I Sucked My Punch!

You might wonder what possesses me to write a review for Zack Snyder's "Sucker Punch" as it is not exactly the first one on this here site, nor did I see it under any different circumstances as anyone else. A regular trip to an IMAX theater more than a week after its premiere was all it took for effort.

Thing is, if there is one film which has people discussing it it is "Sucker Punch", both outside the cinema and here on ScreenAnarchy, and I cannot resist giving my two cents. Is Zack Snyder a mysogin and did he create a crime against female humanity? Maybe, but to be honest your mind has to fill in so many blanks during the movie that it can become anything you want. Mysoginy was not MY biggest problem with the film.

Want to know what was? Read on...


The Story:

A young woman is sent into a mental hospital. Once she finds out she is about to be lobotomized, she concocts a plan to escape.
In a different world, the same young woman is sold to a brothel to work as an exotic dancer. Once she finds out her virginity is about to be taken by a rich client, she concocts a plan to escape.

One of these worlds is a dream version of the other. Which one is which though?
And either way, does the plan have any chance of success?


The Movie:

Using an "unreal" reality to drive part of your narrative can be a great way to include things in your movie you'd never get away with otherwise. Dreams, virtual environments and fantasies allow for basically unlimited creativity, and when used well these are powerful tools indeed.

And say what you will about Zack Snyder, he took the idea and ran with it. By the looks of it he took everything he liked and threw it in here: giant robots, zeppelins, fire-breathing dragons and even steampunk German Imperial Zombie Soldiers (which are NOT Nazis, incidentally). The fantasy environments in his film are each lovingly, meticulously designed with great attention to detail. People looking for references can have a field day here with multiple viewings, and while many of the nods are really obvious there are some which are surprising: I expected someone like Mamoru Oshii to receive some love but less well-known people like Kaz Kiriya get saluted as well.

In fact, while I was watching the bit with the steampunk zombies the weird noise next to me in the cinema might have been Richard Raaphorst gnashing his teeth for seeing so much cool stuff lifted from his "Worst Case Scenario" promos, and put on the big screen for an amount which he could have used to finish a whole trilogy (and his background chorus would then probably be the designers of the "Killzone" games...).

In these environments we have a group of powder-puffed scantily clad chicks battling the forces of evil using wire-fu, guns (lots of 'em) and slomo. What's not to like?

However, if you use an "unreality" in your film you do need to deal with the fact that what happens within there isn't, well... happening for real. You need to create a link with the narrative happening in the real world to make it have some sort of consequence.
Examples:

"The Matrix": If you die within the Matrix, you die in the real world.
"Inception": If you die within the dream while anesthetized, you end up in limbo until you are a vegetable.
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus": If you die behind the mirror, you go to hell.

In each of these the protagonists are constantly in very REAL danger even though they are stuck in an unreal world, and must do their utmost to keep alive while pursuing their goals.
While in "Sucker Punch", if you die in one of the fantasies... ehm...
Frankly, I don't know what the fuck happens. It mostly works the other way round by the looks of it: when someone dies in the "real" world, we get a whole lot flashier version seen in the fantasyworld.

Without there being any sort of consequence to the action in the fantasyworlds, there is also no tension and no excitement. It's a big fireworks display and that's it.
I would not mind that in itself, hell I LOVE fireworks! But here there is no joy, no humor. Narratively speaking these sequences are leaden weights which, despite all their flash and bang, take the speed out of what is already a very slow and ponderous movie.

Which brings me to the story. Now I'd love to dive into detail on what is there an what isn't there, but then this article would become too spoiler-heavy. Rest assured there is plenty to discuss afterwards. But while I'd normally consider that to be a good thing, here it is often caused by the film being obtuse without me knowing for sure whether that was intentional or not.

People accusing me of "not getting it" are surely right. They must be. I'm not even going to argue with them. Oh, I get that the worlds are referencing each other and that many of the fictional aspects in one world have a "real" counterpart in another one.

But "Sucker Punch" is too serious not to have a message. The way it starts, the way it ends, the overal mood, it just screams "MESSAGE". And I just cannot figure out what it is. The female empowerment Snyder appears to have mentioned? There is some of that, sure, but the bits at the end which aligned with my sense of justice (the part which makes evil pay) had absolutely nothing to do with the actions of any of our heroines. Is the message to keep fighting because your male opponent might get unlucky or terminally stupid all of a sudden? And what the hell have guardian angels got to do with it?

I've read Todd's rant on the roles of women in this movie and sure, if you choose to wear those glasses you'll find plenty of evidence there for the taking. Nevertheless, if women should be enraged at their depiction in this film how are MEN supposed to feel?

There seems to be a twist somewhere either in what the film is about, who it is about or where it takes place. Maybe Snyder has done all three and is that the reason why I'm so befuddled. Maybe the twist is that he changes the message at the end from the one he starts the film with?

But with all the clever-seeming befuddlement and all the actions-without-any-consequence, "Sucker Punch" fails to pull me into the film. The end result is remarkably emotionally empty for all the drama it contains.

So what we have here are a few mini-movies which are gloriously over the top in wire-fu and special effects wizardry, scored with superslow ultra-bass versions of such songs as Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" or Bjork's "Army of Me" (granted, "Venus as a Boy" would have made no sense in this context). See this movie in an IMAX venue not afraid to use the full 20,000 Watt on its woofers and you will not have a single kidneystone left. Incidentally, when "White Rabbit" was re-released as part of the "Platoon" soundtrack the clip they cut at the time made me think that it's a song which works fine to blow shit up good on. Apparently Zack Snyder thought the same...

In the end, as I left the cinema I felt vaguely dissatisfied but not robbed of my money. Having a beer in the sun with friends, and discussing which bits sucked and which bits punched was undeniably a lot of fun. So this surely was not a waste of my time.

As for Zack Snyder: it's easy to bash "300" but look at how many movies (and even television series) have been copying Frank Miller's distinct look as filmed by Zack. And I thought "Watchmen" was as unfilmable as claimed until he managed to prove otherwise (warts though that film did have, the adaptation process by Zack demands a lot of respect).

So I don't hate Zack. "Sucker Punch" is in my opinion a misfire, but one which does not lack for ambition. I just hope this doesn't mean the end of Zack Snyder.


Conclusion:

Having seen "Sucker Punch" I now feel as if I've seen several industry screeners for genre films which look like they might be promising. I've also spotted some gorgeous women and some guys who behaved like assholes. In short, Zack Snyder may have created the perfect movie-market simulator!

As for recommending this movie, I'll have the advertisements do that. If you liked the trailers, all that stuff is really in the movie and then some. On IMAX this film delivers on both audio and video. But make sure you bring friends to discuss the plot afterwards, as that may be more enjoyable than trying to follow it while watching the film itself.