Sucker Punch (2011)
I’m a dork. I’d been looking forward to this film since I heard Snyder helmed it and read a snippet of the premise in an Empire magazine about a year ago. So to be perfectly frank, when I went into the midnight premier I wasn’t expecting much more than some seriously fucken awesome action. Well I definitely got that…
Sucker Punch is one of those movies that take longer to describe than watch, so I’m going to borrow part of the IMDB summary this time. Also it’s 3am and I just got home from the midnight premier and I want to get this review done before I crash.
A young girl, Babydoll (Emily Browning) is institutionalized by her abusive stepfather, to be lobotomized in 5 days. Retreating to an alternative reality as a coping strategy, she envisions a plan to gain five objects which will help her and four other inmates [Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Rocket (Jena Malone), Amber (Jamie Chung) and Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens)] escape from the mental facility.
First and foremost, this film is a fanboy’s wet dream on crack. Imagine everything that boys love and this movie has it: five beautiful girls dressed in every kink-fantasy outfit that exists from schoolgirl to nun, shit exploding, dragons, zombie soldiers, Terminator-age robots, burlesque dancing and kick-ass music. Seriously, this movie is aimed at guys and it’s probably only interesting to guys. And me, of course, but I’ve always been a girl to walk on the boy’s side of the road. I loved the movie, it was freaking epic.
I’ll tell you right from the off, if you’re after an action movie with a solid plotline, don’t go near this one with a stick. Ok, no, that’s unfair. Let me rephrase… if Inception confused you, then stay away from this movie. In Inception, the plot is at least somewhat explained, here you’re left wondering which screwed up nightmare you just woke up from and whether it was a dream in the first place. Seriously, just prepare for insanity. Go in with an open mind. The plot is rather flimsy if you look past the killer effects and epic soundtrack. It’s about a girl who escapes into her mind to try and get out of a situation that she has no control over. That’s about as much as you have to go on and it doesn’t get clearer than that.
The effects, as mentioned, are killer. Except one part where the effects were a little wanting, they keep you damned mesmerized. Snyder’s known for making insane worlds, though, considering the man helmed and did a seriously awesome job of 300, which was mostly green screen and rivaled Sin City for SFX scope. From the WWI trenches to the Japanese temple to the future-city and its speed train, the film is stunning. For a wold where nothing is real, everything is perfectly believable. At least, when it comes to the construction of the world.
The violence in it is ridiculously comic-booky, even beating out The Matrix in that respect. In fact, it’s anime come to life. The girls get thrown around, into walls, through stone ceilings, out train windows… and they get back up and fight as though nothing happened. To call this a “video game movie” would be a serious understatement. Watching this was like playing Tekken on the big screen. Because of this, it becomes very easy to watch if you like bright colors and loud noises. The violence is so unrealistic that people who are usually put off by it can watch it without fear. At least, I think so, I’ve been immune to violence since I saw Fight Club at age 12.
I honestly have to take my hat off to the girls in this movie. Even though their characters were completely two-dimentional (my favourite was Amber, if I’m honest, and she has one of the smallest roles) and every “badie” was a man and every “goodie” was a woman (except one who was actually a guy but he’s special) the girls worked their asses off in training and it shows. It amuses me that this movie is about kick-ass girls who refuse to roll over and die, and it’s aimed solely at men. Very few girls went to see the movie at the premier, and for the most part there isn’t much FOR girls in this movie… anything remotely feminine has been squashed out of the lead characters; even though the first level of Babydoll’s fantasy is based in a burlesque club, you never see any dancing. As soon as she starts dancing, she enters another level of her subconscious where she and the other girls fight imaginary evil to gain the objects they need. Their costumes are aimed to be appealing to men, most of them will make girls hate their own bodies and aim to look like the characters wearing the costumes. And to do that you have to go through a rigorous 12-week training program followed by a few months of filming scenes against villains you can’t see. So yes, boy movie.
Finally and most certainly not least importantly… the music was freaking insane. I’m thinking I’m transitioning into more modern psychedelic trip-hop lately, but this was just damn incredible. For me, music is good in a movie not necessarily if the score itself is well written. Music works in a movie if it fits the mood and helps to get the audience to feel the intended feelings for a scene. This movie had the music to do that. It’s also the second movie I’ve reviewed this week that made me instantly go and seek out the soundtrack as soon as the movie was over.
In summary? This is a boy’s movie. I would recommend it to girls, but if you’re nothing like me then you’ll be bored. Things explode, girls run around in skimpy costumes and pout a lot with shiny lips, a lot of violence that IS realistic is aimed at the girls… it’s a boy-movie, through and through. I give it a solid 7/10, a little higher than IMDB. I personally enjoyed the movie, but I like watching comic book violence and listening to a continuous soundtrack of ear-splitting drumming and electric guitar. If you like anime you will most likely love this. Also if you need a night out to forget about the world, this is the best movie to see; the world around you melts.
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