Sucker Punch - (March 25, 2011): PG-13
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Opening Weekend Box-Office: #2 with $19,058,199
Domestic Box-Office Gross to-date: $22,817,475
Gross Revenue: $28,310,371
Budget: $82 million
Director: Zack Snyder
As I said in the “Short and Sweet” review, I am a big fan of Zack Snyder’s work, so I was surprised to discover that Snyder actually began planning Sucker Punch before 2009’s Watchmen, thus illustrating that this newest adventure was nothing short of a passion project for the talented director. Now, a few questions were raised over the ensemble female cast (which included High School Musical’s Vanessa Hudgens) that would be thrown in the violent fantasy world of the film, but Snyder was adamant that Sucker Punch would critique the traditional objectification of women that pervades comic book and video game culture. Based on the inherent spirit of the film, positioning Sucker Punch for potential audiences was relatively simple; my personal favorite description was “Alice in Wonderland with machine guns.” Leading up to its release, Warner Bros. made sure posters and billboards for Sucker Punch were everywhere, and when you combine this aggressive push for audience awareness with Snyder’s already considerable fan-base, it was clear that the studio was hoping for an early spring blockbuster. Admittedly, between the female cast and fantasy-action sequences, Sucker Punch’s chief appeal would resonate most strongly with teenage and young-adult males, but that didn’t mean that Snyder still couldn’t produce a genuinely entertaining film.
Set in the 1950s with a narrative that makes use of what can best be described as layered reality; Sucker Punch introduces audiences to “Baby Doll” (Emily Browning), a young woman who has been recently institutionalized following the death of her sister and is scheduled to be lobotomized in five days since her sinister stepfather has bribed the chief orderly Blue Jones (Oscar Isaac) to fake the signature of the main therapist Dr. Vera Gorski (Carla Gugino). To cope with her situation, Baby Doll imagines the institution as a brothel run by Blue and Gorski where she and other dancers — Amber (Jamie Chung), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), Rocket (Jena Malone), and Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish) — cater to a mob clientele. Baby Doll soon discovers a talent for a form of dancing that fully entrances those watching, and while dancing she retreats into yet another fantasy world where she and the other patients/dancers are instructed by a spiritual advisor, The Wise Man (Scott Glenn) to find five items — a map, fire, a knife, a key, and an unrevealed final element — that will allow them to escape. Now, the girls plan to steal the required items, and each time Baby Doll provides a distraction by dancing, she imagines the retrieval of each item in the form of different fantasy missions that pit the team against everything from demon samurai to Nazi zombies, which they dispatch using a combination of advanced weaponry and martial arts. With a distinct visual style, Sucker Punch encourages audiences to delve into their imaginations and follow an adventure that speaks to the personal empowerment and fight for freedom that these young women share in order to escape from a hellish reality.
If the plot I described above sounds like something best confined to the comic book or video game world, then you seem to have a pretty good grasp on the chief appeal of Sucker Punch, as the film can be seen as a testament to these two art forms. In fact, if you have ever let your imagination run wild, then you are sure to love the over-the-top fantasy sequences that use enough action and violence to send even the most casual of comic readers or gamers into geek overdrive. Zack Snyder’s distinct visual style permeates throughout the film, and when you combine that with a soundtrack that remixes classic rock-and-roll, the end-result is an undoubtedly energetic adventure. To be fair, I saw the film in IMAX, but I have no doubt that the visuals are still jaw-dropping in regular theaters. Even though the story is far from perfect and takes some time to comprehend, I still appreciate the unique way in which it is told…if you can stick with the plot throughout, the ending’s integration of the different realities within the film is not only interesting but genuinely thought-provoking. Yet, for as much as Sucker Punch delivers in terms visual style and action, the film is still hampered by some blatant shortcomings.
Even with the strong action sequences full of automatic weapons and mythical creatures, to say that Sucker Punch caters exclusively to the male demographic is still a pretty significant understatement, as everything from the brothel setting to the “tactical” armor worn by the girls plays a little too strongly to sexual fantasy, making it difficult to take any other elements of the film seriously. Granted, I wasn’t expecting significant character development or profound dialogue, but most of the exchanges outside the “team missions” are just laughably bad, whether the girls are planning their next adventure or The Wise Man tries to dole out advice. With so many shortcomings outside of the core visual style, the audience if often just left waiting for the next battle sequence. To be fair, beyond the opening sequence, there is one confrontation scene in the climax of the film that has some impressive levels of tension and emotion, but one scene simply isn't enough for a two-hour film. In the end, it just feels like Sucker Punch could have done more with its premise, but so much time is spent just trying to get the audience to understand its unique form of storytelling and complicated plot that much of the potential is ultimately wasted.
From a box office perspective, Sucker Punch was absolutely blind-sided its opening weekend, knocked to second place by the family-friendly Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, and taking in just under $20 million. To be honest, I had expected the film to do much better its first weekend, but perhaps the extremely limited demographic appeal of the film hampered ticket sales…I doubt many girlfriends or wives would let their significant others rush to see Baby Doll and Sweet Pea in “action.” Still, Warner Bros. is going to need to see a significant jump in revenue in order to cover the production budget, and with so little help from the international markets, hopefully Sucker Punch can work some magic with domestic post-release promotion. At the very least, Zack Snyder’s distinct visual style shines again, and I cannot wait to see what he does with everyone’s favorite comic book icon in 2012’s Superman: The Man of Steel. In the end, I loved Sucker Punch, and as long as you aren’t looking for a popcorn action-flick that is deep or profound, then this film remains a visually-stunning must-see.
Overall Recommendation: High
