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Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
A relentless neo-noir fever dream saturated with toxic passion and vengeful wrath, where monochromatic shadows bleed into violent splashes of emerald and crimson against a rain-drenched urban abyss.
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

"Walk down the right back alley in Sin City and you can find anything..."

20 August 2014 United States of America 102 min 6.4 (4,236)

Director: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez

Cast: Jessica Alba, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Crime Action Thriller The Lethal Illusion of Desire & Femme Fatale Deception The Self-Destructive Cost of Vengeance and Grief Hubris, Power, and the Futility of Rebellion The Primal Monster Within and Hard-Boiled Code
Budget: $65,000,000
Box Office: $39,407,616

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For — Characters & Cast

Character Analysis

Dwight McCarthy

Josh Brolin

Archetype: Tragic Antihero / Hard-boiled Detective Key Trait: Prone to falling under the hypnotic spell of dangerous women despite knowing better.

Motivation

Escaping his violent instincts, then seeking vengeance against Ava Lord for turning him into an unwitting murderer.

Character Arc

Evolves from a disciplined recovering alcoholic trying to stay clean into a severely scarred, ruthlessly pragmatic instrument of retribution who undergoes facial reconstruction to shed his former identity.

Ava Lord

Eva Green

Archetype: Archetypal Femme Fatale Key Trait: Flawless chameleon-like emotional manipulation.

Motivation

Accumulating wealth, social dominance, and sadistic control over men.

Character Arc

Remains pure, unrepentant sociopathy throughout; she shifts masks effortlessly from helpless victim to seductive siren and cold-blooded mastermind until her manipulations finally fail against Dwight's cold detachment.

Johnny

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Archetype: Cocky Rebel / Doomed Gambler Key Trait: Unshakable, borderline suicidal audacity.

Motivation

Humiliating his estranged father, Senator Roark, in front of the city's ruling elite.

Character Arc

Starts out arrogant and seemingly invincible with endless good luck, endures brutal mutilation, and ultimately chooses a defiant death just to prove his genetic superiority over his father.

Nancy Callahan

Jessica Alba

Archetype: Vengeful Maiden / Fallen Hero Key Trait: Self-destructive grief fueled by obsessive loyalty.

Motivation

Avenging the death of John Hartigan by destroying Senator Roark.

Character Arc

Spirals from an innocent, grieving dancer into a scarred, gun-toting vigilante willing to destroy her own soul to bring down the city's tyrant.

Marv

Mickey Rourke

Archetype: Brutal Enforcer / Guardian Juggernaut Key Trait: High pain tolerance combined with an uncomplicated, violent moral code.

Motivation

Loyalty to Nancy and a perpetual appetite for chaotic violence.

Character Arc

Serves as the indestructible, connective thread across the storylines, gladly offering his devastating muscle whenever Nancy or Dwight need an army of one.

Cast

Jessica Alba as Nancy
Bruce Willis as Hartigan
Mickey Rourke as Marv
Josh Brolin as Dwight
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Johnny
Eva Green as Ava
Rosario Dawson as Gail
Powers Boothe as Senator Roark
Dennis Haysbert as Manute
Ray Liotta as Joey
Stacy Keach as Wallenquist
Jaime King as Goldie / Wendy
Christopher Lloyd as Kroenig
Jamie Chung as Miho
Jeremy Piven as Bob

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