Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is a lesser effort compared with its predecessor. Unfortunately, this is partly due to the astounding visual look of the original picture feeling rather cartoony and less impactful. Moreover, the violence in A Dame to Kill For seems excessive and uninteresting whereas in Sin City it was artful and gut-wrenching. Additionally, despite the addition of new material by the comics original scribe, Frank Miller, most of the storylines are not that interesting and are fundamentally one-note in their overarching focus, which is of the corrupt Senator Roark.

However, the film is somewhat redeemed by its performances, particularly by Eva Green and Josh Brolin, who are the main players in the title story. Green is a tantalising portrait of a steely and despicable femme fatale. On the other hand, Brolin is excellent as a broken and hard-edged man, who is fundamentally afraid of embracing his monstrous nature. Finally, the first narrative thread which is entitled, The Long Bad Night is commendable because of its initial light touch with its noir conventions, which then takes a nasty and ultimately tragic turn that best explores the character of Senator Roark and Basin City.