Sucker Punch - Not as Bad as They Say, but........

POSTED BY: SHINYGOODGUY
UPDATED: Sunday, July 24, 2011 03:43
VIEWED: 12485
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SHINYGOODGUY

Saturday, March 26, 2011 7:37 AM

Ok, I heard it sucked (from a radio announcer) and that it was "beyond awful." I have yet to read one of those articles all the way through, but here goes my 2 cents.

I thought, when I first saw the trailer from Comic-Con, that this would be an event. A stunning and revolutionary film, the trailer was that awesome. I waited with great anticipation, my little "geek" heart going boom, boom, boom at the thought of what concotions Zack Snyder had in store for us Sci-fi Fantasy geeks drooling at the thought that anime and live-action would be married in a film version of Sailor Moon meets "300."

But Zack forgot to bring his directing chops. Sure the visuals were stunning. The story, in theory, was a good idea that was abandoned and left for dead. It desperately needed a script doctor. Back to Zack's lack of direction in this film. What was he thinking? Was he so focused on getting the visuals right that he thought that to be enough. The actors: Well, if I were to characterize their performances in a word it would be - uneven. Scene after scene I watched as the actors read, acted and played at being their individual characters. There were few moments of true, normal storytelling. A visionary director produces a visionary film, in breath and depth. It seemed to me that he was telling us what was happening to our heroes rather than showing us. That sounds redundant, but you know what I mean. The script was somewhat pedestrian - like a first draft. "Tell mom, I love her," says a wounded one - which sounded about as convincing as a phone commercial. What followed was perhaps the best moment of acting in the film up until then. That's what I mean by uneven, which surprised me for a Zack Snyder film. Both '300' and Watchmen, albeit quirky, were well acted if nothing else. That's one of the reasons why I was excited. You see, Zack's track record, two well-received films that created buzz, and rightfully so, as much for the performances as the stunning visuals and well developed storylines.

And then it occurred to me. This story, Sucker Punch, was written and directed by Snyder. Both '300' and Watchmen were stories written, or at least conceived by others. Sucker Punch was his first venture into the realm of "written and directed by." Is that an excuse? No, a reality. Despite how much I love Serenity, it was Joss' first try and proved to be an overwhelming task that damn-near devoured him. In this case it proved to be more than daunting for Snyder. It was more because of the execution rather than the concept, and the dialogue. But too, the acting. Emily Browning, as beautiful as she is was, at times, flat and uninspired in a role that could have defined her as an action star. Yep, she was good in the action sequences (Snyder is fantastic as an action director), actually she was better than good - she was fantastic. But a sci-fi fantasy movie geek does not live on action alone. He needs an epic tale to transport him to another realm, convincingly. I didn't feel emotionally involved with her character because Snyder didn't challenge her to do more with her emotion. This is the lead character Zack, you need that above all else. Here co-star, Abbie Cornish (Sweet Pea) carried that weight and nearly stole the movie. Hell, even Jon Hamm (and Carla Gugino), who was in approximately 5 mintues of the film showed more emotion than half the ladies in this film. To use a baseball term, this was a high fly ball that sounded good when it left the bat, but bounced off the wall when everyone thought it was gone for a homerun. Disappointing that the home team finished the game tied.

What was good about it? The actions sequences were inspired, I kept waiting for the next transition into the dreamworld in Baby Doll's mind. They used some rather clever devices to kick-start those transitions that led to the better part of the movie - the action. Fanboys will be pleased about that, but that was it. Was I expecting Shakespeare? No, but the visu

PHOENIXROSE

Saturday, March 26, 2011 7:58 AM

(There are some spoilers here. Though the movie isn't really that story-heavy, I thought I should give some warning about that.)

