SUCKERPUNCH

[open_sketchbook]

I just got back from the midnight showing of Suckerpunch. I was dragged along by my friends, who insisted we go see it in IMAX.

My body wasn't ready.

We spent the entire drive home riding a buzz from that goddamn movie. We actually had to pull over so we could work it out and the driver could calm down enough to safely get us home. It is though somebody discovered how to take every over the top, mind-blowing action sequence you have ever seen in your life, melted it down, and injected it directly into your brain, except it's actually more amazing than that because even as I write this I fill I haven't got the words to actually get across how much action they managed to pack in.

Just as a film, it's alright; better than 300, not as good as Watchmen. The ending sort of trails off when compared to the sheer spectacle up to that point. But as a visual experience, it has no equal; it grabs ahold of your adrenal gland and pummels it until your brain shuts down from overstimulation, but in a good way. About the part where they started fighting clockwork, steam powered German zombies in a WW1 hellscape, every part of my body not directly nessesarily for processing the film shut down and I could do little more than sit, slack jawed, as it unfolded before me.

Just go see it.

[Thirdfain]

I am going to see it this evening with a gorgeous brunette, so it better be as good as you say!

In any case, your review has me psyched. I can't wait!

[Lord Relvenous]

If you just want to see awesome action sequences of sheer ridiculopity and grandeur, go see it.

If you want a sensible plot that you'll be able to follow without completely shutting off your "why?" brain function, well maybe not so much. I greatly enjoyed it though. About 20 minutes in I just decided to stop wondering how everything fit together and just enjoy it.
Spoiler

I was disappointed that the sequence involving the Train was the last one. I would have liked a final one.

[Magellan]

I haven't read over this review, its been a long night in addition for me coming back to this. I'll edit any mistakes in the morning.


Sucker Punch

I tend to avoid spoilers when writing reviews, but since most of criticisms have to do with the third act, so I’ll get a little spoilerish just this one. I was pretty curious on how the transitions between dream and reality would work after seeing the trailer. I figured, Babydoll would picture herself killing all of the Nazi zombies, gunman samurai, and celluloidish robots as she escaped the institution, but it turns out that she is this super amazing dancer (a talent of her’s that we never get to see) and as she dances to distract people as her fellow inmates steal the items that they need to escape, first a map, fire, a knife, a key, and the final is a mystery (that last one ended up bugging me a whole a lot).
So after a wonderfully done opening, credit to Snyder for giving us Babydoll’s (apparently she doesn’t have an actual name) backstory in that style, we’re introduced to the supporting players Rocket, Sweet Pea, Amber, and Blondie (who is ironically a brunette hurr durr derp). I was expecting Carla Gugino’s Dr. Gorski to be a villain based on some of the advertising, but she’s really allowing these girl to cope with their scenario, there’s a slightly awkward transition that shows you how it works (well two, but it’s the first one is subtle, the second is dead obvious), if you miss it at the start, you’ll be a little a confused for a second, but you’ll let it go, and it’ll come up again at the very end.
Once Babydoll realizes that she wants to get away from the doctor/high roller (again, awkward transition), it becomes a simple exercise in her doing her amazing dance which transitions into stylishly awesome and ridiculously hilarious action scenes, and its all good highly stupid fun. Especially the intro for when they had to steal the fire, a creepy old guy stylishly walks into the theater to rap remix of classic rock song that escapes my mind at the moment. What makes this he even funnier is that you don’t have much of an idea of what year this is considering all the old radios we see. All the modern guitar songs work during the fantasy sequences, but listening to rap remix of a classic song in their “reality” was hilariously stylish. So yeah, its all smooth sailing until the third fantasy act. And then the film takes a dark turn to temporarily spoil all the fun I was having. Or at least I wish it was temporary, because seriously, it gets dark, and then it never lets up and it damn near ruins the entire movie.

