estate. She then shoots Dwight several times and he falls out of a window. With the aid of Marv, Dwight escapes, but just barely. Marv takes him to old town for treatment. They patch up his wounds, and also perform plastic surgery, to give him a completely different look (the look we see in The Big Fat Kill). After Dwight has recovered, he comes back into town with his new face, the purpose of which is 1. To keep him out of jail for the murder of Damien Lord, and 2. To get close to Ava without being detected in order to have his revenge. So that's why Dwight is a "murderer with a new face who is a fingerprint check away from the gas chamber," as he says in the film. There's more details I'm leaving out, but I wanted to try and keep this short. You can read a more detailed summary here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sin_City_yarns#A_Dame_To_Kill_For

No. In the books, Miho [Devon Aoki] is referred to as an assassin, (for example, in The Big Fat Kill: "...with a whore and her assassin pal,") but never as a prostitute. According to some sources, Miho means "beautiful guardian." She is a friend and a protector of the Old Town Girls, but not their colleague.

There are two swastikas in the film.

One is a shuriken held by Miho. Miho is Asian, and thus not likely to be a member of the Aryan Nation (since she is decidedly not Aryan). The swastika (or manji) has a long history in Asian culture as a symbol of peace and good luck (long before it was co-opted by the Nazis), and there have indeed been actual shuriken designed in its image. It is far more likely that Miho's shuriken was representative of her culture than that of the Nazi party. For more on the swastika and its origins, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

The second swastika was tattooed on the forehead of Stuka, a bald gang member. He can be assumed to be a Nazi, or at least someone who pretends to be one to look tough (since he seems to have no issues with taking orders from Manute, a black man). Also his name, Stuka, is taken from the name of a German dive bomber used by the Luftwaffe in the Second World War. While this swastika does imply Nazism, there is no glorification of said party in the film. Stuka is cleary a bad guy, and he meets his end with an arrow through the skull--which actually goes directly through the swastika. This arrow is courtesy of Miho, not so coincidentally. If one is into symbolism, the act could even be seen as a form of taking back the symbol from those who have perverted its meaning.

It is all explained in more detail in the comics, but it basically comes down to two facts:

1. It was a parole, not a release.

2. Basin City has an extremely corrupt judicial system.

Everything from the finger in the envelope until the moment Hartigan walks into Kadies was orchestrated by Senator Roark and Junior so that Hartigan would lead them to "Cordelia." They had no idea that "Cordelia" was actually Nancy, but they wanted Hartigan to think that they did know who she was, and that they already had her, so that Hartigan could lead them to her. It was obvious to them that prison wasn't breaking him, and these letters from "Cordelia" were giving him the strength to carry on. To really break Hartigan, they had to get to "Cordelia," but didn't know who she was or how to find her. Hartigan, on the other hand, had no trouble just looking up Nancy Callahan in a phonebook; this is what he did in the original comic, but the scene is missing from both versions of the film.

So here's how it goes: Junior leaves the finger in the envelope in Hartigan's cell for him to find. Hartigan, already concerned that he has not gotten a letter in some time (not because Nancy actually stopped writing, but because they intentionally stopped delivering them in order to shake Hartigan), naturally jumps to the conclusion that it is Nancy's finger, and that the Roarks have her.

Hartigan had never confessed to the crime, but he had never said that he didn't do it either. Senator Roark had threatened his family if he ever tried to clear his name, so he didn't deny any of the charges, but he didn't admit to them either, which is what Roark always wanted: to really break and humiliate Hartigan. Hartigan didn't know for certain if finally giving Roark the confession he wanted would really get him out, but he was desperate to get out to try and help Nancy, and as he says "I only have one thing left to give them... hope it will be enough."

Hartigan calls Lucille and tells her he is ready to talk. Lucille is ecstatic about this, as she has been trying to help Hartigan for a long time, but Hartigan would not cooperate. Lucille calls the parole board. They immediately begin to offer a deal that if Hartigan finally confesses to the crime and expresses remorse, he will be paroled (because this is what Roark wants, and he runs things in Basin City). Lucille tells Hartigan this, and says they were desperate to deal, but they're not going to take it, she's going to get him exonerated. Hartigan says no, he's going to tell them exactly what they want to hear (because his wife is still in danger if he tries to clear his name). Lucille isn't happy, but she goes along with it. This scene is actually in the extended edition at the film.

