Sucker Punch

I avoided this film like the plague when it was in theaters, having heard nothing but the worst reviews imaginable. Hardly anyone had anything nice to say about it, and usually that is a pretty good indicator a film is bad. I mean, one or two bad reviews can usually be brushed off. Even a 50/50 split amongst critics can sometimes indicate a good, but misunderstood film. But when a movie is universally panned, it's a safe bet that you're not missing anything by skipping it.

Wow, were they wrong here. I decided to catch Sucker Punch on HBO now that it's available, and I'm very glad I did. It's definitely not a perfect movie, but it's also nowhere near as bad as we've all been led to believe.

It's got a few moments that don't really work, and I could have done entirely without the narration at the end, but other than that, it's a terrific, beautifully stylized action fantasy, filled with imaginative villains, lush graphics, pretty girls and a uniquely offbeat storyline.

I simply don't understand where all the hate came from here. Yeah, it generally portrays a male adolescent fantasy of hot girls in skimpy outfits. Big freaking deal. There are far more exploitative films out there, few of which inspired the level of vitriol hurled at Sucker Punch. It's a cool fantasy film, with heavy elements of B-movie and classic pulp noir skillfully added for good measure.

How this film can be hated but something like Grindhouse critically beloved is beyond my comprehension. Yes, Grindhouse is better. But not so much better to justify the massive disparity (83% to 23% on Rotten Tomatoes).

And I'm not even a big Zach Snyder fan to begin with. I thought Watchmen was awful, and didn't think very much of 300 either. But I have to give him credit on this one; he was truly robbed this time around.

Off the bat I have to say I'm over thirty years older than what some pro critics have claimed is the demographic for this one. Sucker Punch, as reviews etc attest, is not for everyone, it has been called any number of things in derogative fashion, which since I enjoyed the film a lot means I'm a misogynist fetishist gamer, which to the best of my knowledge is not true. Lest I'm in the closet and now in middle age about to unleash traits and feelings previously untapped. Which if the latter is true you would have to say well done Zack Snyder, for that's serious film making...

Sucker Punch is loud, full of visual orgasms, musically adroit, exciting, clever and very sexy. Snyder has made no secret of his fetish leanings when making this piece, but it hardy constitutes a dark seedy mind at work. It can easily be argued that the film is very much pro women, the story itself - in amongst the explosive thunder of the fantastical action - is tender and beautiful, complete with emotional kickers. Perhaps it's in the eye of the beholder? But I see a strong female led action movie, with shifting fantasy realms, and cunningly it calls for deeper ponder come the finale.

Love it or hate it, Snyder has pushed buttons with this exercise. Better that than another cash cow sequel or another remake, re- imaging or rebirth. 7/10

Of course I had heard all the negative reviews when I sat to watch this. Of course I had seen the MTV-friendly action trailer. But critics can be biased and marketing can be misleading, so I decided to give this a go. On the face of it this film could have been similar to Pan's Labyrinth in regards the idea of a young girl/woman living through hardship and extending that hardship into a fantasy world of demons and otherworldly creatures. Certainly after watching the first very stylish fifteen minutes this felt like a film that would take this foundation of abuse and deep physiological injury and do something exciting, interesting and clever with it – at least, that's how it felt it could have been.

The problem is that, despite setting up these themes, the film does nothing with them – nothing at all. The dual fantasy sequences do not connect to any of the ideas or possible themes but rather represent an action sequence in the place of a (often mundane) aspect of the girl's plan to escape the burlesque house (which itself is a fantasy version of the mental institution). So for example when Babydoll dances to distract the mayor to allow the others to pickpocket a cigarette lighter , we cut away to a sequence of the girls raiding a castle to kill a dragon and steal the crystals that make it breathe fire. It might as well be a different film in these action sequences, and indeed they are – but the problem is that these sequences seem to be the film that Snyder wanted to make.

In fairness these massively dumb action sequences are full of style and presentation with impressive effects. They work for what they are and, even though the slow-mo, use of music and overall design is derivative, it does still provide plenty of style. But they aren't connected to anything in the film and this means that they have the same effect as they do in the trailer – "oh, that's fancy" but nothing more. There is no heart to them and as such these parts of the film are nothing more than another blockbuster with loads of effects but nothing else.

The lack of anything else is what kills the film because by the halfway point the empty noise becomes nothing more than noise. It is not even that it fails to make something of the ideas, characters and story – it is that it simply has no desire to do anything with them – like it is happy to be nothing. This annoyed me and it gets worse as the ending of the film attempts to suddenly have a darkness, to have a heart – it is too little too late and it doesn't work. In the absence of ideas to interest the viewer, one is left to think about other things. The exploitative fetishism of school-girl outfits, guns, sexuality and violence is one such thing I thought about – particularly since it was in a film whose final lines of dialogue appear to lift up the women characters. The sexual costumes and imagery do nothing of the sort but there is not some underlying misogyny as some have claimed – it is simply another part of Synder making his film as emptily commercial as possible, and sexy young women being sexy sells – just as gun porn and special effects sell. The cast match this as well – occasionally they look like they could have delivered more but ultimately they are little more than sexual effects. Browning, Cornish and Malone have a bit of heart to them but Hudgens and Chung are just flesh (not that I minded too much). This is not a film that cares about its cast – and the audience won't either.

Sucker Punch is not as awful as you have heard – it is too expensive and stylish for that. No, it is just poor because it simply does nothing other than empty, heartless style that is noisy and pointless. The ideas and themes go nowhere and the film has no interest in them or the characters. All that matters is slow-motion, cool music, big action and comic book style – if that is all you want without caring about any of it then this will fill your ears and eyes for a while – but if you want more then best give this a miss.

I originally wrote a review the day after I saw Sucker Punch. I panned it. To me my initial feelings were rather lukewarm at best.

But then I gave it some time.

And as I went through my days afterward my mind would wander back to the story and think about the visual food for thought.

Yeah, the girls are hot. Yeah, the action is over the top, but if you look at the emotional landscape that is being explored in a more literal fashion via the action then yeah, this is a pretty cool idea.

Sometimes films come along that are a "sucker punch" in terms of originality. The general public usually reacts negatively to it which leads to poor box office results. But later on the audience has had a chance to digest what was given and revisits the film and breaths new life into it.

My prediction is that such a situation will happen with Sucker Punch. It'll probably not recoup its initial budget at the box office. People will flood the IMDb forum with reasons why it did not work. We will probably see about a few dozen threads at least where people will vent their reasons why they hate the film and why you too should not see it.

But given some time it will recoup via video sales and other distribution deals.

Why?

Because it's still a solid story. The style of the movie is an Otaku's wet dream, but overall result is still the same: it does surprise and give ample food for thought.

Think of it as stylized parable about repression, personal will and sacrifice. Because sooner or later after all the negative backlash and reviews blow by those emotional messages will be all that will be left.

And people will remember it for that reason.

Really underrated movie. It's not just your typical stylized action flick, it's quite a heartbreaking story in its core.

On a rewatch of this movie I really started to understand what was REALLY going on here. Once you understand what's really going on in the movie it will break your heart.

Great action, great story line, characters you really feel for.

I think this movie is rated so low because the people drawn to it don't think past the surface.