I am not one of those people who goes around whining about how immoral Hollywood is or how violent video games magically turn children into serial killers or any of that junk. But, that phrase really articulated something I felt while watching Sin City a little while ago. I like the movie, and I think its themes are fundamentally good (protecting a girl from being raped, even at the cost of your own life; protecting a group of prostitutes from being forced into slavery by the mafia; protecting a woman from an abusive ex-boyfriend; etc), but the extreme violence coming not just from the bad guys, but from even the good guys (e.g., Marv severing Kevin’s limbs and then watching as a wolf eats him alive) was… disturbing.

I realize there could be some things I’m missing–like maybe Miller was trying to portray how people can still be heroes even in a society that has become systemically corrupt, selfish and cruel; can still possess some goodness and fight for that even while they are seriously flawed in other ways–but watching the film just left me feeling apprehensive.

This film sounds German…