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Sucker Punch Review

The best summary I read for Sucker Punch was a snippet from Jessica Steele Allen: "It'll bomb, and that's because it wasn't made for the majority of movie-goers." That phrase sums up both the best and worst aspects of the movie, which is an artistic project above all else...and like any art project it will likely appeal to a very narrow audience. Which side of the like/dislike line you fall on is going to be a matter of personal preference far more than movie quality.

First, to get the bad out of the way: yes, it's loud. Yes, it's violent. Yes, it has a bizarre style that almost makes Inception look straightforward. Yes, it could be called Stuff the Internet Likes: The Movie. And finally: yes, it relies on visuals far more than narrative. But one thing it's not is dumb.

Sucker Punch is not a fantasy as it is being called by many. Rather, it is a dream. The difference is subtle, but important. In a fantasy, the one creating the fantasy gets to invent everything whole cloth. There are no rules, no limits, and no consequences. A dream, on the other hand, is a reckoning of existing events on a different plane. Things that happen in "real life" get interpreted by the dreamer's mind, often with fantastic results.

In this case, the dreamer is Baby Doll (Emily Browning), who has been wrongfully imprisoned in a mental institution and faces a mere five days before she is to be lobotomized. The major arc of the movie takes place in the span of a few seconds, but encompasses all that has transpired in those five days after being filtered through Baby Doll's imagination.

Or, to be more accurate, Zack Snyder's imagination. The movie is truly his vision brought to life, for better and for worse. It is an artistic piece above everything else, made almost entirely of visual and musical stimuli. Aside from the closing scenes, the entire film could be played as a silent picture with a few subtitles. The battle sequences are rendered beautifully, the performers are all good looking and highly skilled, and the disparate geek iconography is mashed together in a way that works far better than it should (my personal favorite was the scene of a B-25 Mitchell vs. a dragon in the second major sequence). I recommend seeing this as I would recommend viewing an art exhibit: if you enjoyed Snyder's style as he demonstrated in 300 and Watchmen, you will find lots to love here and it is worth seeing on the big screen.

Collector/Modeler Interest:
The only car used in the film was a '58 Imperial, which was available as a promo back in the day. These have gotten rather expensive over the years, but can still be found with some looking.


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