Several years before Frank Miller's Sin City was made, a semi-noir revival film (made in the wake of Miller's Crossing) was made. That film was Last Man Standing.

The film takes the plot of Kurosawa's classic samurai film...
[+] Read Full Review

Several years before Frank Miller's Sin City was made, a semi-noir revival film (made in the wake of Miller's Crossing) was made. That film was Last Man Standing.

The film takes the plot of Kurosawa's classic samurai film "Yojimbo", and Sergio Leone's classic film "A Fistful of Dollars" and moves it down to Texas during Prohibition.

The nameless gunslinger is John Smith (Bruce Willis), who has stopped at the small town of Jericho on his way to mexico, and decided to make a quick buck by playing the two gangs feuding over the booze-running across the border against each other.

The film is very violent and styleized, with Willis delivering a classic hardboiled noir monologue much like the ones viewers of Sin City should be very familiar with.

The gunfighting is two-fisted, but unlike what you expect from the films of John Woo (and the directors who imitate him), there's little slow motion, just a lot of very dramatic deaths when people go down.

Willis's performance is very droll and deadpan, in keeping with Eastwood and Mifune's performances from the previous versions of the film. Likewise, Christopher Walken does a good job as the main gun of one of the two gang bosses, Hickey. The two gang bosses, Doyle and Strozzi, are played with great flair by David Kelly and Ned Isenberg, respectively.

All in all, if you enjoyed Yojimbo, A Fistfull of Dollars, or Sin City, or for that matter, 1920s pulp novels, you should find something to like here. At the very least, give it rental.