Sucker Punch

The film Sucker Punch (2011) is an Action/Fantasy/Thriller following a young girl, nicknamed Baby Doll (Emily Browning). Her mother has recently passed away, and she and her younger sister fear for their lives knowing their stepfather is in control. When he discovers the inheritence is left to the children, he attacks Baby Doll- getting nowhere- and turns on her younger sister, killing her. Step daddy blames Baby Doll and sends her away to Lennox House for the Mentally Insane. In the asylum, he bribes Blue Jones (Oscar Isaac), who operates the establishment, to have her lobotomized. It'll take five days for the Doctor to arrive, but Jones will forge the on-staff doctor, Vera Gorski's (Carla Gugino) signature, for the procedure. In the asylum, Baby Doll witnesses an act in "The Theatre" in which Gorski tells another girl to relax, and surrendor to a safe place in her head. Watching, Baby Doll does just that, and finds herself in a fantasy world in which she's been taken to an underground Brothel, very much like the asylum, with all the same girls, but instead, her virginity has been sold to the high ruler, and she must learn to dance to gain his notice and money. Blue serves as pimp for the girls, and Gorski is their instructor. The girls, Baby Doll comes to know, as the friendly Rocket (Jena Malone), her older sister- and not so friendly- Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Asian-American Amber (Jamie Chung), and black-haired, sex kitten, Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens). When Gorski tells her to dance, the music sends her reeling into a deeper fantasy realm, where Gorski tells her she has all the weapons she needs; so fight. A man narrates her quest for destiny, giving her a sword and guns to use, and the battle against three giant, robot Samaris begins. But within all these fantasies, there really is a Baby Doll in some form of peril... and how far can those bounds of reality be pushed before real pain breaks the surface of the imagined?

This film was written and directed by Zach Snyder, who's infamous for such works as Watchmen and 300. Snyder came up with the original story himself before he made Watchmen, actually, but postponed the project to work on Watchmen first. Later, he took writing help from Steve Shibuya, who's first writing credit is Sucker Punch. Most of the same team used in Watchmen was used in Sucker Punch for their work in Visual Effects. Warner Bros took the script from Snyder with open arms, declaring that they were completely supportive- despite the R-feeling of a PG-13 movie- after the success they had gained from Snyder for Watchmen. Boy were they in for a surprise.

Let me begin by saying that this film was ripe with stunning visuals- not just the effects, but the make up, the costumes, the set design and pieces, and of course the effects themselves, explosions, jumps, choreographed action and dance, etc. This film was visually A material. My critique toward the visuals? Too many slow motion scenes. The movie is 120 minutes long exactly... probably would have been 90 without all the slow motion walking, jumping, looking, realizing, etc. We get it. Some things look good in real time too, guys. Let's go. The soundtrack was the second most notably great thing about Sucker Punch. I love listening to a classic in a new way (as long as it isn't filled with suck). The soundtrack had me at the opening with "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," owned by The Eurythmics, but sung by Emily Browning herself, and not badly I might add. It continued to grab me through its remix of Bjork's "Army of Me," Jefferson Airplane's classic, "White Rabbit," and the mashup of "I Want It All/We Will Rock You." The soundtrack was nearly perfect, and I think you could only cut it up if you were really trying to.

Unfortunately, not to piss on the parade, that is where the good abruptly stops and turns into a carnal wasteland of, "What the fuck did I just watch?" For a while afterward, I wasn't even sure whether or not I liked it. The soundtrack and visual appeal were so good and strong, and everything else was SO bad that I was truly conflicted. How could it be that those groups of people never met and TALKED? It's like being a beautiful, gorgeous woman with face face face, body-yoddy-oddy, a BEAUTIFUL singing voice... and no brain, in complete bitchmode, and a case of "Wait, where was I going with this?" Yeah. That about sums it up.

The writing was ABYSMAL. Snyder, why would you consult a man with no writing credits on a film with themes like THIS?! Should've tried to reach Christopher Nolan, maybe? With themes like Mental Illness, the existance of multiple realities and the effects of those realities on ourselves and others, combined with Innocence and Lust, Honor and Action, and Self-Awareness... how the fuck could you let that fall so far behind??!?!?!? This film had POTENTIAL as a paragraph idea. And Snyder, you blew it, dude. I see where this could and should have gone. But it seems almost as if he wanted it to be this really intricate, detailed, mindfuck of a movie... and then saw this beautiful set and said, "Ya know, it's not really working the way I thought, but damn. Isn't it pretty?" Okay, Snyder? The beauty of Avatar is forever remembered. BECAUSE WE COULD UNDERSTAND THE MOVIE. All of the emotion in the movie made sense- it was cliche... but it made sense. I never questioned motives, or the "realness" of what was happening within the fantasy world-- probably because it was Disney's Pocahontas goes Blue Man Group in the Jungle. But it's a fucking Award Winner. I bet Sucker Punch won't be. BUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN. Way to make the Original Screenplays look bad.

I've heard that some reviews are blaming the believability fail on emotion on the actors? I disagree. I feel that there was only so much they COULD have done with what was on the page. They can't make up action or dialogue that simply isn't there, in large part. I don't blame the actors, I blame the writer/director, himself. This script has plot holes, and pot holes, and explosion holes, and holes in the neck of a dragon-- and oh look, crystals! It's very, very hard to stay into this film. I watched the entire thing as if I was in a dream, and that's not what films generally do for me. But I HAD to watch it that way, otherwise all the broken plot lines and missing threads pulled away too much to enjoy what I was looking at. But, dreams frequently take a wrong turn and we stick with it. So to me, it was a $12.50 dream. Usually mine are free?

Would I recommend this to a friend... yeah. Depends on the friend, but I went with three other people, and the spectrum of reactions was alarmingly different. One person completely hated, would never watch it again. My friend and I were on the fence, and the fourth person loved it. My boyfriend's seeing it tonight, and I think he'll probably love it as well. I think with a film like Sucker Punch the audience it appealed to COULD have been huge... but now it's only really going to be enjoyed by followers of this type of film, instead of many. I don't think I'll be purchasing this film when it comes out (I mean, possibly for the beauty of it) but I'll probably acquire the soundtrack, one way or the other, because it was really well-done.