500 Films: #5 Sucker Punch

Noticed lately how a lot of people seem to be conflicted over Sucker Punch. My two cents...

It is visually stunning. The special effects are great, the action scenes are almost flawless. It's complete fantasy. I remember thinking that some of the scenes reminded me of japanese anime or games. There was that aura thingie that surrounded Baby Doll during the fight with the huge samurai that just screamed "Rurouni Kenshin" (particularly his "Ama kakeru ryu no hirameki"... I just really wanted to say that.) Then Rocket's slow motion move while they were on the train felt like something out of Final Fantasy. I seem to recall seeing the exact same move in one of the FMVs.

Storywise, I guess it was ok? The plot was simple enough, but I think the movie worked because it wasn't too convoluted. Basically, a girl, to escape the tragic events that have unfolded in her life, escapes into her mind and deals with her real life demons in fantasy. So instead of us watching her mundane, humdrum life in the asylum while her plan to get out unfolds, we see a stylized version of it. It reminds me of when I was in school and thinking that grades and homework were real life's versions of dragons and monsters... and that I'd rather be fighting the latter because it would be more glamorous.

Ultimately, though, I think the film's focus wasn't on the story. I have this image in my head of Zack Snyder waking up one morning and wanting to make this fantasy movie with girls and guns that would make moviegoers scream vague adjectives like "Fuck awesome!" and "Cool!!!" but not call it things like "Beautiful" or "Awe-inspiring" because those would be too tame for whatever he has in mind. The story was just a means to this end. At one point, it wasn't even a story anymore, but a bullet list of "Dream Scenes I Want to Shoot" made in the guise of the character's requirements for escape. "Map" will have a girl in a mecha. Oh, and nazis! "Fire", naturally, will involve dragons. (D'oh.) We haven't done androids from the future yet, so let's do that for "Kitchen Knife". And it's taking too long so "Key" will just round things up. I mention it's taking too long, because at one point, I got bored. I saw all the action sequences blur together--something I thought wasn't really possible--and made me impatient: "Get to the point already!"

So, altogether, yes, on a creative standpoint, I was quite impressed with the movie. It's an original and a fantasy, which doesn't fly by Hollywood everyday, as most of its kind are remakes or adapted from books. I like how it used the daydream concept to replace everyday life. I love the production design and the costumes. But on a much deeper level, it didn't really hit any notes for me. Maybe it wasn't supposed to. It's a fuck-awesome, fantastic, guns-blazing movie. With sexy girls. And weapons. Period.