I perceive myself as being a fan of stylistic directors almost as much as the films they make. Among the obvious (Anderson, Cuaron, Tarantino, etc.), Zack Snyder has been on my radar since he remade Dawn of the Dead back in ’04. In the following I will summarize why when I walked out of watching Sucker Punch I had felt like the title of this film may have hit too close to home for my comfort. The incomprehensible mess of Sucker Punch stings with the same sort of sensation as when I had seen Lady in the Water : this fantastic director is more than off his game.
Not to say Sucker Punch is a bad movie, in so many words. It’s a film with the fantastic visual flair and characteristic soundtrack that has made me such a fan of Snyder, that attempts to impress at such an ambitious level it seems only able but to fall flat sometimes. Colors explode vibrantly across the screen as the protagonist Baby Doll (played by Emily Browning, who also contributed her fantastic voice to the soundtrack) slices through a variety of baddies : dragons, samurais, robots, zombie-like soldiers and oddly enough pedophiles.
The cast is littered with a variety of fine actors, all of whom try their best to portray the weak logic guiding their characters. Such is the fault with Sucker Punch, as the “plot” which string together the various videogame-inspired action scenes can barely even amount to the definition of the word. To say the film has plot holes would be too kind, and to say it makes little to no sense wouldn’t be much of a stretch. After an hour of watching one slow motion battle after the next I had found myself bored and stuck watching a music video.
Snyder’s previous films have flourished so well due to the combination of both a thick storyline and his trademark style. I am sure to view this movie as a simple action film, a fan of that sort of thing will be more than satisfied with the finished product. Unfortunately, I myself am more interested in the future films of Snyder, hopefully one with as much a heart and brain as it’s balls. Sucker Punch can be considered a splotch on the record, a confused, messy, looping splotch.