(Cert 18, 124mins) Starring Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke. Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller and guest director Quentin Tarantino

Not a season goes by without the release of a comic book adaptation of some kind.

The successes of X-Men, Daredevil and Spiderman have propelled this once moderately used genre into overdrive.

And with Batman Begins opening in two weeks' time, Fantastic Four at the end of July and Superman Returns in 2006, there's no sign of it stopping yet.

There is a danger of this popular genre becoming tired from overuse but Sin City is different to other comic-book adaptations and, unlike some previous big-screen transfers, is set to please even diehard fans of the original.

Frame by frame, the film remains faithful to Sin City writer/illustrator Frank Miller's graphic stories.

He co-directs with Robert Rodriguez, using three, loosely connected stories virtually word for word, with the action in faithful black and white,plus splashes of blood or yellow touches of fear.

The first story - The Hard Goodbye - concerns Marv (Rourke), a mentally disturbed, ugly hunk of muscle with a good heart. He avenges the murder of his sweetheart Goldie, who is consumed by a psychotic cannibal, played by a very unFrodo-like Elijah Wood.

Big Fat Kill is the tale of Dwight (Owen), a private investigator who goes to great lengths to cover up the murder of crooked cop Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro) to protect the city's prostitutes, who include trigger-ready beauty Gail, played by S&M-clad Rosario Dawson.

That Yellow Bastard is about John Hartigan (Willis) - the last honest cop in Sin City. With just one hour before he retires, he makes a final bid to save 11-year-old Nancy from a serial rapist, only to be convicted of the crime he fought to stop.

He is released from prison eight years later to find Nancy has become a pole dancer and is still in danger of being sexually attacked.

With more severed heads, dismemberments and cannibalism than The Silence Of The Lambs and Freddy Vs. Jason put together, this film noir is not for the squeamish.

Unusually, Kill Bill director Quentin Tarantino directs one of the film's less violent scenes.

This dark dystopia has the potential to offend those who are new to Miller's graphic novels. All the female characters are either whores or pole-dancers (apart from the sole male-fantasy lesbian) and even the good guys are mass murderers.

What redeems this beautifully-shot film is the depth of the characters, who are always fascinating and, despite themselves, often likeable.