Sucker Punch

To the point... Sucker Punch is quite good, but definitely not perfect. Many people WILL NOT LIKE THIS FILM! The visuals are a bit too overpowering and it was only in discussion about the film after seeing it that I came to the realizations about how powerful some of the themes and concepts behind what Snyder was trying to say came to light.

Most of the responses that I heard from people talking after the presentation were focused solely on "lack of story and disturbing nature of the treatment of women." I don't think people realize that the treatment of women in the film is actually meant to be seen as a simple representation of the treatment of the defenseless. Onscreen, young women are the most easy to associate with this scenario. The most important conceptual notion of the film, which makes it far more superior than the critics will give it credit for, is the psychological idea of the human brain's "coping mechanism." Even I, being very astute to complex ideas in film, took a good chunk of time to understand exactly what Snyder was doing with the "nightclub substitute for the insane asylum" technique. It just kind of came out of nowhere without ANY type of precursor or explanation. Nevertheless, it plays very nicely into that notion of "perception" and "the mind's eye" as a tool for survival in any given situation.

Without going into too much detail and potentially ruining any of the plot points, I will keep this observation short and sweet. The film has A LOT to say regarding empowerment and gendre. It does a fantastic job of challenging age old stereotypes and shattering the mass media representation of victimization.

Another very cool element of the film is the way that Snyder uses pop-culture in conjunction with that notion of the human "coping mechanism." Being a young woman, Baby Doll's mind would naturally resort to video game and film imagery within which to take her journey. Doing so was genious on the part of Snyder in trying to keep such an action filled film within the boundaries of a PG-13 rating since very little blood is actually spilled. A perfect example of this is the Nazi zombie war sequence where the mechanically re-animated Nazi corpses expunge steam out of bullet/sword wounds instead of blood. For me, this was the single most effective aspect of the film. I think that most general audience viewers won't get it. They will just leave it at, "Those scenes were so cool! They reminded me of __________ (insert game/film title here)." Or, they will dismiss them as, "He just ripped off __________ (insert game/film title here)."

Now, because the visuals are so potent, they do in fact detract from the story element. The film definitely feels as though there are some major gaps in the storytelling mechanism. For me, the main way that Snyder could have rectified this storytelling flaw would have been to focus a bit more on the back stories of everyone other than Baby Doll. There should have been a more generalized character development arc for the entire cast. Specifically, the relationship between Baby Doll and her "guide" needed more parameters upon which to function. That one detail alone could have really exploded the story for me. And, although unnecessary, a bit more detail about who he actually is/was in the grand scheme of things would also have been nice.

Despite its flaws, I challenge our readers to go and see the film. I dare you all to "open your minds," as the film tag line suggests, and allow yourself to feel the true nature of Snyder's Sucker Punch.