At the parole hearing which follows (which is not in either edition of the film), Senator Roark actually appears at Hartigan's parole hearing, and gives a long speech to the board about how if Hartigan can confess to his crimes and is genuinely remorseful, he is willing to be the bigger man and recommend his parole. In reality, he just wanted to see Hartigan broken and confessing to crimes he did not commit in person. After that, Hartigan confesses and is paroled. It's important to note that in real life, parole is not uncommon when it is believed that someone confesses genuine remorse about their crimes and appears to be reformed (they're certainly never going to parole you if you insist you never did it), but in this case, Senator Roark did more than just a little greasing of the wheels of justice.

Junior didn't know who Cordelia was, and explains as much in the movie. Nancy never told anything in the letters that could give her away.

Hartigan, on the other hand, just looked up "Nancy Callahan" in the phonebook. That part of the book is missing from the movie.

It's not explained in the books, nor has Miller commented on the subject. Junior merely says "as you can see, there were...side-effects," in reference to the surgery done to him in order to regrow his genetalia, which Hartigan had shot off. Also, it's straight from the comic, but no one actually says he's literally yellow. Whether it's a metaphor, or Junior's skin is the same colour as Bart Simpson's, is open to interpretation by the viewer. Miller has stated that he intended the Yellow Bastard to be a throwback to the way the early Batman stories depicted the Joker and other villains, who were often simultaneously ridiculous-looking and terrifying.

Although, do remember that Hartigan refers to him as 'that yellow bastard'...

Frank Miller: http://www.imdb.com/gallery/granitz/3146/Events/3146/FrankMille_Pimen_5040655_400.jpg.html?path=pgallery&path_key=Miller,%20Frank%20(II)

The Bastard (comic): http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/profile.php?sku=94-821

Miller considers himself somewhat funny-looking and uses his own features on some of the characters.

This is the syringe he injects Nancy with. It's not explained in the movie nor in the book. Popular guess seems to be some type of sedative used to drug Nancy for the trip to The Farm. As to why the liquid is yellow, it's in the book, but only Miller knows (or Ms. Varley, who colored the book & covers).

Nancy isn't actually a stripper, not literally, as she doesn't strip. She dances topless or almost completely nude, though. Jessica Alba, on the other hand, has a no-nudity clause in her contract. She signed on for the role, apparently without realizing she would have to be topless/nude. Whether this is true or not, a fact is that at some point when the issue came up, Miller and Rodriguez agreed with her decision not to do nude scenes and she kept/got the role.

This caused some pretty heated discussion on IMDb, mainly for three reasons:

1. Some people argued that Nancy should have been nude and if Alba refused, another actress should have been cast. They felt that character was changed too much and that turning her into an "exotic dancer" was a bad decision.

2. According to some, Nancy not being nude totally changed the dynamics of a scene, which had a big impact on the story. The scene in question is the one where Hartigan walks into Kadie's after being released from prison. Nancy Callahan has been the only thing that has kept him going for the last eight years (as he says himself), and he considers her his daughter. Truth is, he really doesn't know much about her. He doesn't think Nancy Callahan would have anything to do with a bar like Kadie's. Yet as he walks in he sees:

- Nancy, his "daughter" and reason to live, almost completely nude and being drooled on by a bunch of alcoholics and dregs, performing a dance act (book).

- Nancy, his "daughter" and reason to live, clothed so that she's showing some skin but is pretty decent, being watched by a bunch of a alcoholics and dregs, performing a dance act (movie).

Some people argued that there's a huge difference in what kind of impact it would have on Hartigan and that the book-version was much stronger.

3. As user DesiredFX wrote: "Nancy's performances in the comics effectively "stop time." Miller indulges himself with several full-page spreads of her act because the intent is that all eyes are supposed to be on her, and everyone watching drops everything else while she performs." It has been argued whether Alba's performance managed to live up to that or not. Many feel that she should have done a whole lot better, nude or not. Then again, Alba's performance was voted as the "sexiest of the year" on MTV.

