Sucka Pawnch: Why do people hate it? (Spoilers)

So this Saturday I had the chance to go see Sucker Punch. My expectations going into this were low. I had already read my fair share of comments about it being mediocre, Hollywood turning garbage, etc. I think I actually have a quote like that...

Sucker Punch is such a bad movie that it raises the bar for what counts as terrible. That's because there's a horrific genius in it. This film will crystallize for you all those half-formed thoughts about what's wrong with Hollywood. - Annalee Newitz

That's actually the last thing I read before going to see the film. So now I'm sitting in the theater. Trailers go by and the movie eventually starts. In the first 10 minutes of the film I was already impressed with the cinematography. The first shot with the 'main character' (and those are in quotations for a reason but we'll talk about that later. Let's just call her Baby Doll from now on) really pulled me in. Sitting on the bed in a dark dismal room while the music played...it was just a beautiful shot overall. The scenes involving a struggle between Baby Doll and the step father that follow were also very well done. The whole opening act was brilliant. It was definitely getting the attention it deserved from others around me in the theater as well, to the point an older lady leaned over and asked me what movie this was; and yes, she was in the wrong theater anyway. That's not the point though. What matters is that the scenes really did their job. The film as a whole conveyed a lot of dismal situations which were perfect for the story itself.

Now this may seem a little confusing, but bare with me. This is my first time doing a movie review on a blog. The film branches into two different realities, one being the insane asylum introduced in the beginning and another where all the girls are instead dancers for a brothel. In this alternate reality where the girls are dancers, a dance instructor teaches them how to dance and break away from the horrible reality that they are faced with in order to help them be 'free'. In actual reality, the dance instructor is really a doctor who helps the girls deal with their emotional problems through the use of music and imagination. On top of this, in the alternate dancer reality, Baby Doll imagines different worlds when she dances where the girls and herself try to obtain the items they need in bizarre ways (for example, getting fire from a dragon or a map in a World War 2 setting). So simply, we can say that it's a dream within a dream. Oh god please no more Inception.

So the main conflict now is that Baby Doll needs to escape the brothel before the High Roller comes to see her dance (and do a little more than that *wink wink*). In reality, Baby Doll is planning to escape from the insane asylum in order to get away from the Lobotomist who will turn her into a drone. In order to escape Baby Doll requires five items: map, fire, knife, key, ???, PROFIT (uhhh disregard that last one). With the help of four other girls: Sweet Pea, Rocket, Blondie and Amber she plans to get these items and make her escape.

Anyway, the girls try to obtain the four items they need in order to escape from the brothel (in actual reality, the insane asylum) while the curator continues to get more and more suspicious. In the process of obtaining the items they need, some of the girls are killed (two by the curator and one by a chef in the kitchen). Eventually Baby Doll and Sweet Pea use the four items they need in order to get outside the brothel and toward the exit but the exit is guarded by a few men. This is where Baby Doll finally realizes the fifth item they needed was her own sacrifice. She stays behind in order to allow Sweet Pea to escape and live the life she wanted instead of being a dancer in the brothel.

Actual reality sets into place now as the fifth day rolls around. The viewer is shown that Baby Doll was the one who ended up killing the three girls as well as causing problems in the asylum. The Lobotomist finally shows up and does his work on Baby Doll. Eventually we see the doctor that was helping the girls find out that the curator was in fact admitting sane girls to the asylum in order to make a profit (hey, maybe I was right about the whole profit thing). The curator is taken away by the police and we zoom to a scene with Sweet Pea finally escaping to her home.

Overall, I loved the story. The whole theme of wanting to be free and using the brothel as a way to depict this was perfect. The idea that the film wasn't even about Baby Doll to begin with was also interesting and that the whole story was really about Sweet Pea and the struggles she and her sister had. The more action packed scenes were also entertaining to watch and kept the film interesting. I would say that it's a dark movie with an amazing story and message. What I didn't understand was the hate towards it. Maybe it was the eye candy that bothered people? Maybe it was the corny action scenes? I have no clue how it shows what's 'wrong with Hollywood'. For those who did watch the movie I wanted to know, when the train is heading towards the city didn't that remind you of Midgar in Final Fantasy VII? I hope it wasn't just me.

Well that's all I have to say about Sucker Punch. Sorry if I was a little confusing at times...this is my first movie review and real blog post. Ever. So yeah my writing may need a little more work. Maybe a lot...I guess I'll find out eventually. As always, thanks for reading!

- Res

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