Sin City - 18, 102 mins

Crime pays handsomely in this visually arresting sequel to the 2005 neo-noir anthology based on Frank Miller’s comic series.

Blessed with the same black-and-white aesthetic, Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For is as twisted and depraved as its predecessor, festooning every frame with corrupt cops, gun-toting hoodlums and scantily clad molls.

Lurid splashes of colour, temporarily draw the eye away from the misery, degradation and mutilation including an eyeball being wrenched from its socket.

Directors Robert Rodriguez and Miller linger on the darker side of human nature, relishing the crisp snap of one character’s fingers as they are broken with pliers, or the exaggerated splatter of an arrow scything through a henchman’s noggin.

Once again, three stories entwine on the godforsaken streets of Sin City. Arriving almost a decade after the first chapter, Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For plunges us headfirst into a grimy universe where a bullet to the head settles most arguments.

Style pummels emotion into submission enhance the feeling that characters talk at not to each other.