Now here’s the spoiler portion - Spoiler

The biggest problem with the movie was the lack of a finale fantasy sequence. I mean, after killing off 3 of the girls like that, I would gotten over it if a big bad finale in which Babydoll just messes up everything she sees in rage or something. When Babydoll realizes that sacrificing herself is the mystery, instead of doing her dance to distract the people in their way as the last survivor escaped, she simply knees the guy in the nuts and then we get a “happy” ending as the last survivor goes on because the entire time it wasn’t about her? Knowing Snyder, he wanted to give us a good finale, but I imagine it wasn’t in the budget so he did what he could, I’m hoping, he just wasn’t giving us the finger at the end. Because throughout the entire time, you know that he knew what kind of movie he was giving us. The thing that bugs me about the mystery, it was supposed to be a sacrifice that would lead to a perfect victory. I get that not every could’ve made it, but seriously, what was perfect about that victory. I mean, good for the last survivor, but she’s not the one I would’ve picked to make it, granted she seemed to be the smartest of the bunch.

Back to the movie in general –
The acting is serviceable, no one stood out, but no one gave a bad performance. The cinematography is pretty great and it was nice to see Snyder’s take on shaky cam for a minute in one sequence, it still needs some work. As a quality movie, it really isn’t. As a showcase for Snyder’s style as director, its awesome. With others handling the story/plot/writing and him directing, I say bring on Superman. It’s a fun ride, but once that third act starts, the ride stops and we simply have to wait for someone to get us out it, and trust me, its not a fun wait.

2/4

On another note, you're allowed one or two f-bombs in a PG-13 movie, but what's with the animosity toward saying mother fucker, that would've been hilarious, but in this movie we get to hear Vanessa Hudgens say mother, but she starts shooting as we watch her mouth fucker. *sigh* nice try Snyder.

[SylasGaunt]

Spoiler

I kinda see where it was going. Baby Doll escaping gets her out of the institution.. but that's all. She's got no family to go back to, and she'd be a penniless fugitive with nowhere to run to. On the other hand by staying she helps her deceased friend right something she'd thought of as a wrong, helps Sweet Pea reunite with her family and escape the asylum, and incidentally by staying she got both Blue's and her Stepfather's crimes exposed (and given how Blue was spilling the beans I wouldn't be surprised if the Cook got hauled off to). Some of that she MIGHT have been able to accomplish by escaping.. but that's dependent on someone taking the word of an escaped mental patient over people who are supposedly fully sane. Yes she got lobotomized, on the other hand you had that bit with the Doctor mentioning that it almost look like she wanted him to do it.. perhaps as a way to escape the pain and guilt that's been wracking her the whole movie.

[Magellan]

So did BabydollSpoiler

kill her sister or was it the stepdad, cause I know something Babydoll caused a pipe to burst, but it didn't exactly show how she died, you just saw the blood.

I thought it was a nice touch that it was Spoiler

Sweet Pea that was imagining all of them in that theater, so I guess it makes sense that Babydoll said, this was never about me. And I guess, her sacrificing herself did solve a lot of the issues. But still, it was too much of a downer for me to enjoy the movie as a whole.

I loved the mayor's introduction.

[Setzer]

I had read some negative reviews, but they all seemed to be from people who were expecting more from this movie then they had any right to. I went into it expecting to see a simple plot with hot chicks and cool fight scenes, and I have no complaints in either regard.

One thing I will say is there was genuine tension in the three big fight scenes. I never got the feeling that the girls were walking over their enemies no problem, like you see in a Steven Seagal film.

[Magellan]

I had read some negative reviews, but they all seemed to be from people who were expecting more from this movie then they had any right to. I went into it expecting to see a simple plot with hot chicks and cool fight scenes, and I have no complaints in either regard.

One thing I will say is there was genuine tension in the three big fight scenes. I never got the feeling that the girls were walking over their enemies no problem, like you see in a Steven Seagal film.

It was a 2 hour movie with 20 minutes of action. I can easily see the critical bashing, though a few of them were able to go with them. What's even more amusing is the movie analysis, apparently this movie has some super deep undertones.

[DudeGuyMan]

Trailer looked like they let a group of eight year olds write a movie via Mad Libs. Scored lower critically than Scooby Doo or Alvin and the Chipmunks according to Rotten Tomatoes. Zack Snyder's worst-ever box office opening for a live-action movie, coming in second to Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules.

Has the internet/geek community gotten excited anything that wasn't a mentally retarded commercial donkey punch in the last, I dunno, five years?

