300 VS Sin City

                                                                 TALE OF THE TAPE

               Title: 300                                                                     Title: Sin City

               Tomato Meter: 60%                                                    Tomato Meter: 78%

                IMDB Rating: 7.8                                                        IMDB Rating: 8.3

               Starring: Gerard Butler, Dominic West                      Starring: Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke

               Director: Zack Snyder                                                 Director: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez

               Box Office: $210 million                                              Box Office: $74.1 million

               Academy: n/a                                                              Academy: n/a

               Year: 2006                                                                   Year: 2005

Frank Miller's popular graphic novels turned films take each other on in a gritty, no-holds-barred competition in this installment of the Showdown.

Sin City as a stylized film based off of Frank Millers graphic novel. It is an anthology, covering three distinct stories loosely tied together. It's told in a narrative form, with a distinct crime noir style. Mickey Rourke's career returns from the dead as he gives a tour de force performance as Marve, the lead character of the second chapter. Bruce Willis plays Hartigan, an aging detective trying to protect a little girl from a child molester/murderer. Clive Owen plays a boyfriend out to punish his girlfriends abusive x-boyfriend in the third story in this anthology. Each story has its own director, Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino, and each craft their stories to perfection. Sin City also boasts a huge cast of stars including Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Britney Murphy, Powers Booth, Binicio Del Toro, Rosario Dawson, Michael Clark Duncan, Rutger Hauer, and Elijah Woods. With crystal clear photography and shot in black & white, the film truly leaps from the pages of the novel that inspired it. In fact, to read the graphic novel, it would seem that you're witnessing the movies storyboard, and that isn't far off. The film was shot with the graphic novel as an inspiration. So much so that each shot filmed in the movie follows the book panel by panel, page by page, establishing each shot as presented in the book. 

300 is another film inspired by the works of Frank Miller. Erroneously criticized as not being "entirely historically accurate", the film never intended to tell the historical story, but rather tell the graphic novel which told a romanticized account of the historical event. Far less star power than Sin City, 300's strength lies in the films narrative. A noble King, Leonidas (Gerard Butler) is restricted by a corrupt bureaucracy, and takes 300 Spartan warriors to confront a Persian army numbered over a million. By the end of the film, women leave the theater short of breath from the ample amount of beef on screen. Men leave the theater filled with high levels of testosterone. I personally left this film naked, wearing only a coat made of bacon. Despite its Macho Madness, it isn't without direction. These are men possessed of duty, courage, and a sense of morality. They will not submit to the Persian army. Better to die on their feet than live on their knees. This pitches a cause for an integrity sorely missed in today's politically correct culture where we try and embrace our enemies. If this film was released September 12th, 2011, I personally believe the entire middle east would be a nuclear wasteland today. It is really that inspiring. Like Sin City, this film adapts the graphic novel in such a way that principle photography is shot as though the novel were the storyboard. The armies of the Persians, man and beast, are given an exaggerated look, reflecting how these stories were told in oral tradition, rather than accuracy. Elephants were mammoth, and the Persians at times more beastly.

Both films clearly illustrate the diversity of the "Comic Book" genre. Not all are about superheroes, or are they kid friendly. Both films feature breathtaking scenery, which is in stark contrast to the high levels of violence. The fact that they were overlooked by the Academy is the true tragedy, but they did ground the genre, allowing future films to be taken more seriously. Sin City's wealth of stars and top notch directors clearly outclass 300 as a unique and stylized noir. 300's unrelenting theme is inspirational throughout the whole fight. It doesn't go down till the last man falls, where Sin City has the option to "tag out", deferring to the next chapter in its anthology. By round 14, 300 is on wobbly legs as the ref counts to 10 on Sin City. The long sustained narrative beats the three well told, but short stories.

Winner: 300