I loved the movie Sin City and I couldn’t wait for the sequel. However, it’s fair to say that Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is significantly worse that the first Sin City. Basically it’s just style over substance (and Eva Green).
Even before the (disappointing) ending I realized that I was more interested in brands than in story. I’ve checked the movie once again and found some interesting placements. It’s not the real product placement: some are real brands and some of them are fakes. Having fake brands in a movie or a TV show is known in the movie industry as product displacement.
Wikipedia says that product displacement is the removing of trademarked products from visual media in order to avoid the payment of licensing fees.
Here are real and fake brands from Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.
Booze
Mickey Rourke’s character Marv was drinking Booze all the time.
Mitchum’s vodka
Nancy (Jessica Alba), a young stripper, was downing a bottle of Mitchum’s vodka. This might be homage to the late Robert Mitchum, who was famous for his starring roles in several major works of the film noir style.
Cars and motorcycles
Marv and Nancy drove Harley Davidson, while Dwight (Josh Brolin) had Ford Mustang and detective Mort drove a Dodge. Dwight drove the Mustang in Frank Miller’s Sin City graphic novel as well.
Bernini coat
Marv was involved with a gang and he later questioned the leader why was he called “Bernini boy”. He found out that it is the brand of coat he was wearing.
Bernini could be used after an upscale clothing store that operated on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and was popularized in the 1990s. Frank Miller’s graphic novels Sin City were released in 1991 and 1992.
If you haven’t seen the first Sin City, do it as soon as possible, because it’s awesome. If you’re still undecided whether to watch Sin City: A Dame to Kill For or not, you might skip it. You’re not gonna miss much. Unless you’re a fan of Eva Green, of course. It that case the movie is a must see. :)