I have been meaning to write a movie review on Sucker Punch for quite some time now but given the tons of review people on the 'net have done about this Zack Snyder flick, it might be an exercise in futility. Nevertheless, let me give you my personal thoughts on this film.
All-girl action. Fish net stockings. Corsets. High heels. Female leads skimpily dressed. A Russian-accented dance seductress. Cabarets. Erotic dancing.
A porno-flick, maybe?
Not if you add guns of all sorts and sizes from hand-held pistols to MP5s to a rattling machine gun, a samurai sword, stick grenades, a B-17 Super Fortress, a time-activated city-leveler bomb, World War I era bi-planes, bayonets, and other weapons that cause destruction. And to add even more confusion to an already chaotic scene, add in dragons, knights, orcs, German Nazi zombie-like creatures, and an enigmatic Wise Man cum sensei cum military commander cum bus driver.
That's Sucker Punch.
But the story's not as chaotic as you think although you do have to make sure you start the film from the beginning otherwise you'll be hopelessly lost in the midst of the action, the drama, the dancing, the music, and the violence within the film.
This latest offering from director Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) is a rollercoaster ride. It's a story within a story within a story. In this film, a 20-year old girl is placed in a mental institution by her stepfather after she accidentally killed her kid sister (and we all know why, because the stepfather wanted to do something nasty to the girls after their mother died and she (the mother) left all her money to her two girls). The girl, Baby Doll, then retreats to a fantasy world where the mental institution becomes a cabaret where she and other girls are being held against their will by the club owner. However, within the cabaret fantasy world, Baby Doll further retreats into another world, a more fantastic one, that is forever pitting her and the other girl protagonists into action, and she is induced into this secondary fantasy world when she dances in the cabaret-inspired first fantasy world. Her actions however, in both fantasy worlds, have an impact to the real world of the mental institution where she and her girl-friends are able to reveal the ugliness of the institution. Baby Doll however makes the ultimate sacrifice (she is lobotomized) but her actions have allowed a fellow inmate to escape the hell they were in.
Sucker Punch is a visual geek fest. This films combines elements from manga, anime, mecha, sci-fi, fantasy, and yes, even eroticism (fetish more likely, the young-girls-in-short-skirts type) in 120 minutes of reel that, in my opinion, depicts pages from a futuristic Warhammer comic. And the musical score is probably one of the best ever done for a film. The man Snyder and his musical scorers not only made this a visual geek fest but also a fest for audiophiles.
The film's use of fantasy within a fantasy within a fantasy allows for the mixing of elements from different genres. Where else can you find machine totting girls in sexy military uniforms storm an Orc-filled castle aided by a B-17 Super Fortress? Add a dragon, a bullet train with a doomsday device, a 1940's cabaret-fronted prostitution den, and you've got a kaboodle of ideas.
But Sucker Punch is not an easy movie to follow and to be honest, I had read a synopsis and a summary of the film even before viewing it for fear that I might not get into the meat of the story. For those who like their movies linear, the complexity of Sucker Punch's progression is a bit hard to digest as the film leaps from the reality to the fantasy to another fantasy.
And looking at how netizens, movie buffs, and critics have dissected the movie, it's obvious you either hate it or love it. The sentiment for the movie is so polarized that at this early critics (both for and against Snyder) are already forecasting the outcome of the reboot of Superman which Snyder is set to helm.
Personally, I liked the movie. Not because of the story which I think could've used a little more tightening and probably another 15 minutes or so of reel time (felt hurried towards the end) to build up a more powerful (err, dramatic?) climax but because of the visual flair, the action, the soundtrack, and all the other elements that make up a good flick. Of course, the story or the script or the screenplay should've been the most important element but where the screenplay falls short all other elements come in and rescue the film. Sometimes you just have to appreciate the movie for the entertainment value. It's not always that you look for a film that wrenches you to tears or awakens a strong sense of something in you. Sometimes, you just go into a movie-house, watch a film, and enjoy it. Come on, Iron Man wasn't that too deep a movie to watch, right?
Don't look to Sucker Punch to bring home any screenplay or screenwriting award but for an overdose of action delivered by femme fatales then this movie should kickstart your butt.
Final Movie Rating: 3.5 / 5
