All you who here now to the altar draw near, on your knees for Sucker Punch,
the new film with roots in hell: Think thee not Robert McKee, but Kenneth Anger. There seems to be the standard pooh pooh cushion being accorded this film
for being Òvideo gameÓ-inspired, and once again director Zack Snyder is being knocked on the knuckles for failing to produce a Ògraphic novelÓ for the screen.
In fact, Sucker Punch is downright drastic in its application of the gaming structure. Could it be that Snyder doesnÕt want to insult our intelligence with a lot of
embarrassing extraneous baggage just to please McKee or Rex Reed? In fact the movieÕs staunch adherence to game structure is like a big, very welcome fuck
you to them both.
Sucker Punch runs close to two hours, yet I didnÕt look at my watch until about 1:50. Could it be that
I'm relating to the experience of watching MTV or playing video games? But I donÕt watch MTV or play video games! As for B.O., I guess it stinks, yes? And as
the Thursday midnight screening disgorged (the night before the opening ÐÐ attended, one would think, by some of those most looking forward to it), it
seemed to me that a less than thrilled and somewhat nonplused half-full or so house was on the emerg-o. Anecdotally, though, IÕm hearing a lot of surprising enthusiasm for Sucker Punch. People are actually enthralled with it on account of its out-there-ness
in combination with its awesomeness ÐÐ Zack Snyder is after all pretty much the most advanced exponent of pure cinema weÕve got. One guy told me, for instance,
ÒWhen I saw those Ninja Robots, I knew this was just so over the top it was under the bottomÓ (or words to that effect).
Someone like your critic, with his more exalted moviegoing experience, is struck that Sucker Punch is more an impartation of a philosophy via the
modality of fiction than it is a traditional feature film telling a story. Without spoiling anything, letÕs just say you mustnÕt miss the ending, which functions as
a sort of ÒI think therefore I amÓ bite driving the philosopherÕs position home very conclusively (and terribly dramatically, for that matter). A nice review I read
on IMDb warns that while watching Sucker Punch, ÒYou have to work.Ó The comparisons to the Òdream within a dream thingÓ of Inception (well, to as much as I
could watch of it anyway, about 20 minutes) are that Sucker Punch doesnÕt offer any assistance to the viewer, who is left confused and is likely to stay
confused for a good, long, bumpy while. Be warned, nobody raises an eyebrow to indicate the scintillating sophistication of it all. Neither are there hamacious,
awful performances on the part of tired young Hollywood lions who are only a few of the many and various kisses and faces of death to the first 20 minutes of
Inception, at least. On this note, one of the most amazing sequences of Sucker Punch involves a CGI dragon which is so damned real you just
canÕt believe it ÐÐ realer far than Mr. Leonardo DiCaprio on his best days.
ThereÕs been some rumbling and grumbling and bumbling about the filmÕs sexism or hypocrisy to do with
female empowerment and push up brassieres or whatever. Oh brother! The people harping on this are somehow missing the utter freezing coldness, the
dearth of eroticism in Sucker Punch. Not only is the heat never turned up once, in fact itÕs only intimated that the fillies might be slaving prostitutes in a brothel.
ThereÕs a little bit oÕ the crypto lez thing going on, but you really have to reach for it, and since itÕs between two sisters, and thus either incestuous-o or
virginal-o in nature, one is likely to conclude that the relationship of the two scandalously clad fillies is a chaste one. As a matter of fact, itÕs entirely possible
that these fillies merely dance for their dinners. The eyeshadow-wearing villain, at any rate, certainly isnÕt much of a pimp. Yes, sex sells, and the costumes are
sexy, the girls are sexy. They do kick ass, but thereÕs none of that annoying riot grrrl vibe that brings down movies like The Descent.
This is a weird, exhilarating and inspiring movie. Part of the deal is that you just might doubt at intervals that itÕs any good at all. What is abundantly clear is that someone really
miscounted the beans here, and itÕs not believable in the least that this film got made, and youÕll be glad that it did.
