Creator and co-director Frank Miller’s Sin City is definitely a take it or leave it film for a couple of reasons. Not everyone enjoys the dark and gritty crime drama, you know, the one with brains flying, various explosions happening, plots of revenge being made and then carried out in a hail of bullets. If however, you are the kind of person that does seek out any of the above, then Sin City is for you. In fact, the only thing that might keep Sin City from attaining instant cult classic status is its self-conscious approach to being a hyper-stylized cult classic. The original stories were released through a series of graphic novels (adults are so fascinated with separating themselves from childhood), and the film desperately tries to duplicate the comic’s hard-edged form.

I read comics as a kid (a tradition that many carry on silently) and I remember seeing Sin City in the lower “mature” section, where I’d pick them up and be reprimanded by the store manager for even touching them. Curious, I asked about them and was told something about it “not being kids stuff” and lost interest soon after. It might have been the black and white style that really through me off. Years later, I find out that was exactly the point. Who would want a kid reading about the worst a police log had to offer in Anytown, U.S.A.? Luckily, I was only 13 and there were a lot of fans that weren’t and did read it.

Opening at No. 1, with a respectable $28.1 million return, demands investors’ attention and the movie demands your eyes. The film’s directors managed to paste comic book style art within a real life setting; this made the movie a truly amazing visual accomplishment. This was not your typical bad guy nock ’em sock ’em by any means-Stan Lee would be very proud.

Sin City is Criminal Justice’s nightmare come alive. The ends are always justified by the means and justice is delivered not by the courts but by way of the street. Call it West Side Story on steroids, only without the dancing. The elements of all crime stories are magnified 100 times over. The cast includes Hollywood stars capable of believable evil, such as Benicio Del Toro (21 Grams, The Usual Suspects) playing a psycho womanizer named Jackie Boy. But Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings, The Good Son) plays a kid that eats prostitutes for their souls. This whole scenario just seemed more eerie then evil.

But the side of good has its fair share of Hollywood heavy-hitters also. None other then time-tested and mother approved Bruce Wills eventually comes in to save the day. Playing Hartigan, a soon to be retired cop who’s one step away from a life-ending heart attack that the audience knows could come on at any time. He is caught up in a nasty entanglement, having been framed for the rape of a girl he in fact saved and was subsequently sentenced to eight-year stint in prison. Mickey Rourke (9 1/2 Weeks, Spun) is Marv, a not-so-happy parolee out to avenge the one lady he loved. Clive Owen (Closer, Bourne Identity) makes for some “dead-pan one liners” that fall in line with the movie’s character. Newcomer Devon Aoki (2 Fast 2 Furious) plays a deadly assassin that travels with a band of machine gun-totting prostitutes.

All these different characters scream of conflict and drama which is why the graphic novels took off. Making this movie into a “faithful” adaptation required the best in the business. Whom better to help work out aspects of the dark and violent variety then Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk Till Dawn, Desperado) and “special guest director” Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, reportedly was paid $1 to direct a single sequence in the film); these guys are pros.

Not having any real ties to the nostalgia of the original series, I still would recommend it. I’d give it a B.