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He also compares this film to Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, and finds Tarantino's work to be superior. "Tarantino, perhaps despite himself, turns his pulp source materials into genuine works of art that pose interesting moral and spiritual questions, but Rodriguez, more often than not, is content to toss off films that look cool but offer nothing of any lasting spiritual benefit."

David DiCerto (Catholic News Service) calls it "a hard-boiled fever dream of highly stylized brutality, morbid humor and sexual imagery which—though intentionally over-the-top—pushes the envelope of even its restrictive R rating."

Steven Isaac (Plugged In) does not disguise his disgust with Rodriguez's film. "I'm compelled to note, first, that the way each 'hero' goes about doing 'the right thing' is beyond flawed. It's demented. So as not to prolong my own agony (or yours) by continuing to dwell on the sordid details of Sin City, I'll condense my conclusion to 10 words Bruce Willis says onscreen: 'There's wrong, and then there's wrong, and then there's this.'"

You won't get a rave from Brett Willis (Christian Spotlight) either. "[The film] has no overall purpose, other than pushing the envelope just for the sake of 'art.' It didn't need to be made, and no one needs to see it. A mature adult who lives right and who has absolutely no imbalances or secret sins could probably watch it with a minimum of personal side-effects. Anyone else REALLY needs to stay as far away from this kind of material as possible."

Maurice Broaddus (Hollywood Jesus) gives Sin a more positive spin. "An exercise in style that threatens to supplant substance, the movie is visually stunning and demands viewing. If nothing else, it reminds us that our spiritual journeys are relational, not propositional (a matter of following or reciting a formula). The characters live out their beliefs, showing that even in Sin City, love, in the form of self-sacrifice, can be found."

On the same site, Matthew Hill says the violence "feels like violence for the sake of violence—and just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should." But he adds that the movie is about "people's undying sense that things are not right with the world. That we all, in fact, live in Sin City. And, going further, it's yet another story about our undying sense that we need to be saved from such a place, because we won't be able to do it alone. That we all need a knight in shining armor. That we all need God."

Most mainstream critics are so impressed with the cast, the blend of live action and animation, and the imagination onscreen, they say the pros outweigh the cons. But some of them find themselves dispirited by the relentless darkness.

Anthony Lane (The New Yorker) says, "We have, it is clear, reached the lively dead end of a process that was initiated by a fretful Martin Scorsese and inflamed … by Tarantino: the process of knowing everything about violence and nothing about suffering. Rodriguez is pleased to flash his hipster credentials, proud of the hole where his heart is supposed to be … "

Sin City: Brett McCracken (Relevant) says, "If completely gratuitous, anachronistic serial pop art is your cup of tea, this film will be pure bliss. But be forewarned, the film is … full of every kind of violence imaginable, nudity, coarse language, and many other vices. Granted, the violence tries to be cartoonish in the vein of previous Rodriguez or Tarantino films, but there comes a point where even cartoon violence goes overboard. This gruesome picture steps over that line."

Kevin Miller (Joy of Movies) says, "Despite a veneer of redemption, Sin City is a film that glories in every blood-soaked moment of depravity it depicts. I'm still not sure why the film exists. To urge us not to trust authority and to think for ourselves? To showcase Rodriguez's considerable artistic and technical ability? To remind us of the sinfulness and depravity at the core of every human soul? I'm for all of these things. However, this film makes me wonder at what point the desire to depict evil accurately begins to create a fascination—in the filmmakers and the audience—for the very evil they are trying to warn people against."

But on the same site, J. R. Cillian Green says, "This film is one of the most incredible movies I've seen this year, and quite possibly the best comic book movie I've ever seen."

Mike Parnell (Ethics Daily) observes, "When the movie ends, there is no redemption—only the continued sin of those who live on its mean streets. And when all is said and done, the Psalmist rules the day: 'They have all fallen away, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.'"

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