So often comic book adaptations end up missing the point and being disowned by their original creator, however, this is the exception to the rule, a super stylish romp through the lawless Sin City, created by the legendary Frank Miller and directed by Robert Rodriguez who really does bring the comic book to life in a way that few comics (Mostly any of Alan Moore's, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen springs to mind!) have ever been on the big screen.

The film is shot in highly defined black and white to give it the film noir styling of the story, but there are occasional glimpses of colour in an outfit or blood which just add real panache to the piece.

The film is a series of misadventures of the residents of Sin City which come together or not to create a few days in the life of the city, we have Marv (An outing by Mickey Rourke which rejuvenated his career), a huge burly thug with a soft heart who falls in love and is framed for the murder of his lover, he goes on a mission to find and kill the twisted murderer of his girl. Hartigan(Bruce Willis) a cop who is close to retirement who once saved a little girl from being murdered and has to protect her again in adult form when she falls in love with him and her murderer seeks her out again, and Dwight (Clive Owen) a detective who starts a turf war by killing some corrupt cops who are after his girl.

This film has a real substance to back up the style, the acting is excellent and nuanced and the visuals really do stand out brilliantly, they look like a comic book and the characters act like comic book characters for once.

The film is hard, uncompromising and violent, the women are either broads in distress or violent hookers, which is a tad mysoginistic but fits with themes of Frank Millers work, which is like this and clearly has no basis in reality. The men all wear long flowing coats while the women wear very little and when they do its figure hugging to the extreme, but in Millers defence, the women especially Rosario Dawson and her gang of hookers are strong willed, passionate and an equal of any of the bad guys in the city.

Actors play against type with Elijah Wood especially good as a crazed serial killer, Jessica Alba and Brittany Murphy are excellent as the love interests of Hartigan and Dwight respectively and Josh Hartnett, Benecio del Toro and Michael Madsen all turn up too at varying points.

The film has elements of Tarantino in the way characters pass and the build up of the story, but stylistically the violence is pure Rodriguez, comic book and unrealistic, which totally de-glamorises it.

I found Rourke's turn very convincing as was Bruce Willis as the ageing good guy in a city of bad people. Clive Owen was less convincing but then I find that in most of his films.

The action is well paced, the story flits around to a fitting finale, the music is cool and it is a well thought out and ground breaking piece of cinema from the first decade of the 2000's.

If you like 50's detective noir, where the guys are heroically brave but not above hurting people seriously and the ladies look amazing and have real guts, then this is a film for you.

It is stylistically and thematically excellent and well deserves to be in the higher echelons of comic book adaptations.

The DVD is available for £3.98 on Amazon.com.