Sin City was hugely successful at being a hyper-violent noir film and an excellently stylistic representation of Frank Miller's graphic comic series. Just as the original DVD release hit the shelves, word got out that director Robert Rodriguez was going to release an uncut, extended edition. just as the Lord of the Rings movies has taught me patience, I chose to wait for the special edition.

For a review of the actual movie, click here for the theatrical review.

The first disc features the original theatrical release, including commentary from Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller and Quentin Tarantino. There's also an audio track of the audience response from a viewing in Austin. There's a metric ton of special features on this disc, including bits on how Rodriguez convinced Miller to make the movie, separate features on the cars, props, special effects and costumes. There's also Sin-Chroni-City, a feature that gives viewer an idea of how the characters are connected in the story.

The second disc is where all the goodies of this edition are. In fact, the second disc alone makes this purchase worth both the wait, if you waited, or a re-buy if you picked up the original DVD release. First and foremost is the uncut version of the film, which adds 23 minutes, but is broken apart into the four separate stories. The additional footage is spliced in so cleanly that you never really sit around going "that's new footage". It all works so well in completing each of the stories that I can't imagine how the scenes were edited. Of course, there's a few scenes, like Marv's visit with his mother that are obviously re-added, but still a nice addition, all the same.

Along with the re-cut movie are some bonus features. 15 Minute Flick School goes over Rodriguez's reasoning behind why and how he made Sin City. It also shows how he used green screen and visual effect to make the most of his digital environments. One of the nicer aspects of this is the minor insights given as to how the film was made, on a production scale. The Long Take is one continuous shot, san effects, of the car ride scene. This bit shows us on set decisions by Rodriguez and guest director Tarantino as they play out during the filming of the scene. There's also an all green screen version of the film (no effects), played out in high speed, and some less movie related features (like a cooking school and live concert).

As if the two DVDs weren't enough, the DVD set also comes with a small trade paperback edition of The Hard Goodbye. this nice addition gives those who never read the original stories a means by which to compare the movie with the original source material. This is an excellent bonus I know most other films won't try to emulate as it would just show off the difference in the source material and the final product. Since Sin City was so faithful, Rodriguez has nothing to fear.

The Sin City Uncut DVD set is worth it's weight in gold. In terms of fantastic DVD releases (or re-editions as the case is), this is one of the better ones to date. If you enjoyed the movie, then this is a no-brainer in terms of purchase.

- - Vane