Sucker Punch - Well... I liked it (please don’t hate me!)

I’ll start off by saying that most people seemed to absolutely HATE ‘Sucker Punch.’ I didn’t.  I guess I’m weird.  But I can live with that.  Zack Snyder, normally best known for only directing his films, now writes AND directs one, too.  Sucker Punch is the result.  And, whereas I choose to mainly just enjoy it for its silly action sequences, I can see why the haters had such a field day tearing it to pieces.

So... what’s it about?  Er, good question.  There’s a girl.  She’s accused to murdering someone she didn’t and sent to an institution for the mentally insane.  Do they still do that?  I don’t know.  The film’s time period is woefully unspecified.  Anyway, once there she teams up with four other hot girls and they fight German steam-powered zombies in First World War trenches, robots protecting a trainload of explosives heading into a futuristic city and Orcs.  And I also think I remember giant monster-samurais.  And then there’s the bit about the girls working in a brothel.  And gangsters.  And they kill a mummy dragon’s baby.

Do you think I’m making this up?  I’m not.  Basically, the film does try to cover many levels at once (with limited success).  It’s one of those movies which exists on many levels (not all of them real – many interpretational and symbolic).  Some say it should have just stuck to one, but it doesn’t, therefore it does tend to confuse and disorient a fair proportion of the viewers.

As a story, it’s a bit of a mess.  I can see that.  I appreciate where the haters are coming from.  However, I can’t fault the awesome action sequences.  They’re amazingly shot and look like something out of the highest powered computer game ever made. 

I think if I’d paid full price to watch it at the cinema I may feel a little short-changed.  However, I saw it on DVD and I must have been in the mood just to watch hot girls slice apart Nazi samurais in giant mech-armour suits.  That’s the kind of level you need to set your brain on to appreciate it.

Don’t think about story.  Don’t think about character development or deep and meaningful story arcs.  Just watch the action scenes and enjoy the dark and brooding soundtrack.  If Sucker Punch is an example of Zack Snyder’s writing ability then perhaps he should stick to directing a little longer while he hones his art.  However, it’s still a lot of fun.  If you’re me.

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one