This movie was clearly Action Porn for Geeks. Beautiful women in fantastical fight sequences involving 1) Mecha-samurai 2) Steampunk Nazi soldiers 3) Dragons and 4) Robots with no faces on a train. Dude. This was a guy trying to cram all the coolest things he could think of into the same movie.
I would actually argue that the story was almost entirely shown, with not much told; the first ten or so minutes didn't even have dialogue, it was strictly visual. This had the unfortunate effect of losing the thread of the story quite a lot, since it went from venue to venue without a lot of exposition about why the whorehouse scenario existed and that sort of thing. It was a little jarring in that way, but the action sequences were well worth sitting through.
You mention that you found Baby flat and that Sweet Pea kinda stole the movie. Well, Baby was a little flat, but I thought the first bit, the one without any dialogue, was quite high-impact, mostly because of her eyes. Bear in mind also, that by the end this was declared to be Sweet Pea's story; she may have been meant to be a dual focus.
When I saw the previews, I thought that it was going to be mostly elaborate fantasy battles taking place within the protagonist's mind, either to work through whatever drove her mad and put her in the asylum, or to represent breaking out of the asylum itself. I would have preferred that it go that way, without the extra layer that ended up being where most of the film took place. I was looking for a gorgeous metaphor in which girls kicked ass. Yeah, that was there, but it should really have been the focus of the film rather than an occasional sequence, in my opinion.

I do not need the written code of a spiritual belief to act like a decent human being.

GWEK

Sunday, March 27, 2011 5:17 AM

I just got back from seeing it. It kinda reminds me of the comic book world in the 1990s, when the artists became so popular that they were like "Phhht, we can draw pretty pictures? What do we need writers for? We'll write our own stuff."

It's true that the visuals tell the story, and carry the story--and they are quite cool. But part of my problem with it is the visuals themselves. Unless I'm mis-reading it, the majority of the action sequences take place allegorically within Baby's mind... so why would Baby be dreaming up dragons and samurai and steampunk Germans (NOT Nazis... this was WWI) and robot dudes on a space train (shades of TRAIN JOB, anyone? Anyone?). These things are all outside the experience and mindset of a 20-year-old girl in... when was it supposed to be set? The 1950s? I know it's silly to look for "reality" in a movie like this, but that factor sort of bounced me out of it early.

www.stillflying.net: "Here's how it might have been..."

ECGORDON

Sunday, March 27, 2011 3:24 PM

I think the main problem was that Snyder came up with the visuals first then tried to construct a story around them rather than from the other direction. Then he failed to construct a coherent story.

SHINYGOODGUY

Monday, March 28, 2011 4:42 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
(There are some spoilers here. Though the movie isn't really that story-heavy, I thought I should give some warning about that.)

This movie was clearly Action Porn for Geeks. Beautiful women in fantastical fight sequences involving 1) Mecha-samurai 2) Steampunk Nazi soldiers 3) Dragons and 4) Robots with no faces on a train. Dude. This was a guy trying to cram all the coolest things he could think of into the same movie.
I would actually argue that the story was almost entirely shown, with not much told; the first ten or so minutes didn't even have dialogue, it was strictly visual. This had the unfortunate effect of losing the thread of the story quite a lot, since it went from venue to venue without a lot of exposition about why the whorehouse scenario existed and that sort of thing. It was a little jarring in that way, but the action sequences were well worth sitting through.
You mention that you found Baby flat and that Sweet Pea kinda stole the movie. Well, Baby was a little flat, but I thought the first bit, the one without any dialogue, was quite high-impact, mostly because of her eyes. Bear in mind also, that by the end this was declared to be Sweet Pea's story; she may have been meant to be a dual focus.
When I saw the previews, I thought that it was going to be mostly elaborate fantasy battles taking place within the protagonist's mind, either to work through whatever drove her mad and put her in the asylum, or to represent breaking out of the asylum itself. I would have preferred that it go that way, without the extra layer that ended up being where most of the film took place. I was looking for a gorgeous metaphor in which girls kicked ass. Yeah, that was there, but it should really have been the focus of the film rather than an occasional sequence, in my opinion.

I do not need the written code of a spiritual belief to act like a decent human being.

Hey Phoenix, we're on the same wavelength here. Although I think that most that have criticized the movie for being "geek porn" may have missed some strongpoints within the movie. Granted it was very Sailor Moon-ish, manga, anime with scantily-glad nubile females running about, but there was so much more. I actually loved the opening sequence with just music and the actors using their facial expressions - and, in particular Emily Browning's eyes, which were extremely expressive and filled with emotion - (to me it effectively set the tone of the piece), but the dialogue and direction were lacking throughout the movie especially during the Bordello/Burlesque sequences. I too would have preferred that Snyder take our heroes through the fantasy realm of the girls kicking ass or actions sequences interspersed with scenes from the real world, and more bubble-gum philosophy from Scott Glenn's character the wise man.

