Review of Sucker Punch (2011) by Ria C — 29 Mar 2016

I have no idea what I just watched.

OK so let's just cut to the chase as you probably have already seen it, or you don't want to see it. That's really the two populations here. "Oh it's made by Zach Snyder? Oh, ok." Jeremy from CinemaSins says. Yeah--understood.

Anyway. Abused child goes crazy, has to escape the mental institution before she finally gets a lobotomy. She concocts a fantasy where she's in a whorehouse instead, and inside this whorehouse she has an additional layer of fantasies where she gets the items she needs through "dancing," though the dances are just additional fantastical fights and stories, etc.

Look, I don't know either.

Anyway. I think the russian nesting doll idea was cool but could we have had a little bit more agency in the women, and a little less abuse from the men.

Also--the actual individual action pieces could have been neat little vignettes outside of such a rape-based story (which, honestly, is the entirety of the "real" parts of the movie). Like, fighting stampunk nazi zombies with guns and mechs? Awesome. Chaingun wielding samurai fights? Oh yeah. Orc and dragon battles against prop planes? YEAH, GIMME MORE! But not in this context, because it shows up mostly as "WTF" and "Really, guys? Did you need that part?".

I want to see Baby Doll, Sweet Pea, Rocket, Blondie, Amber, and Madam Gorski doing those kind of things in an actual movie. I want awesomeness like that. But within its current cinematic context? It's a sadly up-its-own-butt, incoherent mess. 2/5 because the visuals were awesome, but the story was not so much lacking as it was kind of stupid and unnecessary for the visuals that Snyder wanted to include so badly.