[Dr Kain]

Nine years ago the first movie came out, and it was not only accurate to the comics, but it was very stylish in its execution. Nevertheless, at the same time, it had a sense of realism about it as the actors looked like they were there in their environments. All four stories were nothing short of fantastic and all of the main players were given great development. A Dame to Kill For has some really great moments of style with it, but it does lack the substance. That does not make it a bad movie at all, but something is missing. For one thing, it looks like the characters are just standing in front of a green screen rather than the environment being there. Not only that, but the movie feels like it is just CGI instead of live action. Thankfully, there is still some great characterization to be found, even if it is lacking compared to the first one. Marv is great, Nancy is fantastic, Ava is awesome, Miho is bad ass, and Johnny rocks. The show is easily stolen by Roark though as Powers Boothe is just down right amazing. In fact, if it weren't for him, the movie would have fallen apart as the rest of the cast is pretty forgettable, especially, and sadly, Dwight. Josh Brolin is just no Dwight. The stories themselves are weaker than those in the first one, with "A Dame to Kill For" being the weakest of the main three, but "Just Another Saturday Night" is a poor intro compared to "The Customer is Always Right" from the first movie. Thankfully, both "Nancy's Last Dance" and "The Long Bad Night" are well done. Overall, Sin City 2 is a good ride, but fails to live up to the first one as most sequels do. Taking nine years did not help either. If you hated the first movie though, there is no reason to waste your time with this one as you will find nothing to praise and will probably complain about the subpar acting. I give this stylish adaptation of a comic a 6/10 stars. If they decide to adapt more stories, they need to do it in the next few years or just forget about it all together.

EDIT: So the more I think about this movie, the more I start to think about its flaws. The endings to the Nancy and Johnny stories just end so damn abruptly to the point that both stories feel incomplete. Not just that, but Nancy looks perfectly normal in "The Hard Goodbye" but she is completely different here, and obviously THG has to take place after this one. That completely jacks up continuity between the stories to the point that maybe "A Dame to Kill For" was the best story in the movie as it felt the most complete despite my issues with it.

Hopefully, the BD release will separate the stories like they did with the first one as the flow in this one just feels off as opposed to it feeling natural in the first one.