After being disappointed with Battle: LA in theaters a couple weeks ago, I crossed my fingers and hoped that Sucker Punch would be the good Spring movie that kicks a major amount of @$$, like Kick @$$ did last year. Well, I put my trust in Zack Synder, and he didn't disappoint. Sucker Punch has got some critical backlash, but what for? Who cares anyway? Sucker Punch, with thrilling action, a massive scope, the patented Zack Snyder style of film making, and absolutely GORGEOUS imagery sensory overload, make this film a must see. It also happens to have some actual decent acting (well, a little over the top, but for this movie it makes sense) and a plot that actually not half brain dead.
So what is this movie about anyway? Well Sucker Punch, while not totally original (the film conjures up many other works as influences, such as Alice in Wonderland, Philip K. Dick, and The Matrix), is a film that blends themes such as freedom, reality, identity, the power of imagination, and escapism, among other things. Sucker Punch is a film that deals with a young girl who is framed for murder, and is about to experience a lobotomy. Given five days of her sanity, she then makes a list of things she needs to escape the institution. Through dancing in order to distract certain members of the mental institution/brothel to get the things she needs to escape (yes, you read that right), she teams up with four other patients to escape the place they have been held in.
Character development, I'll admit, is pretty sparse here. You pretty much know the characters themselves very quickly, and there's nothing too revealing or deep about them. Thankfully though, the film manages to make the characters interesting and likable, thanks to the acting. Sure, you don't find any Oscar winning performances here, but I think it works by just letting the actresses and actors just act like, well human beings, and it's very much present here (that is, if people actually pay attention). I actually think this work better than trying to add a bunch of stupid back stories that we've all heard a million times before; a cheap way to try to humanize a character if you ask me. Snyder is also able to milk the likability of these young actresses to make, them, well, likable, so for all of it's positive aspects characters are not really a problem. As long as you are not expecting the character study that Snyder's Watchmen was a couple years ago, there won't be much problem here.
Sucker Punch, also, has a very emotional undercurrent to it's dilemmas, which was all the more powerful and effective. There's something about the motives of these people and what they are doing that really gives the film the various subtexts it needs, no small feet there. Sure, it's still an action film at heart, but Sucker Punch does leave quite a bit to talk about, and no harm can come from that. All well and good, but that's not even the best part of the
movie.....
The best part though, is this
film is a VISUAL medium no halls barred. I've seen three Snyder films, and Sucker Punch outclasses both 300 AND Watchmen. Snyder sure knows how to really use the visual film medium, and Sucker Punch holds nothing back. Iconic slow motion everywhere, massive sweeping cinematography, and a unique melding of aesthetic make Sucker Punch have more visual delights in one
film that the most of the other bid budget films released every year do combined. Most importantly, Snyder has a sense of wonder and awe that so many countless big budget action films are sorely lacking, the imagery forces your to look on. I must have sat in the theater with my jaw dropped the whole two hours. From huge castles and dragons, dark and grimy asylum halls, Gothic WW1 wastelands with zombies, to a truly awesome futuristic land of trains, futuristic cities set in a galaxy next to a planet. In addition, music and sound also plays a integral role as well, with tons of great sound effects, and a soundtrack with songs from Jefferson Airplane, Pixies, and The Beatles filtered through a dark, almost cyberpunk type of aesthetic, as sweeping as the imagery on screen. Indeed, everything about the film making is first rate.
The elaborate worlds that Babydoll and company are thrust into are amazing to look at. Massive, eclectic, and designed with incredible detail, Snyder did not stop at all in making truly immersible and jaw dropping worlds. Add that with Snyder's great use of music, and you got one heck of a great movie experience. These worlds are as imaginative as you would expect from any Grade A video game, and Snyder doesn't hold anything back in his head. You won't get any lukewarm art design when these action scenes hit the screen (in case you haven't figured it out, all the action scenes are in their head). Speaking of the action, it's, for a lack of a better word, absolutely thrilling. It's just as good as you would expect from Snyder. Massive monster fights from cool looking Samurais to dragons, lot's of guns, huge explosions, heart stopping action that feels like it can pirouette on a dime, it's all here and more. It doesn't let up the intensity either, and each one is a roller coaster ride of sheer movie delight. It has all the giddy thrill you would get from
watching movies such as Transformers, 300 (yes, same director I know), or Kill Bill (although obviously not R rated), so that's a big compliment on Snyder's part.
Alright, if my rambling hasn't convinced you already that this movie is worth seeing, then you might as well skip it. Ignore the critical backlash Sucker Punch has received. It's totally worth seeing. It's clear that Zack Snyder always takes pride in his films and loves making them to make them, and it shines through here. As long as you are not expecting Andrei Rublev or a Mike Leigh film, you should at least go into the movie knowing what you are going to get. Sucker Punch, thanks to the visionary and imaginative directing of Zack Snyder, is easily an action film that, well, beats out the competition. Recommended.
