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Sucker Punch- A Poorly Executed Action Film

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucker_Punch_(2011_film)

Sucker Punch is a fantasy action movie released in 2011. It is a movie I saw when it was in theaters, and I recently saw it again on YouTube, and confirmed my initial review of this movie as a disjointed waste of time. The previews do not represent the film’s content, and the construction of the movie and writing is weak. Sucker Punch is not worth watching, but I did so to save you 2-hours of your life.

Sucker Punch was directed by Zack Snyder. For those who don’t know, Snyder directed 300, the Watchmen and a number of superhero movies. Snyder’s 300 is one of my favorite action films, and is a far cry from this movie. The film failed at the box office and was panned by critics. Sucker Punch stars Emily Browning as the protagonist and Scott Glen as the mystical guide throughout all the movie’s fantasy sequences. It is a fantasy action film with aspects of suspense and science fiction.

Sucker Punch begins with an introduction to the life of the film’s protagonist, Babydoll, who is committed to an asylum for witnessing a family dispute that ends in death. Her stepfather incentivizes Babydoll’s lobotomy after 3-days of incarceration. Babydoll proceeds to come up with a plan to escape, and partners with the asylum inmates to make it happen. A small group of inmates/brothel performers are tasked with obtaining objects to help them escape from the asylum. The plan is to burn the asylum down while using tools they find that are gained when Babydoll “dances” and enters the fantasy world where she and her inmate group battle steam-powered undead Nazis, robots, orcs and dragons. These sequences are intensely choreographed and clichéd. Babydoll eventually fails at her mission, but helps her inmate friend escapes and is lobotomized. The antagonist confronts Babydoll and he is arrested for his crimes committed on inmates. The inmate that Babydoll helped to escape is rescued by the mystical guide who lies to allow her safe passage on his bus.

Sucker Punch is made up of Babydoll’s delusions that she is working in a brothel/performance hall and fantasy sequences. The fantasy sequences involve dragon fights, steampunk Nazis, giant samurai and a futuristic train loaded with robot fighters. The disjointed sequences and soundtrack make this almost unwatchable and not for my demographic. This film is aimed at adolescent boys, as it features choreographed fantasy fights and scantily clad women throughout. It’s not a deep film, and is more or less predictable.

Sucker Punch received a PG-13 rating for violence, language and suggestive content. The film is not particularly disturbing, but does have adult themes and suggestions. The violence is either offscreen or rather cartoonish. The fantasy scenes are cliché and feature commonly used weapons from geek culture including samurai swords, pistols, machine guns, mechs and airplanes. Violence is committed against non-human characters during the sequences, avoiding an R-rating. An extended director’s cut features the speech of the doctor who performs Babydoll’s lobotomy.

Sucker Punch has received a large number of negative reviews, and I believe this to be a fair assessment of the film. IMDB awarded Sucker Punch a 4.9/10 and Rotten Tomatoes supplied a 22% fresh rating. I agree with this rating, and believe the movie was made in such a way that it made fantasy sequences hastily pasted together boring. The movie previews portrayed this as a steampunk/science fiction film with women as the heroes. Instead, it has a weak plot, cartoonish action and a level of disjointedness that interferes with the progression of the film. The plot and progression of the film are flimsy and one-dimensional.

The main failing of Suck Punch is the disjointed action, flimsy plot and slow progression. The female characters are not depicted as particularly empowered, and are exploited by the asylum guards/brothel staff and perform all the fighting and work for the mystical guide. The lack of depth and overall weak plot make this one action movie to avoid.