Sucker Punch (2011)

Story by Zack Snyder
Screenplay by Zack Snyder & Steve Shibuya
Directed by Zack Snyder

I really believe Zack Snyder has cursed himself. He's become easily one of the best visual directors working today, and with the material he's worked with in the past, he's never had any trouble making interesting films that deliver beyond the amazing visuals.

Now that he's starting to branch out and try to do his own original ideas, it doesn't seem to be working as well. Sucker Punch is the first real evidence of that, as Legend of the Guardians did fine financially, but Sucker Punch was a box office letdown for WB. Snyder didn't mind, I'm sure, he already has The Man of Steel, but it doesn't speak well for his next original idea.

While interesting in concept, Sucker Punch just doesn't work as a whole on the execution level. It's very obvious that Snyder had 5 major action scenes that he developed, fully fleshed out, and realized with his eye for immaculate action detail and incredible slo-mo shots. However, the story connecting these events is thin at best, and it will leave a lot of viewers unsatisfied as a whole.

Baby Doll (Emily Browning) is put into an institution for the mental ill when she attempts to fight off her step-father's sexual demands. Inside, she is met with other broken girls just like her, Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgins), and Amber (Jamie Chung) who are up against an abusive staff, led by the nefarious Blue Jones (Oscar Issac) who is deliciously evil in every scene he's in.

Again though, the main thread of the film is barely evident in some of these scenes, and the film as a whole resembles a music video in narrative structure and use of visuals in place of actual storytelling. Now, for some, this might suffice, but for those expecting another Watchmen or 300, there really is no fully developed story, you can tell Snyder was flying by the seat of his pants to make all these epic battle scenes interconnect through the thread of this young girl.

After a while, I didn't mind not knowing why exactly she had to fight giant robot samurai, or what relation they had to her direct plight, but this isn't that type of film. It's expressed concern is making cool action scenes full of everything you'd want to see in an action scene, dragons, giant robot samurai, dogfights, and hot chicks with machine guns and swords. In the end, I think the fact that none of it really means anything in the grand scheme of the story hurts it being taken with anything but a grain of salt. For the select few, this is not a problem, that was the expectation, I'm afraid the masses will be disappointed at the lack of cohesion, and I must admit in the end I hope Zack sticks to established properties (which he's shown very adept at adapting to the screen) or someone else's screenplays.

With all that said, the final word is it's an entertaining movie, it will be a showcase Blu Ray, and it really is everything a fanboy could want to see in one film. I still think it will let down mainstream audiences, but will find a cult following later on. What most people don't realize is I'm sure Zack Snyder feels lucky to make such an indulgent film, he doesn't care how well it does at the box office. Especially with is next job firmly in place.

8.8/10 (B+)