Director Zack Snyder has stated one interpretation of the film is that it is a critique on geek culture’s sexism and objectification of women.[10]
Lol. All the more reason to make a movie about nothing more than just that!! But I think Zack forgot to include whole "Critique" part.
Please.
God… so I went and saw this. And it turned out to be WORSE than what I was expecting. Worse!
Warning, large rant and total movie spoilers below:
[hide] So basically, the plot is this. Babydoll (or what she is nicknamed), is, along with her sister, the heirs of some big fortune. So their uncle (or whatever.. didn't remember that one) get's really pissed that he isn't in the last will and testament, cause he's an evil pig, yah know? So he decides the most logical course of action is to beat or rape or kill his very blonde…. ummm family member (still don't remember who he is)... but she claws him and says no. So he decides the best course of action, remember he's a stereotype, is to go after her much more innocent, younger sister. Blondie (oh wait, that's another character.. duh) Babydoll, lacks the gumption to properly shoot someone point blank and accidentally kills her sister. She gets hauled to a mental institution. She's scheduled for a lobotomy in 5 days to keep her quiet by mister scumbag, who is paying the orderly (male, corrupt, douche bag, evil). Soooooo, Babydoll's five days in the asylum go on (with her noticing all the items that we already know about from the trailers) and then she gets a lobotomy..... but wait.... wait. That's boring (says Zack Snyder)... let's make this in a brothel! (so now the audience is assuming that babydoll is imagining she's in a brothel... and waiting five days for the "high roller" to come and buy her.) This is pretty much where the real movie starts... seeing as how we get introduced to the other girls and this is where much of the "non-action" parts take place.
So speaking of the girls we havvvvvvee: The friendly Rocket. Probably the most likable character in the movie. Sweet Pea, Rocket's rough around the edges sister (also a Tsundere. I only say that since there is a part where she backs out of the plan... only to return a few moments later saying "who's gonna keep you idiots from dying" aww she cares). Then we have Blondie (who obviously isn't a blonde... we gotta stick to a formula here!).... and lastly Amber.... who's.... hot.... yup.
So blah blah blah, Babydoll is then told she has to practice dancing (brothel remember? not asylum... well it is, but... you know). Well she's really shy at first... or tortured.... or a victim.... or just making the same "i'm scared and about to poop my pants" look on her face the ENTIRE film. She starts listening to the music annnnnnnnd BAM! the parts of the movie most everyone payed for starts.
Lemme break it down for you, since the trailers left this a surprise. The crazy genre mashup action scenes take place in Babydoll's subconscious when she's dancing (whilst in another delusion). Yup. That's it. She then meets the only nice male in the film who instructs her about the five items and how they are the only "way out". Map, fire, knife, key, something secret.
Then he performs his schtick, which is predictable, yet entertaining. He finishes his mission speeches with a quote.
"Oh.... and one last thing"
music stops
pause
"Defend yourself!"
! 1ShHTCvE7TY&autoplay=1&start=339
So these scenes take place when the girls are stealing these items from around the brothel while Babydoll dances and distracts the men. Turns out she's a pretty good dancer (or at least we're told, since we never actually see it). But that's all boring…. let's shoehorn in some expensive action set pieces!
Babydoll (who now talks) comes up with a plan to rally the girls. Get a map to find an escape route, get a lighter to make a fire distraction, get a knife for any trouble on the way, and a key to open the doors! What a wonderfully stupid plan!
Sweet Pea: Are you crazy? There are guards. We'll die!!
Rocket: But we're already dead (looks sad).
I could HEAR the eyes roll in the theatre…
So that's the gist. The crazy action scenes, guns, badguys, etc.... all of them technically DON'T exist within the confines of the plot. The movie could have easily cut out those scenes and the plot would remain the same.
Anyway, Babydoll and Co. fight: Giant samurai. Steampunk nazi zombies, a dragon, and shiny androids. The thing about these scenes, as mentioned before, is that Zack attempts to fly around the battlefield and show us AS MANY things as possible at once. The cleanest scene was the samurai battle (since it was just a girl and three samurai). The worst was the train battle against the androids. I'll give credit for some of the shots.... but when an entire several minute battle is a constant spinning camera and slow motion... it gets a bit, well... crappy. I kept thinking... "Ok Zack... OK ZACK!!!! Lemme watch the fucking fight scene!!!" It's like those set piece moments in action movies (like the bullet time dodge from the matrix... or a jump from a fireball. Or a really cool, final kick, to a badguy's face. Now imagine nothing but that for an entire scene! The problem is while I (the viewer) get to watch this action moment, I never really get a good look at what's going on. It's very fake looking... there's no punch to it (kinda like the difference between listening to music on an analog recording over a digital one... it's tough to explain... but it lacks warmth). None of the action in this movie is new to me... the creativity isn't... well... creative at all! Mashing up a bunch of elements from different genre's and the whole east meets west vibe everyone likes is cool.... but in the case of Sucker Punch, not really anything new or different. And of course, being new or different wouldn't matter to me... if IT WAS ACTUALLY GOOD! But sadly, that isn't the case here. The action and visuals are just not that great.
Soooo i'm kinda getting tired of going through this... soo let's wrap this up (since there isn't much left to say).
Since the action has no bearing on the plot what so ever i'll cut to the chase. They get the map and the lighter. By this point, the brothel's pimp (the asylum's orderly. Evil male remember?) is catching on to their plot, or whatever, and does his douche bag act to threaten them. When they go to steal the knife, they fuck up and Rocket gets killed. Then after that, Amber and Blondie are pointlessly killed in the same scene by the pimp (since their characters were obviously going no where)... which leaves Babydoll and Sweet pea to escape. They use the items (even though all they really needed was the Key and fire to escape).. and the final item is revealed to be Babydoll sacrificing herself. She does this so Sweet Pea (a character with barely any sort of development) can escape.
That's it.
Flash to reality. Babydoll get's lobotomized. The end.
Sure the evil orderly gets what's coming to him, but there's no real payoff. The evil uncle(?) gets no resolution and Babydoll becomes a vegetable. We're left to be satisfied with a different character having a happy ending we care nothing about.
The movie, and our time, is wasted on a half assed character development that really goes no where and gives the audience nothing to care about. One moment the girls are prisoners, then victims, then fucking super heroes! It's inconsistent and, given the the ending itself, makes it pointless to even sympathize or cheer for them in the first place.
Yah know, I feel this would have worked more as a series of shorts showing off the action scenes to a music track. Just pure visuals. I dunno, kinda like a music video. At least then, i'd maybe, MAYBE accept Snyder's bullshit about it being "A Critique on geek culture's sexism and objectification of women". At least then, i'd see it as something more artistic... rather than the cash in it truly is. The movie is just a shiny layer of fake paint on top of a bad movie, wrapped around a shitty movie. [/hide]
TL;DR version of rant:
[hide] Soundtrack was annoying and the remixes were bad. It was like a movie length music video. The choreography and visuals were hardly new or entertaining. The action was just…. bad, or at the very least, nothing new. The characters were about all together pointless. The plot made no right amount of sense, and when it did.... well it just plain sucked. The self reflective monologue at the end to bring it back around was honestly just sad. [/hide]
There's a quote in the movie. It goes:
"If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything!"
Well, too bad Sucker Punch has nothing to stand on in the first place.