Review of Sucker Punch (2011) by Lifeinrewind — 28 Jun 2011

For anyone at all familiar with Zack Snyder's "Sucker Punch", I'm going to say something very obvious: This is not a film in the traditional sense. It is a visual feast, an exercise in directorial self-indulgence, a self-important tale of excess violence, sexuality, and intensity. Much has been said of the obvious flaws in "Sucker Punch." However, in spite of all of that, it remains imaginative, original, and deserves to be seen and discussed.

I absolutely believe that this is the sort of film that requires the viewer to go in with a realistic expectation of what you will experience. Not in terms of knowing the plot or details of the story, but understanding that they are not going to see a typical film, with a typical story arc and typical characters. The story has shades of "Pan's Labyrinth" and the style blends Snyder's previous films "300", "Dawn of the Dead" and "Watchmen" with Anime and many popular adventure video games. The action is elaborate and often stunning, but exists mainly as an excuse to use every flashy directing trick in the post-Matrix book. This idea could have gotten old very fast but having a different style of combat each time we descended into Baby Doll's imagination kept things fresh enough to not lose momentum. The soundtrack is made up of remixed well-known tunes (including Queen, the Beatles, and Jefferson Airplane) and a pounding score that honestly does a lot towards keeping things interesting and pouring as much intensity and atmosphere into the scene as possible. The actual story to "Sucker Punch" may seem like little more than a device to get us to each action piece, but there is more substance to this film than the vast majority of critics have been willing to admit. I will not claim the acting to be anything more than it is: serviceable. Other than two of the main characters, little back story is provided and the other characters are there merely to provide other eye candy or in the mens case, be evil and give us a reason to care about the fate of "baby doll", the bombshell cover girl. But I have read many reviews that paint the story as an "incoherent plot" and a "jumbled mess." This is one of those times where I wonder if I watched a different film, or if the large majority of the viewing public lacks the basic intellect or attention span to "get" any film that doesn't follow traditional narrative structure. I don't say this to be arrogant or rude, I really don't. But I do have to say it because once again a film with complaints such as these thrown out from all directions ended up being quite easy to follow. The plot was certainly coherent and featured an arc that concluded the story and themes presented for the main characters. The device of the main action scenes were clearly in the imagination of the main character to get through traumatic experiences. I realize that following a story from the real world, to an imagination, and then an imagination from there requires some attention be paid, but it is not too much to ask when it is laid out for the viewer. This is why I will defend Sucker Punch from those reviews that claim it is all visual impact, with no emotion or visceral stimulation. The overarching theme may be ridiculous, silly, or incredulous, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. To dismiss all of this as simply violent soft-core porn on the basis on the misogynistic school-girl outfits and dark subject matter is doing a disservice to the creator as well as it's audience.

I may seem over defensive in my praise for the merits of "Sucker Punch", but as I previously stated this is nowhere close to a perfect film. In fact, it's almost impossible to give a rating to because you first must establish what you are rating. Is it my enjoyment of the picture? I certainly enjoyed myself from beginning to end. Should I rate it on a critical scale in terms of how well-made it is? Even to someone that absolutely loathed the story, subject matter, and characters, it would be impossible to deny the craft behind the camera of Zack Snyder. It is a well-produced film with absolutely gorgeous cinematography and many memorable visuals. But the drawbacks are as clear as day. It is over-the-top to an absurd degree. It is overly self-indulgent. It features a lot of mediocre acting. It contains cringe-worthy dialog. It's not surprising that many find the overall theme to be ridiculous. That's not even getting into the supposedly "girl-power" message being undermined by its clear objectifying nature. But "Sucker Punch" is unwilling to limit itself to audience expectations, riding the imagination of its creator and giving us something different and daring. In my opinion, this something we could use more of in today's film landscape. Love it or absolutely detest it, but don't dismiss "Sucker Punch" as just a mindless action flick. It at least gives a valiant attempt to do more. 7.