On the mean streets of a black-and-white city, roughneck good guys shoot first and crack wise later, women are large of bust and barely clad, and "hard-boiled" describes a world view rather than how one likes one's eggs. Sin City faithfully conveys the tough-guy vision of the popular graphic novel series by Frank Miller, who codirected the film with Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids). (Quentin Tarantino directed one scene, a funny bit in which a dead man yammers.) Sin is visually wham! bam!, achieving a distinctive comic-book look, but it's more of an homage to Miller's work than a full-fledged movie. (R)
COMEDY
