Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is a disappointedly flaccid sequel/prequel, that barely raises pulses in its continued chronicle of a violent and corrupt world and the grizzly characters that inhabit it.

Nine years has passed since the ground breaking Sin City, and whatever magic there was between directors Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez has been diluted to mere pixie dust, resulting in a film that shouldn’t be a bore, but manages to accomplish just that feat.

If Sin City was a hard-on of sex and violence told in an eye popping world of gritty nourish delights, than Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is its impotent follow up, a bloated mess trying to fit back into its once figure hugging jeans, a once upon a time king hit champion that talks a big game but now can’t catch wind.

Once again set in the grizzly, violent black and white world created by Frank Miller in his ground breaking graphic novels, this prequel/sequel/something follows the exploits of avenging loner Dwight (Josh Brolin continuing his bad run with this his fourth straight turkey), unstoppable killer Marv (Mickey Rourke once again growling it up although his character died in the first film), cocky gambler Johnny (Joseph Gordon-Levitt who is wasted) and on the edge stripper who does not strip Nancy (Jessica Alba), as they battle against the corruptive and powerful figures that look over there cesspool of a town.   

Narratively and stylistically speaking Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is no different than the first movie. Yet missing is a pop, an energy that made Sin City edgy and dangerous in its combination of noir machismo and exploitation attitudes towards violence and sex, not to mention an innovative visual style that burst from the screen.

But that was then, and after an almost decade long wait Miller and Rodriguez’s follow up just doesn’t work by resting on its laurels as it does, not with the bar raised in comic book to movie adaptations and HBO wetting the whistles of those with a thirst for the exploitation that is its stock in trade.

Rodriguez has become too cosy with his abilities. Once an innovative filmmaker, his bag of tricks no longer dazzle. His Machete movies were once prime example of this, and Sin City. A Dame to Kill For only proves it further.

And so we rely on Miller’s stories and characters to make the difference, but even here the film stumbles. Sure an all-star ensemble gives there all, with special mention to Eva Green who turns up the vamp as a femme fatale with murder on her mind and little use for clothes, her constant state of undress sure to give many an excuse to pay extra for those 3D glasses.

Yet there is very little in the way of stakes felt in any of these stories. Plenty of grimacing, grumbling, thrusting and plot confusion as to which story is set when, but very little in the way of intrigue or the character cool to make up for its writing faults.

Sadly for fans of the first Sin City, this belated follow up is a case of too little too late.