Review of Sucker Punch (2011) by Coyotezee — 01 Apr 2011

It is interesting that as of April 2nd, the user reviews have about 3 times as many favorable as unfavorable reviews, while the critics numbers are just the reverse. Seems the reviewers are out of touch or perhaps they have had their sensibilities dulled by watching too many bad movies until they can't recognize a gem in the rough when they see it. Because so many people, particularly critics, seem clueless about what this film is trying to say, let me spell it out. I'll stop short of spoiling the ending, but I'll lay out a good deal of plot along the way. I recommend those who have not seen the film yet to stop reading reviews and just see it and judge for yourself.

The movie states its message in the opening few shots. You can watch the first six minutes at this link (http://www.metacafe.com/watch/6185190/exclusive_six_minutes_of_sucker_punch/) and hear the details. It is a poetic description of the power and role of guardian angels, which are just mythological embodiments of our innermost selves. "Everyone has an angel, a guardian who watches over us. We can't know what form they'll take: One day old man. Next day, little girl. But don't let appearances fool you. They can be as fierce as any dragon. Yet they're not here to fight our battles, but to whisper from our heart, reminding us it is us, it's everyone of us who holds the power over the worlds we create.".

Simple and direct. As we are being told this, the we see images that show a young woman lose her mother and then be set upon by her step-father. She tries to defend her young sister from his advances, but accidently kills her. He talks to the police and takes her to a nearby asylum for the criminally insane and while she is being processed, she overhears an orderly telling her step-father that he's arranged a doctor to give her a lobotomy in five days in exchange for $2,000.

We also learn that the main therapist, Dr. Gorski, uses drama to help the girls there to gain some level of control by playing music and having them act out what they are feeling. There are shots of the young woman working and looking for a way out. Then we see her on a couch in the doctor's office, being told she is in control of the worlds she creates in her mind.

Suddenly, we see her about to receive the lobotomy, but then the scene shifts and we are watching a dramatization of a lobotomy on stage. Baby Doll, as she is called, is in a different place with the same people, a high class brothel and night club run by the orderly. The girls are his prostitutes being held there against their will. She is told she must learn a dance to please the customers. The doctor, now a dance instructor and madam, tells her, "Your fight for survival starts right now. .... You have all the weapons you need. Now fight." Baby Doll next finds herself at a Zen temple with a wise man who actually gives her weapons and tells her the same thing. After defeating 3 monstrous warriors, she demonstrates she is ready to fight. (This sequence is awesome and powerful.).

Many people seem to think this is a fantasy she creates to cope with her situation, but it becomes clear at the end that the events we see in this alternate reality have corresponding events taking place in the asylum. She is working on her plan to escape.

She gets four other women to agree to help her get the things they will use to escape while she, Baby Doll, dances to distract the men. It doesn't take Freud to understand that "dancing" is a euphemism for sex or some other sexual distraction. Each time she "dances," the movie shows a fight scene of high fantasy where the five are fighting inhuman soldiers, dragons, and robots. They are fighting for their survival and the action dramatizes what is at stake if they fail. Some see this only as titillation for fanboy masturbation, but they are using their sexuality against their oppressors, so it stands to reason that they embody what the men fantasize about.

I won't say more, but this should give you enough to see past all the bull that critics are slinging at this film and allow it to be judged on its own merits. I think it is an attempt at contemporary mythology, using imagery from video games and the bad old days of the 1950s when women were seen only as housewives and whores. That they can fight against this system and gain a victory of sorts ought to be uplifting and empowering. The movie repeats its message at the end, that each of us holds the power to change our situations, provided we are willing to fight.