[open_sketchbook]

This is not a movie you watch for how much sense it makes or how much the critics love it. This is a movie you watch to see a dragon and a B-25 have a dogfight over a massive, orc-held castle being decimated by a squad of scantly clad women with automatic weapons, set to a sweet industrial mix of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit. If that preceeding sentence excites you, it's the movie for you. If you think that sounds stupid, stay away. What the fuck more do you want?

[Magellan]

This is not a movie you watch for how much sense it makes or how much the critics love it. This is a movie you watch to see a dragon and a B-25 have a dogfight over a massive, orc-held castle being decimated by a squad of scantly clad women with automatic weapons, set to a sweet industrial mix of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit. If that preceeding sentence excites you, it's the movie for you. If you think that sounds stupid, stay away. What the fuck more do you want?

A less depressing ending to said movie.

[open_sketchbook]

Yeah, it is sort of disappointing that there wasn't a final super awesome action scene. It could have had the exact same ending, but it would have been much more bittersweet instead of just depressing if the last image we see is Babydoll kicking French Army vampires in half during a Napoleon War pastiche instead of just kneeing a dude in the nuts.

[fgalkin]

This is not a movie you watch for how much sense it makes or how much the critics love it. This is a movie you watch to see a dragon and a B-25 have a dogfight over a massive, orc-held castle being decimated by a squad of scantly clad women with automatic weapons, set to a sweet industrial mix of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit. If that preceeding sentence excites you, it's the movie for you. If you think that sounds stupid, stay away. What the fuck more do you want?

A less depressing ending to said movie.

It is called "Sucker Punch," you know.
Spoiler

Still, while there is nothing wrong with grimdark (and it's the point of the movie), I really don't think there is anything to justify Sweet Pea being the one saved. She is not only the most passive character in the whole move, she also with some of the worst characterization, aside from Blondie. She literally does not do anything except complain about the plan, and even when she steals the map, the action sequence still focuses on Baby Doll, so it still appears that she's not doing anything. That's a definite failure on the filmmakers' part and the movie suffers for it.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Kingmaker]

While the visuals were certainly awesome, I think the movie arranged the action sequences wrong. The fight with the Tengu was a good start, but the Siege of Paris was by far the most spectacular. The castle and the train scenes were still cool, but a bit of a let down after fighting robot-zombie germans in a WWI hellscape.

Plus, I walked out of the movie feeling uncomfortable rather than buzzed, which is something of a first for an action movie this over-the-top. I don't like it when a work of fiction tries to tell me I'm a bad person for enjoying it.

[Gil Hamilton]

This is not a movie you watch for how much sense it makes or how much the critics love it. This is a movie you watch to see a dragon and a B-25 have a dogfight over a massive, orc-held castle being decimated by a squad of scantly clad women with automatic weapons, set to a sweet industrial mix of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit. If that preceeding sentence excites you, it's the movie for you. If you think that sounds stupid, stay away. What the fuck more do you want?

That actually sounds exactly what DudeGuyMan was saying about it being like a group of children writing a movie via MadLibs. Every scene being crammed to the nonsensical brim with "ZOE MAH GAWD!11 TOTALLY WICKED!!!!1111" and having it not make a damn bit of sense doesn't tend to make a very good movie. Even from your own description, they barely had an ending to the movie, as though any sort of plot is entirely coincidental to the movie. That's not a good recommendation for shelling out money to see it! It practically sounds like they should have just cut out the plot entirely and called it "Heavy Metal: Suckerpunch".

[Simon_Jester]

The real problem with this movie is that the 'dark realistic' plot (either the brothel as a framing device, or the mental institution as frame for the framing device) doesn't plot things out well enough to justify taking the movie away from its "kick ass and take names" theme into dark realism. The characterization is, as fgalkin notes, not all that great- the character who gets away intact is the one who's done the least to earn it; she's just arbitrarily promoted to "protagonist" after playing a minimal role throughout the movie.

The pacing is a bit off for that too, I think- "shit gets real" too early in the movie, and too quickly. Though that may just be me wishing there'd been one more of those massive action scenes.

[Magellan]

After seeing the first 5 minutes again on youtube (Warner Brothers seems to be sore that the movie isn't doing too well money wise).


