Elijah Wood as Psycho Kevin Finding a psycho in the film Sin City is like finding a guy named Mohammed in Cairo, Egypt or a guy named Kim in Korea! They’re everywhere. Take your pick: Senator Roark, his brother Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark, his son Junior (aka Yellow Bastard), Marv, Gail, Manute, the Salesman, Jackie Boy, and Miho. You’d think with this many whackos in one film it would be difficult to stand out and be noticed, but Frank Miller (co director and writer of the graphic novels the film is based on) is not one to disappoint. In the midst of the sea of Psychos, Miller gives us
Kevin.
Kevin.
Rutger Hauer as Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark Everything we know about Kevin is all secondhand information as Kevin never speaks in the film. We find out from the Cardinal that Kevin is a selective mute and actually speaks to him, but we have to take his word for that.
Let’s see, where do I begin?
Let’s see, where do I begin?
Kevin likes to kill prostitutes. Okay, maybe in some odd way he’s doing the Lord’s work, but no…there’s more. He eats his victims. Okay, Jesus said, “Take this bread and eat. It’s my body.” Which is kind of like cannibalism, but no…there’s more. He mounts their heads on his wall like animal head trophies. Okay, not the Lords’ work so much, but no…there’s more. He moves like a ninja and fights like a ninja. His fingernails are like razors. He wears a sweater that creepily resembles the Charlie Brown sweater. And to top it all off…his best friend is a wolf.
That’s a pretty spectacular shopping list for characterization of a psycho. Well done, Mr. Miller. Here’s what Marv says about Kevin who sneaks in so quietly to kill Goldie (a prostitute) in the same bed Marv is sleeping in: “He’s quiet. Too quiet. A born killer.” Lucille says, “He keeps the heads. He eats the rest. It’s not the wolf; he gets scraps. He eats people. He cooks them like steaks. He kept smiling that smile. He made me watch as he sucked the meat off my fingers.”
And the Cardinal says, “He was a tormented boy. Tormented by guilt. I tried to council him, but the eating…it filled him with white light. Tearful, he swore to me that he felt the touch of God almighty. He didn’t just eat their bodies…he ate their souls. And I joined in.”
In the end, Kevin never screams as his legs are cut off and his own pet wolf devours him from the cut off knees up.
There’s psycho and then there’s Kevin Psycho – LEVEL UP!
There’s psycho and then there’s Kevin Psycho – LEVEL UP!
Frank Miller as a Priest in the movie Sin City Sin City is put together from several issues of the comic books in vignettes completely realized and presented. It’s a collection of short film versions of the comics. A collection of Shakespeare’s work was collected and published in 1623 called The First Folio. It contain 36 plays attributed to the Bard. While I am not comparing Frank Miller’s work with that of William Shakespeare, the fact that there is a sequel to Sin City in the works, allows us to consider this movie Miller’s First Film Folio. While I have not read any of the Sin City comics, I am a big fan of Miller’s other work, specifically, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year one, and 300 are all favorites.
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