Sucker Punch

Theater Worthy


I have been anticipating this movie for months. And I am happy to report it did not disappoint. Go see this movie. I have to admit, going to a movie on opening night is just not as nice as watching it in the day when you are practically alone. I just forgot how loud opening night can be. So thank you boisterous guys in the row behind me, apparently I needed reminding.

Sucker Punch is about a young girl called Baby Doll (Emily Browning). After her mother's death, her step-father has her institutionalized. She retreats to an alternate reality as a means to cope with her life. In this alternate reality, she attempts to find freedom with the help of four other girls in the facility.  Her alternate reality has two layers, a brothel and a battlefield. The battlefield is more of a layer inside a layer. This layering effect reminded me of Inception. However, Sucker Punch did not explain the layers as Inception did, but rather used costume and setting to distinguish between the realities. Almost every scene in the brothel has a mirror. I find this detail fascinating. One shot in particular was extremely meaningful and well done. The girls were sitting in front of their dressing room mirrors talking. The camera pans behind the girls focusing on their reflections, then seamlessly crosses the plane of the mirror and the reflection becomes the reality. This sets the theme for the entire film. Everything becomes a reflection of reality. The battlefield is a reflection of the brothel. The brothel is a reflection of reality. Absolutely genius, Zach Snyder, absolutely genius.

This film was cinematically breath taking. The first five minutes of this movie were so visually striking no dialog was needed. It was amazing to see the entire setup of the film done without a word being spoken. I was completely enthralled. The action sequences were also stunning. There are a number of slow motion shots which I enjoyed, well up until the train scene at least. My favorite battle scene was definitely the trenches. Zack Snyder did an amazing job of creating fantastic fight scenes with five girls that wouldn't normally be cast in action roles. And as the guys in the row behind me can attest, they looked hot. I was particularly impressed with a fight sequence involving Vanessa Hudgens, who plays Blondie. I was watching carefully and her almost completely real time fight scene included no stunt double. I did not think she had it in her, but not only did she pull it off, she did it well. As did the rest of the cast. The computer graphics had an animated feel. This added to the feeling of a false reality.

The styling and makeup were up to standard with the rest of the film. There were, of course, some stunning beauty shots of all the girls. I especially loved Jena Malone's (Rocket) hair in the battle scenes. It was so perfectly placed it felt animated, which was enhanced by the setting created by the graphics. The sound effects were flawless. Every song, every sound was perfectly placed. This soundtrack has already been added to my play list. The acting was on par with the other elements. Even down to the minor roles. Jon Hamm was amazing as the doctor.  His appearance was so brief but his impact was great. What made it so great was that he didn't know how much of an impact he would have by mentioning something so seemingly small.

In short, go watch this movie. The story line wasn't what I thought. The ending was a bit of a sucker punch itself, but after knowing the whole story, no other ending would have been acceptable. The movie leaves a lot to think about, fueled by some unanswered questions. I want to go a little deeper into those questions and things that will ruin it if you have not seen it so read the rest after you watch the movie.

Caution: The continuation of reading this blog post before watching this movie will result in pain and affliction of knowing you have just ruined the awesomeness of your movie watching experience.


Ok so I wish there had been one scene of Baby Doll interacting with the other girls in the institution. She saw the other girls interacting, well fighting, when she arrived, but I never knew what her relationship with the other girls was. We can assume that everything that happened in the alternate worlds was a reflection of reality. In this case, she did interact with the girls. Perhaps she did save Rocket from the cook, and we know she definitely stabbed Blue. But then the question arises, did everyone else really die? Well Baby Doll was sacrificing herself to what seemed a certain death in the end of the alternate reality. The reflection in reality, being lobotomized. So were the other girls also lobotomized? Or were they harmed at all? When everything shifts back to reality, the fire is mentioned, the stabbing is mentioned, the escape is mentioned, but no deaths are spoken of. Another question, were Rocket and Sweet Pea really sisters? If so, they also ran away from home, and perhaps Sweet Pea wasn't crazy but went to the facility in order to protect her sister. Or perhaps a mental patient is now on the loose. But since this story is about freedom and Sweet Pea got the freedom we expected from the story, I will choose to believe she was going home to her mother. And when she gets there she is going to tell her Rocket loves her, because that is just how the story ends.

I found it really interesting that this alternate reality worked as a therapy for Baby Doll. In the beginning when she was attacked by her stepfather, I wasn't then, nor am I now, certain whether he was going to physically or sexually abuse her. The way the camera focused on her fallen button made me think sexual,. Perhaps it was both. The layers of her alternate reality addressed both issues, one being sexual and the other violent. The film also inferred that Blue was sexually abusing the girls, which was confirmed in the end. When Baby Doll was admitted to the mental institution, I saw Blue and wondered, "What is a young man doing around these girls and why isn't anyone concerned about it?" My suspicions were confirmed when he had Baby Doll put in what looked like a gutted men's bathroom at the end. It also worked as a therapy as she went on her quest for freedom. I originally assumed she wanted to escape the facility. When she realized that this wasn't about her getting free from a building, but from herself, she accepted, and even desired, the way to that freedom. In the brothel she desired death, and in reality she wanted the lobotomy. Jon Hamm's character saw that longing in her eyes. After killing her little sister, what else could she long for. Escape from a building would never provide her freedom. I loved that her sacrifice actually did bring down Blue. She really did give all the other girls in the facility freedom, as she found her own, by being the means to rid them of Blue.

After the lobotomy, everyone keep saying, "Look at her eyes" yet the camera never allowed a view. I waited with morbid anticipation for the look in Baby Doll's eyes. I expected a deadness, an empty numbness. The film so perfectly denied the audience any view of her face. She was led as a puppet, not responding to anything. When I finally saw her face, I was pleasantly shocked. She really was in paradise. She did find that freedom. It is not the freedom any of us would think to want, yet after her life, I doubt there was any other freedom for her. So the movie did end happily, if not the happiness I originally envisioned. She would never again be burdened by pain. Brilliantly done. Bravo Zack Snyder. Bravo.