Review of Sucker Punch (2011) by Hawleyg — 30 Jun 2011

This is a cult classic in the making. I saw this movie on DVD so I had already seen the terrible reviews and knew how awful it was supposed to be. I think I was hoping for a sort of Plan 9 From Outer Space with real special effects. I was surprised by how much I liked the film. While I can see why people say the movie is misogynistic, I don't think it is at all, or rather it is only superficially so. Yes, the girls in it are victimized, yes the costuming is straight from Victoria's Secret, but if you look behind that, at what the film says about the characters you see something very different. Baby Doll (a supremely ironic name for someone as tough as she) is in a terrible situation. She is locked away in an asylum with a timetable for lobotomy, most people would curl up into a mewling, whining ball n her place (I know I would;. Baby Doll does, not, almost before the key turns in the lock behind her she is plotting escape. From the opening seconds she is overmatched and outgunned. Yet, throughout, in her fantasy world and more importantly in real life she never gives up, ultimately engaging in an act of self-sacrifice. She wears a skimpy skirt, that's the outside, inside she is consistently brave, loyal, resourceful and resilieant. At the beginning of the film she has an opportunity to kill her hated stepfather. She doesn't take it, an act that hints at the real strength of her character. This is not a movie by a man who hates women, but by a man who loves and admires women in a man's sort of way.

If this film were made without dragons, or zombies or robots, if the reality scenes were expanded to fill it, it would be an arts movie and the critics would have LOVED it. But, the literal monsters share the screen with the human monsters. I think that because this is a movie that has a lot more to it then first meets the eye, because of it's strong female characters, because of the monsters, and yes because of the costumes, this movie will be around long after most arts films are forgotten.