Sucker Punch [2011]

August 2, 2011

Are you a sucker for visually alluring movies that don’t make much sense? If the answer is yes, boy, do I have something for you or what! Sucker Punch is a stylish orgy of cool visuals and concepts following five sexy girls fighting against evil forces. Well, sometimes that’s all I need to hear about a movie to watch it. Hell, even one sexy girl will sometimes do the job. Actually, it doesn’t even have to be a sexy girl, it can be a sexy guy, I don’t discriminate. As long as the movie is entertaining and shiny, I’m willing to do my part. Get high and try to soak in as much of the atmosphere as possible.

Sucker Punch is Zack Snyder’s first regular movie. By that, I mean that his previous movies were all either remakes (Dawn of the Dead), comic book adaptations (300, Watchmen), or novel adaptations (Legend of the Guardians). I think he already knew he was not much a writer but more of a visual storyteller. A shower and not a grower to be blunt. If there is such a thing as sensory overload, he accomplished it here. What usually happens in most movies is that we’re slowly immersing ourselves into the story, waiting for that big finale.

The thrill of the hunt, pardon me, wait and the tension that builds up over time are the things that make that glorious finale feel so good. For example, Jaws is a movie that best illustrates this concept. In the movie Sucker Punch, the action starts right away although it’s a rather burlesque action, to be honest. It’s going to take 30 minutes for us to get to the first real fight with giant evil samurais. In the next level, our five heroines will be fighting Nazi zombies (did someone say Dead Snow?) and so forth.

Well, I guess now is as good a time as any to talk about the powerful erotic undertones in the movie Sucker Punch. It does star five hot girls led by none other than Babydoll, wearing pigtails and a lot of spunky attitude. At certain moments, the movie will look like it’s going to turn into a porn movie with high production values. Despite this highly sexualized content, Sucker Punch is a PG-13 believe it or not. The director’s cut did get an R rating but more about that later.

Babydoll did not have a pretty life so far. She was abused by her stepfather who also killed her mother and had her committed to an insane asylum. Here, she will meet other unfortunate girls and make friends with them. All of them share a common goal, to escape this dreaded place. A place that’s just as vile and depraved as their hellholes of homes. To keep pushing forward, Babydoll will lose touch with reality and transport herself into a strange universe that holds the key to her freedom.

As you can see, the main story here is quite intense and disturbing. It shines a light on the abuse women suffer daily in this perverted world we live in. And yet there’s a strange seventies exploitation (sexploitation) movie vibe here. Technically, you can look at Sucker Punch as a WIP movie. WIP stands for Women In Prison movies like The Big Bird Cage. The only difference is that instead of a prison we have an insane asylum. I guess that would make Babydoll Harley Quinn of her Batman fame.

She also fits quite well under 18+, petite, and a couple of other porn search terms. I have to talk about this because she has apparently struck a nerve with not just audiences but also studio execs. I’m just bringing this to your attention and that’s all, we don’t have to go into moral dilemmas here or anything like that. If, however, you’re up for some of that, do check out our Subversive Rabbit article about Sleeping Beauty also starring Emily Browning. You can also look up a whole subgenre of Japanese movies like Big Tits Zombie 2010 where half-nude girls fight various creatures.