Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Mickey Rourke's hulking ex-con heads a stellar cast in this follow-up to the 2005 original

Mickey Rourke's hulking ex-con heads a stellar cast in this follow-up to the 2005 original. It's another set of startlingly gory, brazenly depraved tales drawn from the comic-book series by Frank Miller (who also directed, with Robert Rodriguez).

Along with Rourke, Jessica Alba's haunted stripper, Rosario Dawson's Amazonian hooker and Powers Boothe's corrupt Senator Roark are among those who also return. New faces include Joseph Gordon-Levitt's brash young gambler and Eva Green's femme fatale, who ensnares Josh Brolin's private eye and every other man she encounters.

Second time around, the film's much-imitated, highly stylised look fails to make the same impact and its brash pulp-noir sensibility feels a bit jaded, but many of the images dazzle - and the cast is perfect.