Kevin is sitting there because he lives there. It is the Roark family farm, and as an associate of Cardinal Roark, Kevin is allowed to live (and conduct his "business") there.

He is shown on the porch in this scene because it is a scene lifted directly from the That Yellow Bastard graphic novel. The reason Miller chose to draw him on the porch in the novels is because it was just a little one panel cameo. He stuck it in there as sort of an in-joke for long time Sin City fans, as a reference to the original Sin City graphic novel (later known as The Hard Goodbye). Kevin had not appeared in the Sin City Novels since that first volume (TYB is the 4th novel), and it was just a cool little cameo to show long time readers that this was the same farm, and that it takes place long before Marv's rampage. Miller commonly sprinkles lots of references to his other stories in the Sin City novels, and this is just one of them. In the novel of TYB, you will also find a brief appearance by Dwight, in a reference to the story A Dame to Kill For (the 2nd Sin City Novel, which does not appear in this film). It was likely cut from the film because Dwight looks different in the scene, and it would not make sense to movie viewers unfamiliar with the novels.

As for why he does not help Junior, there is no reason to assume that Kevin has any association with Junior, other than the fact that Kevin lives at the farm, and Junior (as a Roark family member) also uses the farm for his own sadistic purposes. Kevin only kills prostitutes, or people who directly interfere with him and his plans. Hartigan is neither of these.

It is possible (even probable) that Kevin actually dislikes Junior. Kevin pretty much had to tolerate Junior, because it was the Roarks' farm, but he didn't have to like him. Despite his perverse interpretations, Kevin is deeply religious. He belives that by eating the "souls" of these women, he brings himself closer to God. This likely doesn't extend to condoning the actions of Junior, who (even in Kevin's eyes) is an abomination.

It is even implied that in the novels that the brothers Cardinal Roark (Kevin's benefactor) and Senator Roark (Junior's father) do not actually get along all that well. So even through his association with Cardinal Roark, Kevin is likely under no obligation to protect Junior.

Sin City can be argued as a reference to the original Film Noir genre of the 40's, where the black and white film was used in combination of extreme degrees of contrast, showing an overall light-shadow relationship. In Film Noir, that photography technique was meant to show absolute values, such as good versus evil or truth against lies. The look of the films is meant to mirror the look of the comics. Note how often in the original comic book as well the film adaptation, a character is depicted as an absolute shadow, then again almost as a light source. The comics were straight up black and white (no shades of gray) with some spot coloring to highlight certain objects, concept never used in original Film Noir features.

In the comics, there was never any red blood. Blood was either black or white. It was white when it appeared on a black surface (like clothing), and black when it appeared on a white surface (like a face). This was simply for contrast, so that you could see it. The film attempted to mirror this look. However, when they tried to do black blood, they felt that it came out looking a little too much like mud. So in instances where the blood should have been black, it was turned red. Thus, in the film, blood is red when it appears on a light surface (like a face) and white when it appears on a dark surface (like clothing).

However, there are two or three instances in the film where the blood does remain black (for instance, when Shellie is bleeding from the nose). It's not clear if the filmmakers just thought that the black blood looked fine in those instances, if they were just overlooked, or if there was some other reason that prevented them from using red blood.

In other parts of the movie, color was sometimes used to:

- highlight an object, for example the "Basin City" sign changes between the stories to hint that some time has passed in between. Also, color was used to differentiate between Goldie and her twin sister, Wendy (Goldie had golden hair, whilst Wendy's hair stayed within the black-and-white spectrum).

- because the black-and-white version of the object didn't look good, for example the light blue of Jack Rafferty's car was left in color because it turned a really dull shade of grey in B&W,

Kadie's bar is in colour because it was an actual set as opposed to the green screen studio and hence could not be lit with the same amount of freedom, resulting in a different look in the film, color or not, so it made more sense to leave it in (washed-up) color.

But there is absolutely no symbolism to the specific colour used.

Of the comics that were adapted to the screen for this film, the only item that originally appeared in color in the comics is the Yellow Bastard, who was indeed colored Yellow (for obvious reasons) in the comics. The meaning of this single special case has never been adressed by Frank Miller.