Thread: Sucker Punch

Without saying too much, I went to a matinee screening in IMAX.
I love the fight scenes, and ABSOLUTELY LOATHE the rest of the film.

I'm pretty sure I fit the target audience:
Comic geek
Action film lover
Video gamer

I just cannot get over the underlying plot, it caused an anger response in me so strong I spent the entire movie thinking about what the "truth" was happening while the fantasy unfolded.
By the end, I wanted to unsee it.

Sorry, I wanted it to work. . . it just ended up being the worst film I've seen in years.

Originally Posted by BoobyTrap

What? It lacked slutty looking women grinding?

Actually it was more about the lack of COLOR, which this has in spades. To be honest, I don't find any of the women particularly fascinating. I am an unapologetic Snyder fanboy. His work is very pleasing to my eye. And the fact that Alex Pardee did most of the production design helps too. Look, I think a LOT of folks are going to hate this movie. I will go into it with tempered expectations. I do not expect it to be anything more than what equates to a really long music video. So, I expect to love it.

Originally Posted by BoobyTrap

You can watch retarded and ridiculous fun without having to watch slutty looking women blow **** up. That's what Jackass movies are for.

Originally Posted by Doug Fresh

Yeah, but there's so much hairy man-taint in that series that we need to reinforce our hetero-ness and go see T&A afterward.

I loved 300 just as well as I hope I will love this, and if that wasn't gay porn then I don't know what is.

Originally Posted by jerseydevil

Actually it was more about the lack of COLOR, which this has in spades. To be honest, I don't find any of the women particularly fascinating. I am an unapologetic Snyder fanboy. His work is very pleasing to my eye. And the fact that Alex Pardee did most of the production design helps too. Look, I think a LOT of folks are going to hate this movie. I will go into it with tempered expectations. I do not expect it to be anything more than what equates to a really long music video. So, I expect to love it.

Funny, I walked out of the film thinking it would have made 5 really awesome music videos. Seriously.

Like I said...I think I am ready to enjoy this movie for what it is.

10 Years Gone: Sucker Punch’s Long Journey to the Screen | Film School Rejects

Review: ‘Sucker Punch’ is Live-Action Anime That’s All Shine and No Substance | Film School Rejects

On paper it sounds pretty amazing: sexy young actresses, plenty of firearms, the directing of Zack Snyder, wild nightmare action sequences, and a minimum amount of leather inspired clothing. In small doses, say in trailers and commercial spots, the film looks amazing. Fast paced action, again the sexy ladies, and amazing, lush digital sets, brimming with fireballs and bullet hits. Then some slow motion, and some fast motion and some slow motion again.

By now you’re probably starting to predict where I’m going. I said it’s amazing in small doses and in paper, but how is it stretched out to two hours?
If you guessed “not that great” then you saw right through me. I, like many of you, had high hopes when I settled in for Sucker Punch. Watchmen was as good a movie as a Watchmen movie could ever be and 300
was a stylistic dick chop that reinvigorated the action genre – and its sword and sandal epic cousin.

Sucker Punch is filled to the brim with Snyder’s particular brand of direction: fast motion, slow motion, brilliant colors, and frantic action. In these moments, the movie is like crack for your eyes – addictive, engaging, and cool as ****. The action sequences are visually spectacular and will quite possibly explode off the IMAX screen and damage your retinas with just how much cool stuff is going on.

If you’re looking for live action anime, then look no further. From the Japanese inspired locations to the weaponry and costumes, this is the stuff come to life. Unfortunately, it’s not one of the great animes come to life. It’s one of the mediocre ones that’s cool to look at, with no story to speak of.

You see, much like a hot but stupid girl, a movie can’t just look good to be good. When the group of girls isn’t drop kicking zombies, hunting dragons, or machine gunning robots, there isn’t much to keep your interest.

Written by first timer Steve Shubiya, a school chum of Snyder’s, based on Snyder’s original idea, there are plenty of characters with no depth and plenty of story with no plot. The film literally seems to play out as a list of things that would be cool to see in a movie, glued together with a kindergarten paste of a mental institution plot.


That is all I was looking for.

Harry is flirting with loving SUCKER PUNCH, but doesn't propose just yet...

Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

This is a very fair and thoughtful review...and it's not positive.

and this

Nordling Loves Zack Snyder's Fever-Dream "Musical" SUCKER PUNCH!

Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

Flat out, if you can't suspend your disbelief in this movie, you're going to be in for an unpleasant time. The movie requires a lot of heavy lifting, and narrative logic goes out the window fairly early. Babydoll's dreams, especially - although it's not clear what time the film takes place (it seems to be in the 1960s), Babydoll's visions involve anime mechs, science fiction robots, high speed trains, and imagery that someone like Babydoll simply doesn't have access to. Although the film doesn't make logical sense, it does if you approach the film as a kind of visual "musical." In musicals we're expected to understand that people can break out into song as a part of the world, and in SUCKER PUNCH fantasy action sequences take the place of those songs. It's visual music, as it were. Snyder's imagery is playful; the camera swoops, shakes, soars, and catapults the audience through each amazing scene. If you try to pick at what you're seeing, though, the house of cards falls down. This isn't a movie for people who need realism in their films - you're missing the forest for the trees if you question why Babydoll has the fantasies that she does. Instead, you're basically watching Snyder riff on his guitar for two hours. That's okay if you like that sort of thing, because Snyder's one of the best in the business. But if you can't stomach the way Snyder spirals, jazzlike, through the film's setpieces, you're going to be fairly miserable.

And someone did their thesis apparently...

CHUD.com — FROM DAMON’S DESK: SO… SUCKER PUNCH

Ultimately, this film needed a writer to see its themes and concerns and nuance the narrative so the characters felt better drawn, and actions had more weight. Previously, Snyder has had better or stronger material to draw on, so perhaps his narrative deficiencies could be masked by that structure to fall back on. Here there’s no net. And like Pearl Harbor or Elizabethtown, you get the sense you’re seeing the naked machinations of a director. All the pieces are there, but they don’t fit together right.

I’ve only seen Sucker Punch once, and maybe now that I know what it is, I might be able to enjoy it more. But the aspirations of the film surely exceed its grasp, and there seems to be a confidence in the visual telling that is missing on a story level. Icarus flew too high, and watching that lesson is both educational and painful to watch.