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Sin City (2005)
In director Robert Rodriguez' violent (cannibalism,
dismemberment, mutilation, castration and more!), bloody and stylistic
noirish monochromatic (with splashes of color) representation of
Frank Miller's graphic novels:
- the overlapping, cross-cut hard-boiled stories set
in dark and rain-slick Basin City
- in the film's opening, a doomed, suicidal red dress-wearing
dame known as Customer (Marley Shelton) stood on a terrace high
above the cold, teeming city - to be kissed and then killed by
The Man/Salesman (Josh Hartnett), whom she had supposedly hired as
a hit man
- in the first tale (told in two parts), disgraced,
heart-failing ex-cop John Hartigan (Bruce Willis) saved young 11
year-old Nancy Callahan (Makenzie Vega as youth, Jessica Alba as
adult) from depraved serial-killing pedophile Roark Jr. (Nick Stahl).
Junior was one of Basin City's protected criminals - the son of Senator
Roark (Powers Boothe). In the second part of the story, after a deadly
shoot-out between Hartigan and Roark, Jr., Hartigan was framed for
Junior's crimes and jailed for 8 years. After his parole release,
Hartigan relocated Nancy, now 19 years old, performing as an exotic
stripper in Kadie's Bar. He realized that it was a trap - he had
been released to lead the forces of evil to Nancy. He was then pursued
by the deformed, smelly and disfigured Roark, Jr., now known as Yellow
Bastard. Again, Hartigan protected Nancy from the Yellow Bastard
and brutally killed him, but then suicidally took his own life to
ensure Nancy's future safety
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Hartigan (Bruce Willis)
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Nancy (Jessica Alba)
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Yellow Bastard (Nick Stahl)
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- in
another storyline, tough ex-con, thuggish,
Frankenstein-like street fighter Marv (Mickey Rourke) sought
revenge against psycho-serial killer Kevin (Elijah Wood) for the
Roark-instigated murder of his blonde hooker-lover Goldie (Jaime
King). After he was set up and framed for the crime, Marv met with
Lucille (Carla Gugino), his lesbian parole officer, and told her
he was in pursuit of the one responsible for Goldie's death. He
went after silent, creepy, cannibalistic serial killer Kevin (Elijah
Wood) - who had decapitated many other Basin City prostitutes. Marv
tortured and dismembered Kevin, and then propped him up against a
tree, after his arms and legs were sawed off and tied off with rubber
tubing tourniquets. Kevin was then devoured by a meat-eating wolf
(Kevin's own pet wolf). Afterwards, the exasperated Marv cut Kevin's
head off with a saw - and stood there with the decapitated head in
his left hand. Marv also killed Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark (Rutger
Hauer), the Senator's brother and the one responsible for Goldie's
murder. In the bleak ending, Marv accepted his death sentence
by execution in the electric
chair for the murders of Kevin and Cardinal Roark (and for all
their crimes as well). Before his death, Goldie's twin sister Wendy
(also Jaime King) thanked Marv for avenging Goldie's death
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Marv (Mickey Rourke)
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Kevin (Elijah Wood)
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Wendy (Jaime King)
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- also, a third tale was about Sin City photographer
Dwight McCarthy (Clive Owen) who angered abusive Jackie Boy (Benicio
Del Toro) - because he had begun dating Jackie Boy's girlfriend Shellie
(Brittany Murphy). The prostitutes in Old Town were led by Dwight's
sometime-lover Gail (Rosario Dawson), where Dwight followed and watched
as Jackie Boy began threatening one of the prostitutes named Becky
(Alexis Bledel). One of Old Town's prostitute defenders and protectors,
silent female martial arts expert Miho (Devon
Aoki), battled Jackie Boy who ended up dead. Dwight discovered that
Jackie Boy was actually Det. Lt. "Iron Jack" Rafferty,
a Basin City police officer. If it was learned that the cop had been
killed in Old Town, war would be waged on the prostitutes by the
mob and Irish mercenaries. Meanwhile, the traitorous Becky had sold
out Old Town by betraying the prostitutes to the mob after the killing
of Jackie Boy, for money and to ensure her mother's safety from the
mob. Gail was kidnapped by mob enforcer Manute (Michael Clarke Duncan)
and held for ransom before an all-out assault. Dwight was able to
intervene and free Gail and kill Manute, while the other prostitutes
gunned down the remaining mob-mercenaries, as the injured Becky fled
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Shellie
(Brittany Murphy)
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Dwight McCarthy
(Clive Owen)
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Old Town Prostitute Leader Gail
(Rosario Dawson)
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- in the short finale, Becky was confronted
by the hit-man Salesman in an elevator - she was about to be assassinated
for betraying the prostitutes
- each of the three main characters died
for unselfish reasons: (1) Hartigan to protect Nancy, (2) Marv to
avenge Goldie's murder, and to protect Wendy and other prostitutes,
and (3) Becky to protect her mother from the mob
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The Opening
19 Year-Old Exotic Stripper Nancy (Jessica Alba) with
Hartigan (Bruce Willis
Nancy Threatened by the Yellow Bastard

Hartigan's Self-Sacrificial Suicide
The Death of Hooker Goldie (Jaime King)
Marv (Mickey Rourke) Confronting Serial-Killer Kevin (Elijah
Wood)
Kevin Dismembered
Marv Holding Kevin's Decapitated Head
Death of Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro) From Backfiring Gun
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