Saw Sucker Punch today... Have something to say about that... Thought I'd share here...

First, SP isn't original. It's an archetype revenge fantasy we've seen or read 1000 times before, albeit in a lush and beautiful package. It will be criticized as fetishistic fanboy imagery used to sell phony female empowerment when all it is really doing is pumping up the comic book/video game generation with all the catches and hooks that make that generation cream its jeans. That's because that is true. That's what this is. And that isn't a bad thing.



What is a bad thing is this lackluster script that lacks any fleshed out, fully realized, three dimensional characters at all. It's chock full of bad guys. I don't hate any of them. I'm totally ambivalent. Of the six primary female leads (5 patients and the doctor), only two come close to being actual characters, and Babydoll ain't one of them. She's just Brittany Spears minus personality and plus Thorazine. It's Sweat Pea and Rocket, and as much as I wanted to care... I just didn't care at all when Rocket dies, or when then absolutely character-free Blondie or Amber dies.

The High Roller shows up and turns out to be a compassionate doctor, but why... because we only get to learn that he's a stand-up professional after he performs the lobotomy. And why do we care about Gorski? Her compassion as a doctor is matched only by her incompetence as an administrator. Plus, we've prior to this never actually met any of these characters outside of the fantasy realm of the Brothel... where people are decidedly not who them seem to be.

The orderlies serving Oscar Isaac's Blue Jones suddenly and mysteriously "don't want to mistreat these girls anymore" in what can only be described as a lazy screenwriter trying to get out of a movie before he hits the two hour mark because this ain't Watchmen and he knows it.

Changing gears... my second major criticism is that the dream sequences were ultimately irrelevant. They were all cool. Everything in this movie was cool. But none of it mattered. We watch a scene where a bomb blows up a city. No one cares because we never really know anything about what that city might be, what it might represent to the girls, or anything. And they just killed robots as they failed to defuse the bomb that destroys the city.

Earlier the Nazis are steampunk zombies... so, killing them has no real impact beyond cool fighting scenes. They also take on some of Peter Jackson's surplus orcs and a dragon, bringing the sum total of killed characters that we gave enough of a damn about to want to see killed to zero.

And its a shame...

Because I really liked this movie. I was excited to see it. I like Snyder's other films and I love Watchmen almost religiously. The cinematography is amazing. The FX are dazzling. The original soundtrack and songs recorded for this film are outstanding. In fact, I love this movie's soundtrack more than any other film soundtrack in years... even more so than Reznor's Social Network or Daft Punk's Tron. Costuming, set design, acting, go up and down the list and you gotta give an A to everything... until you get to the absolutely unengaged, uninspired script which delivers nothing to care about except a moral barely deeper than that of a fortune cookie.

It is respectable eye candy. Beyond that, it is squandered talent.

@HoneyBakedHam: If you like over-the-top exploitation films, then you might want to watch "Bitch Slap" if you haven't already. Funny stuff. Not epic, but fun.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitch_Slap

I actually own a copy... It's terrible... and fantastic... at the same time :-)

I bought it sight unseen on a friend's suggestion and did not regret it.

Should note, if you were a Xena or Hercules fan, it's made by that production team and includes a lot of cameos you'll like...

Sweet! Glad to see that I'm not its only fan. :)

I actually skipped most of your post because I haven't seen "Sucker Punch" yet... Do want to see it soon, tho. Worth seeing on the big screen?

It has tits, robot samurais shooting Gatling guns, dragons, undead and more.

Haven't seen it yet but damn I already love this movie

I felt it was only worth watching on a big screen. I COMPLETELY agree with the first post. I was excited to see this movie. And visually the movie was spectacular!!! But don't go if you're looking for a compelling or meaningful story. Sit down, turn off your brain and enjoy what you SEE not what you feel. Understand that, and I would recommend seeing it... once.

Well... I really think it failed in the most important way, which is it fails to engage emotionally. But it is epic in scale and the action is great and the music is awesome.

I say it is worth a look on the big screen, and fantasy epic junkies will like it... I "like" it.

But if we meet back here in five years to talk about our favorite films, Sucker Punch won't be talked about.

After seeing the trailer, did anyone really expect a compelling and meaningful story?

Well, for me, it screamed Heavy Metal since the very beginning. Thus, like that movie, I won't mind how many clichés there will be or if the between stories are meaningful. And I'd get seriously stoned myself first, if I did drugs.

Did I expect a compelling and meaningful story?

Yes.

And so should you.

You should expect and demand that creators of story put forth their very best effort and create something meaningful. Having awesome eye candy doesn't mean you have to sacrifice the brain candy. Room exists for both. Terry Gilliam's Brazil did it. Snyder's own Watchmen did it... and before you think that's because Alan Moore's Watchmen was already rich in story and character, consider how many inferior adaptations have come from superior sources. Adaption isn't easy.

In fact, I expected more from Snyder because not only has he cut his teeth learning from great storytellers, he also arguably improved on 300, from which the source material, Frank Miller's graphic novel was beautiful but flawed.

I don't expect every movie to be profound or deep... though this film is pretending to be. But I do think it is worth the effort to structure a narrative so we care about the characters and believe in the story.

And really, it is the weak characterizations that kill this film. If audiences were able to be heavily invested in Babydoll and Rocket and Sweet Pea and really know and loath and hate Blue then Sucker Punch's opening weekend would have been far better and it would grow and enjoy repeat business over the coming weeks. As it is, it was beat down a few notches by Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 and it will slide off the radar quickly... which is a shame because every other element worked so hard to really service a great story with great characters... if only those things existed.

So...I will enjoy this?

Just saw the trailer when watching 'The Eagle', and instantly thought it looked more like a video game than anything else(but still awesome).
I don't really want the read everything here because of spoilers, but i just found out it won't get shown here until the 14. of April!! So would it be worth seeing just for a good cinema experience?

are the 18 minutes missing footage in sucker punch noticable?

we'll tell you after we see them :D

I'm really looking forward to the director's cut, as it MIGHT improve the atmosphere... but really, I just wanna watch it again ;)

Sucker Punch is one of my favourites

They always are awesome