BTW I didn't want to go into too much detail for fear of unvailing too many spoilers for those who have yet to see it.

When you talk about Sweet Pea being one of the dual focus, you are right. There was a very interesting moment when we first meet her, as Madam Gorski begins her session, when Sweet Pea is dressed as Baby Doll. She makes a statement as to the whole scenario of dressing her as Baby Doll. And in the dressing room just as they begin to plot their escape, Snyder tries to make his statement through the character. It was at that moment that he was stating his case about the Sucker Punch. It almost went unnoticed. Unfortunately some of the narrating was a bit heavyhanded, but that's the chance you take when making a movie. I remember T2's narrating being borderline cheesy. I too wanted to see more of Baby Doll's fantasy world (I especially liked the Dragon sequence, but not when they slit the throat of the baby dragon. That, to me, was pointless - within the context of the story).

What I was hoping to convey was that

SHINYGOODGUY

Monday, March 28, 2011 5:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by GWEK:
I just got back from seeing it. It kinda reminds me of the comic book world in the 1990s, when the artists became so popular that they were like "Phhht, we can draw pretty pictures? What do we need writers for? We'll write our own stuff."

It's true that the visuals tell the story, and carry the story--and they are quite cool. But part of my problem with it is the visuals themselves. Unless I'm mis-reading it, the majority of the action sequences take place allegorically within Baby's mind... so why would Baby be dreaming up dragons and samurai and steampunk Germans (NOT Nazis... this was WWI) and robot dudes on a space train (shades of TRAIN JOB, anyone? Anyone?). These things are all outside the experience and mindset of a 20-year-old girl in... when was it supposed to be set? The 1950s? I know it's silly to look for "reality" in a movie like this, but that factor sort of bounced me out of it early.

www.stillflying.net: "Here's how it might have been..."

Yes, it supposedly set in the 60s, when lobotomies were all the rage. Train Job? Absolutely.

SHINYGOODGUY

Monday, March 28, 2011 5:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
I think the main problem was that Snyder came up with the visuals first then tried to construct a story around them rather than from the other direction. Then he failed to construct a coherent story.

You make a good point. But what he needed was a good script. Some people can draw, while others are good at writing.

ECGORDON

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 12:22 AM

I've decided I want to see it again, because in thinking about it since Saturday I've come to the conclusion it may be better than I first thought. It has to do with the "sucker punch" itself, which is that it is Sweet Pea's story instead of Babydoll's, and that it is possible all of the fantasy sequences are things she has thought of afterwards as she is telling the story to someone else.

SINGATE

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 1:00 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
I've decided I want to see it again, because in thinking about it since Saturday I've come to the conclusion it may be better than I first thought. It has to do with the "sucker punch" itself, which is that it is Sweet Pea's story instead of Babydoll's, and that it is possible all of the fantasy sequences are things she has thought of afterwards as she is telling the story to someone else.

I agree with you about the actual Sucker Punch. Clearly everyone is supposed to think its Baby Doll's story until the last few minutes. Some people may make the mistake of thinking what happens to Baby Doll at the end is the real Sucker Punch.

I have to disagree with you about the fantasy elements coming from Sweet Pea. All of that took place within Baby Doll's mind. The bulk of the movie is her creating this fantasy about how they were able to help Sweet Pea escape. None of her cohorts know anything about this. She is only in the chair for a few moments but her mind creates this winding tale of heroics that ends in self sacifice. Along the line of "your whole life flashing in front of your eyes".

I am a bit surprised this movie did not do better at the box office, at least in it's opening weekend. Apparently everyone listened to the critics. Surely sci-fi geeks and guys who like action, hot girls, and explosions should be in for this kind of film. Heck, just on reputation alone Snyder should have drawn in a bigger crowd.

_________________________________________________

We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.

KWICKO

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 1:55 AM

The clips I've seen look visually stunning, but what I've heard makes me pretty sure I *won't* be blowing a wad of cash to go see this at the theatre. I'll likely rent it on Blu-Ray when it comes out, though.

Talked to one of my friends yesterday who went to see it. He said he walked out, turned to his buddy who was with him, and said, "So did the top stop spinning or not?"

One thing I have learned, though: Any movie with blurbs that claim it will "blow your mind" is almost guaranteed to leave my mind thoroughly un-blown.

But it does look beautiful.

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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