Ron Pemberton

Combine director Ron Howard with actors Tom Hanks, Ian Mckellan, Jean Reno and the ever charming Audrey Tautou; then throw in renowned author Dan Brown; and you get one very, very good film.

Book adaption is usually a hit or miss proposition. But in this case, it was the professionals involved who created a film that is worthy of the same popularity as the book. See this at the theaters for it is definitely worth the trip.

Now Peter Travers, the Rolling Stone magazine critic absolutely hated the film. But I feel that he placed the film adaptation completely out of context. A book that is well written induces the readers imagination and perception of timing to kick in and helps the reader experience the story through their own personal interpretation. Where a film takes the interpretations of the director and actors and imposes it upon the viewer. So the question is which camp are you in; those that agree with it or those who don't. And of course, as with anything to do with religion or politics; you are always going to have each group crying out.

The film; like the book; brings many bits and pieces togehter that people in society have been thinking for generations about the Catholic Church. It makes sense of things that we have all wondered long before a book was presented. And though it is a fictional dramatization of historical hickkups - those little things in history that make you go Hmmmm - it is enough to begin the debates; and to inspire people to rethink what they have always been told ; and perhaps find new faith that will be based more on historical fact. not the bullshit of kings and their co-conspirators within the Church that love power.

We are no longer the ignorant masses. They can no longer hide the truth. We can believe in God and Jesus Christ without paying the marketing corporation in Rome. Its time to shut down the Eron of religion.

Go see this film and read the book. Read many many books. Think deeply and often. Find god and Christ in your own way. And be a good person. Look for the answers within yourself.

Credit goes first to Robert Rodriguez, a tirelessly innovative director who thrives on doing things that the rules say he can't. When the Directors' Guild said he couldn't co-direct Sin City with Miller, he quit the guild, then rubbed salt in the wound by bringing in his pal Quentin Tarantino to direct one scene in a car featuring a talking corpse with a gun wedged in his forehead. Better yet, the creator of the child-friendly Spy Kids trilogy has now made an R-rated movie that no sane person should let a child near.

Sin City, shot by Rodriguez in black-and-white with the occasional splash of color from, say, a whore's lip gloss or a yellow-skinned rapist, mixes hard-boiled pulp fiction, 1940s film noir and the dazzling monochrome of Miller's graphic design to explore the dark night of the soul.

It moves quickly to the first and most exciting story, "The Hard Goodbye." Mickey Rourke gives a sensational comeback performance as Marv, an ex-con with a Frankenstein jaw line who wakes up next to a dead hooker (Jaime King) and vows revenge. All three of the overlapping stories involve voice-overs, but Rourke puts real heat into his as Marv searches for "a soul to send screaming into hell."

Bruce Willis nails the role of Hartigan, a cop with a bad ticker who saves an eleven-year-old girl from a pedophile rapist (Nick Stahl) by doing jail time for the creep (the son of a powerful senator). When Hartigan gets out, the girl has grown into a hottie (Jessica Alba) who's hot for him. One catch: The rapist has turned into a foul-smelling, canary-yellow demon, which makes Hartigan ball-ripping mad — literally. "I take his weapons from him — both of them," says Hartigan as testicles are flung at the screen and we wonder if the film escaped an NC-17 rating because the bastard's blood looks like cartoon custard.

I would show more images, but, you must really see this film and guess who is who in character.

A bold, uncompromised vision.

Both the DVD and the book about the making of the film are must-haves for the collector. And of course, the reprints of Frank millers novels would make this collectors triology complete.

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