When I first heard about Sucker Punch, I thought it looked great. And I was right, it looked great, but it was not a great movie. Set in the 1950s, Baby Doll (Emily Browning) is sent to a mental institution by her stepfather after her mother dies. There she is scheduled to have a lobotomy in five days. In order to deal with the harshness of reality, she then slips into a sub-reality where she is a newcomer at a brothel. In this sub-reality, she befriends four other girls, Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), and Amber (Jamie Chung), who are also in the asylum with her. Together they come up with a plan to escape.
Sucker Punch is one weird ass movie. I’ve been trying to figure out little pieces of it ever since I watched it. In a Film School Rejects interview, Zack Snyder (writer/director) did say that it was difficult to interpret the film because of the crucial scenes he had to cut to get a PG-13 rating. He also mentioned that the home media release would be a “director’s cut” with the missing scenes included. Sucker Punch is definitely artsy and stylish, but it was borderline boring. So, what matters most to you? Artsy and stylish action scenes or an exciting, interesting plot?
Before you say “Action!” and rush off to see this, know this about the action: there wasn’t a hell of a whole lot. Each action scene takes place in a fantasy world within the sub-reality. It’s a dream within a dream. There were only approximately four of these. That’s not enough for the Action Chick. Yes, it looked awesome and was full of the cool slow motion action sequences Snyder likes to do. However, they are fighting enemies you don’t really care about since it’s all a fantasy world. That and the fact that these enemies aren’t even real leaves you not giving a rat’s ass in whether the baddies died or not. You don’t feel that satisfaction knowing that those bad guys got what they deserved.
Time Until Real Action Starts: ~ 26 minutes.
Baddies: Depends on what area of reality you’re in
Best Line: “Don’t ever write a check with your mouth you can’t cash with your ass!”
Best Kill: None of the kills really stand out. That should tell you something.
Best Explosion: Baby Doll gets a hold of a gatling gun and unleashes on a giant blimp of baddies. It catches fire, crashes to the ground and explodes. Kaboom!
Action Rating: 2 Robo Bunny War Mechs, out of 5
Illustration by Alex Langley. Rocket Llama World Headquarters
This is the Action Flick Chick, and you’ve just been kicked in the ass!
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It was just missing something. I think I will reserve my final judgement until I see this supposed director’s cut. There was so much potential for true awesomeness, but it fell short every time it was within reach.
Nothin’ for stabbing the giant fire-breathing dragon in the skull?? NOTHIN’?? Dang. 🙂
I’m certainly part of the minority when it comes to “Sucker Punch.”
I was very satisfied when I walked out of the theater, and I have to admit that I enjoyed the movie. I’m bummed that the overall consensus is that this is a Snyder-failure. I feel sorry for him, because his creativity and imagination are truly unique.
If you want to read my take on it, check out my review 🙂
I agree with the review and then some.
For strong characters this movie failed for me. The main character’s “super power” is that she can “dance”/be objectified. Redonkulous! And this movie seems to think men are idiots, easily hypnotized and made even stupider by swaying hips. The strongest male in the entire movie has doubts but doesn’t do anything about it. He had a chance to do the right thing and didn’t voice his concerns until after he did the wrong thing.
shortened link = http://is.gd/SUCKER
I did not think it was that bad I loved the part when the girls massacred the german zombie army I only wish the were fighting real men instead of zombies. I thought that Jamie Chung’s splattering of the German leader by landing on him with her mecha type vehicle stood out as an particularly good kill.