Sucker for Sucker Punch

Apr 13, 2011

—

{Spoiler Ahead! You have been warned.}

Maybe I just really like to see girls kicking ass. Maybe I just have a really big hard on for Zach Snyder. Maybe it’s the fact that my Dad alternates between calling me Sweet Pea and Spike.

Whatever. All I know is that I finally saw Sucker Punch on Saturday night and I fucking loved it. Not only did I love it, but I really don’t get why everyone is hatin’ on it. The only answer I can come up with is that they just don’t get it.

My Mom grew up a feminist in the 60’s and 70’s, she would get in political fights with my Grandfather at the dinner table and stand her ground against a man that is renowned for being a tough opponent in an argument. I saw this movie with her and the instant it was over we turned to each other and simultaneously said “I loved it.” I tell you this because it seems that much of the criticism I’ve seen has been by women that are pissed off about this movie being anti-girl power.

Anti-girl power my ass.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrIiYSdEe4E]

If anything, I see this movie as being about empowerment, strength, focus, and the will to fight and not take shit sitting down. You’ve got Baby Doll who fights back against her asshole stepdad (in a fantastic opening sequence), is forced into a mental hospital and then fights for her freedom. She just happens to solve her problems using metaphors. She’s in a helpless and demeaning situation so she envisions herself trapped in a place that is equaling as demeaning – where girls are forced to dance and act as prostitutes – a sort of sex slave version of Moulin Rouge and a situation I sure as hell would want to escape from.

She then takes a cue from Inception (or Scrooge McDuck) and has fantasies within her fantasy where she acquires four of the five objects she needs to escape – a map, a source of fire, a knife, and a key. In her fantasies she battles against giant samurai, Nazi zombies, some of the orcs from Lord of the Rings, and a pissed off dragon mama.

Nazi zombies people!

Obvious.

What isn’t there to like about five hot chicks kicking Nazi zombie ass???

I might be slightly biased on that particular point.

Like the chicas, the other main players are the same throughout each fantasy world. The helpful old guy who guides her, hotty mctottie Carla Gugino (who I heart big time), the cook, the pyro orderly, the evil step-dad, and most evident of all, the creepy head orderly who has a thing for torturing the girls on the side. Even Don Draper gets to play double duty as a doctor/High Roller who’s appearance provides the deadline the girls are trying to beat.

I’m not gonna lie, I got a little verklempt when Baby Doll realized that she was the fifth and heretofore unknown item on the list and then proceeded to sacrifice herself so that Sweet Pea could escape. I so badly wanted Baby Doll to escape as well.

She certainly took that spike to the brain like a man.

3.5 out of 5 sci-fives

Comments

6 responses to “Sucker for Sucker Punch”

@flaviomax

April 21, 2011

This movie was trully great and I couldn’t agree more that the ones who didn’t like it just were not able to understand it. Same thing happend with Sin City.

The thing is, you are invited to rave into this movie. Whenever a song started and Baby Doll started moving, I could feel I was kind of moving too. And what a sound track! I normally wouldn’t like half the songs, but they just fit perfectly with each scene, they were part of the atmosphere, not just a we-need-to-sell-CDs excuse.

Great review 🙂

Reply
1. hotnerdgirl
  
  April 21, 2011
  
  Thanks! I still can’t believe some of the reviews Sin City got either. I LOVE that movie. But, like I said, I’m a huge Zach Snyder fan so I may be slightly biased 😉
  
  Reply
  1. @flaviomax
    
    April 21, 2011
    
    I don’t mind if you are biased. I might just be as well. 😀
    
    Talking about Zack Snyder, we must bring “300” and “Watchmen” to this topic. Actually, Sucker Punch and Watchmen have similar intros, music going on, some images to emerge you into the story. He is just a great director. Can’t wait for his Superman!
    
    Reply
Vidar

April 25, 2011

I just found your website through “Help Nathan Buy Firefly” on facebook. I must say, you’ve got yourself a fan!

You’re not only beautiful but you’re also an excellent writer.

Reply
1. hotnerdgirl
  
  April 26, 2011
  
  Thanks Vidar! I really appeciate that 🙂
  
  Reply
Thomas Everett Haynes

September 12, 2012

I liked the movie, but the ending and sacrifice was… It hurt to watch. And not in an emotional, crying sort of way, but in a “you are an idiot, throw a rock” kind of way. Too often I see some story try and do a “heroic sacrifice” kind of thing, but they do it… wrong. Like in ME3 when grunt went out of his way to distract a force that was not in your way, nor could deal enough damage to kill you while you ran the opposite direction. In Sucker Punch the fact that the main character, and the only character that I cared about, (mostly because she was the only one I was sure was real), died because they were not smart enough to chuck a rock, or wait a second for them to go inside, made me lose interest. I’m not sure why, but in my mind Babydoll’s father was the main villain, I wanted to see him get what was coming- a katana in the spine (it prevents resurrection). Now that will never happen and it angers me, because that is the underlying conflict that I cared about.

Also there is the fact that the fighting scenes were AWESOME. (THEY STRAFED A DRAGON WITH A PLANE!). They were in fact, so awesome, that I cared about what else was happening in that awesome fantasy world. Honestly I think the film would have done better if it was just full on fantasy about a squad of all female basasses fighting mordor-nazi-robots or something. I’d watch the fuck out of that show. If it had at LEAST one more dragon.

I really enjoyed the film though, it was good.

Reply

Sucker for Sucker Punch

Comments

6 responses to “Sucker for Sucker Punch”

Leave a Reply to hotnerdgirl Cancel reply