I was expecting more from this film. I wanted more sex and violence. There was plenty of the latter and some of the former. It could have been better. I really liked the first one. There it was German expressionism mixed with film noir, a style that I found unique. It also took the graphic novel and made into a very innovative work of film. This film used a similar style, but it just didn't hit me like the first one. The stories were good at some point, but it become all too linear, all too easy to guess at what was going to happen next. I would have liked it is it were a little more difficult in terms of plot and character, then with the graphics, sex and violence.
I liked the Mickey Rourke character, but he became a little overplayed. He was always the savior. He was the hero of the film, helping out the lost cause, coming to rescue. I thought he would come to the rescue at the end of the film, but it was the ghost of Bruce Willis who came to the rescue. The strippers with the hearts of gold were also a nice touch. They brought out more of the sex appeal of the film and added a new element to the story. Jessica Alba was good, yet I found seeing her on the same stage, doing essentially the same dance, as redundent and forgettable.
The graphic work was very good. It evoked the German-expressionism and film noir of those movies from the golden age. I could say it was overdone, yet I really like that style of art and film, so I like how Rodriguez pushed that art form into a new more expressive form. His use of the femme fatalle in shadow and light with her in the small pool or in the bed were like artworks in themselves.
Unfortunately I thought the film devolved from a neo-noir movie into an 80's action film reboot. I was hoping for more to the story. Not bad. Not great.
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