Not to be written off as yet another comic book film, "Frank Miller's Sin City" is the first comic-to-film adaptation to be more comic book than film. It perfectly captures the mood and style of Miller's cult books, foregoing the standard impulse to massage the material into something more traditionally cinematic. For some, this may work against the film. For me, it proved that co-director Robert Rodriguez has achieved what many had considered impossible-his "Sin City" actually does justice to the original graphic novels.

Such a faithful translation of the material could have resulted in a dull exercise to appease Miller's fans (for an example, see the first two "Harry Potter" films). Rodriguez, however, avoids this pitfall. Sometimes gruesome, sometimes sadistic, but always gripping, "Sin City" is a visceral blow to the senses. By using Miller's illustrated panels as storyboards and by pulling the brash-yet-eloquent dialogue unfiltered, Rodriguez's "Sin City" immerses us in a comic book-style narrative. Whatever people think of the film, no one can deny that it is visually stunning.

"Sin City" is black and white in the truest sense. Unlike traditional black and white films, which are merely shades of gray, Rodriguez shot the film with a hi-definition digital camera, which allowed him to tweak the colors on the fly. He shows us the stark contrast between black and white, taking the term "film noir" literally. Much of the film is digitally created in a method similar to the one used in "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" (2004), but we accept this early on, as "Sin City" is entirely engrossing.

The film's city of sin, Basin City, is aptly named. It is a cesspool of corruption, violence and machismo. They exist together seamlessly in such a way that it is sometimes difficult to tell the good from the bad. Our heroes are as violent and sadistic as the villains they pursue, but we know they are the heroes because they are limited in their actions by a consistent moral viewpoint, something that the villains lack. Their actions are justified, or perhaps just excusable, because they fight for the sake of someone else, in each case a woman.

Hartigan is a seemingly typical role for Bruce Willis, who is often cast as the tough cop. But instead of seeming typecast, in this film Willis reminds us why we always think of him as a hard-hitting cop. Mickey Rourke's Marv is a hulking, ugly brick of a man. Rourke lives and breathes the character, and despite heavy prosthetics, he is always believable. Clive Owen's Dwight isn't so much a typical hero as he is a violent crusader on behalf of wronged women. Owen is electric in the film, but he always is.

Misogyny is inherent in film noir, where women are both weak and meant to be protected, or something to be feared. "Sin City" makes this abundantly clear. It also shows the women in its noir universe exercising power through their sexuality. The strong women in the film are all either prostitutes or strippers, and sex seems to be the only way a woman can survive in Sin City.

Sex propels the film, as each of the three main characters is driven by his need to either avenge or protect a woman. While this need is misogynistic in its own sense, as chivalry always is, the villains are far more overt about their sexism in their extreme violence against women. So, for example, when we see Hartigan blow a man's crotch off, we feel the victim is somewhat deserving of his fate.

I mention the violence of the film so often because "Sin City" is, without a doubt, the most violent American film I've seen in theaters. More so than "Kill Bill," whose violence was often used to comedic purpose, "Sin City" is serious about its violence, and it's meant to hurt. While "Sin City" offers no scene equal to Uma Thurman's dismemberment orgy, it contains small moments of severe violence that are memorable because Rodriguez isn't afraid to show us the violent act in its full glory.

Some would write this off as "shock value"; I consider it a trait of a film that knows exactly what it wants to be. Miller's "Sin City" books were dark and grimy stories, and this quality is what is most often lost in the cinematic translation. Rodriguez knew better-he brought Miller on board as co-director to ensure that the movie would carry the same elements as the books.

"Sin City" isn't a film everyone will love, but it is one everyone should see at least once. It is a bravely ambitious film, and thus far, the best release of 2005. For Miller, Rodriguez and Tarantino fans, it is heaven. For the rest, it's a refreshingly experimental, borderline independent sort of film.