I guess it makes sense once you listen to the monologue again. And in retrospect the movie did have a bit more plot than I actually gave it credit for. The movie was just not about Baby Doll. I mean it entirely contradicts the very first fantasy scene, but hey ... what can you do about it.

Actually, I would say Blondie deserved it the least. I mean, not only did she not do anything to help, she kind of undid the whole thing. Sweet Pea was essentially Mother Hen, she was honestly trying to keep everyone safe and in the end it didn't work out. Spoiler

Rocket chose to sacrifice herself. Amber couldn't have been helped in anyway. And Blondie yeah ... And to save Baby Doll would've made the whole monologue at the start and end pointless.

Didn't they note that Sweet Pea was the one that went with Rocket after she left even though she didn't have any beef with their parents.

[DudeGuyMan]

Movie skewed something like 75% male in terms of viewers, and suffered a nearly 70% drop in it's second-weekend box office gross. It drew in some fanboys and then crashed, basically. For a movie with a budget in excess of eighty million dollars, it cast way too narrow a net.

[Guardsman Bass]

It's also the third big-budget Snyder movie in a row to make a mediocre showing at the box office (although Watchmen had decent DVD sales). I wonder if they'll keep him on to make the next Superman movie.

[Magellan]

I always thought that Watchmen made most of its money back, though I'm not sure if it still counts once you include the money they spent on marketing. Guardians did better overseas than it did here, I'd say it broke even in terms of money. But yeah, Sucker Punch just flat out bombed. WB is probably stop giving him as much money after Superman. They'll keep him on for Superman, but they'll probably advertise it as, "produced by the director of the dark knight and inception". But hopefully the budget is smaller than Superman Returns. Who the fuck thought it would be a good idea to give that movie a $270 million budget? They'll give Snyder $200 mil for his Superman since that's been the standard budget as of late. They might give him let him do another project after Superman, but if that tanks he's done with WB and Legendary Pictures.

[Crazedwraith]

According to wikipedia; Watchmen had a budget of $130 million and Gross Revenue (Worldwide) of $185 Million. So factoring in Ads and then DVDs, possibly in profit but hardly raking in the cash.

[Guardsman Bass]

I always thought that Watchmen made most of its money back, though I'm not sure if it still counts once you include the money they spent on marketing.

The movie was probably profitable once it went to DVD/Blu-Ray (The Numbers has its DVD sales listed as $52.6 million).

Guardians did better overseas than it did here, I'd say it broke even in terms of money.

I'm not so sure about that. The movie's production budget is listed as $100 million (in reality, it's probably lower than that), but it only brought in $139.9 million world-wide in overall box office revenue (meaning the studio- distributor cut was a lot smaller than that). DVD sales for it are okay, considering the DVDs were released in December last year ($14.8 million) but I doubt they've reached break-even with those yet.

I don't know what its marketing costs were, but children-oriented films can sometimes get companies producing merchandise based off the movie to run cross-promotional ad campaigns.

But yeah, Sucker Punch just flat out bombed. WB is probably stop giving him as much money after Superman. They'll keep him on for Superman, but they'll probably advertise it as, "produced by the director of the dark knight and inception". But hopefully the budget is smaller than Superman Returns. Who the fuck thought it would be a good idea to give that movie a $270 million budget? They'll give Snyder $200 mil for his Superman since that's been the standard budget as of late. They might give him let him do another project after Superman, but if that tanks he's done with WB and Legendary Pictures.

Part of the problem with Superman Returns was that it spent years in Development Hell. They were already tens of millions of dollars in the hole when they finally started the production that would lead to the actual movie, IIRC.

[Magellan]

Sounds like the situation that Men in Black III is in right now. Not only were they supposed to start filming months ago, they're still rewriting it.

[Molyneux]

Sounds like the situation that Men in Black III is in right now. Not only were they supposed to start filming months ago, they're still rewriting it.

Wait...what?
Lordy, I hope they learned from MIB II and the mistakes that picture made.

[DudeGuyMan]

It's also the third big-budget Snyder movie in a row to make a mediocre showing at the box office (although Watchmen had decent DVD sales). I wonder if they'll keep him on to make the next Superman movie.

As long as they don't sack him from Superman (which I don't think they will) it almost doesn't matter. If Supes tanks he's fucked, but if it makes bank then all will be well.