{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!
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