You have to appreciate Zack Snyder’s ambition for at least trying to tell a story. The man has proven himself in many regard, and with “Sucker Punch” he tries his best to deliver crowd pleasing entertainment that won’t polarize his fan base. The problem is, he never lets us in on the fact that deep down “Sucker Punch” is just a teenage melodrama disguised as a genre film. Sure it’s a journey of the self, and the mission of a group of young women to take on robots and monsters, but they’re all just metaphors.
Worse yet, they’re metaphors that mean nothing and hold little relevance to the story beyond the obvious. There’s no real delivery that hits the audience with an emotional punch, there’s no actual turmoil to be had. Instead it’s a long series of tear jerking confrontations with the evil staff of this boarding house, as our heroine Baby Doll finds herself embroiled in her own fantasies that collide her with samurais, and machine gun rallying soldiers. Zack Snyder knows how to deliver a visual tour de force, so in that regard there’s nothing to complain about, as the visuals for “Sucker Punch” are incredible, and often times amazing. When Snyder goes beyond the melodrama and interstitial romances and relationships, “Sucker Punch” actually manages to be a competent throwback to the anime of the far East channeling films like “Assault Girls” to get its point across.
Snyder throws those elements in an Alice in Wonderland escapist world filled to the brim with spectacles and monsters the likes of which Snyder can never seem to get enough of. But when the story does settle down from the action confines and drops in to the reality, there’s nothing to really compel or engross ourselves in. Particularly when it comes to the women, all of whom are defined by their personal worlds filled with surreal sights rather than their personalities. Which is a shame considering the young female cast are filled with talented young women, all of whom don’t get to do much beyond their action set pieces, and aren’t capable of handling material as broad and vague in depth as we see here.
The steam punk fantasy epic is allegedly a project for director Zack Snyder that he’s been working on for years, but for what purpose it’s never truly clear. There’s not much humanity and when he tries for it, he and the writers often fail. You can’t make a Michael Bay actioner and a drama about coming of age at the same time. It’s confusing and often times completely muddled in the apparent fact that the audience will leave confused as to what the director is even trying to say. Much like “Drive Angry 3D” this is a film that has no idea of whom it’s trying to appeal to, but at least it covers up that argument with the inherent ability to wow us with incredible CGI and vast worlds of the mind that deserve exploration, if only to further separate us from the lack of depth and complexity in the real world upon which these women stomp around.
Unlike “Drive Angry 3D,” the action is at least a consolation prize and one many people will re-visit the film to experience over and over again. Surely it’s not the worst movie of 2011, but it’s definitely not the slam dunk for Zack Snyder that he’d originally promised. This comic con sensation is yet another dud, a movie with a lack of focus, a lack of depth, and an audience it’s vaguely familiar with. Whether this will become a testament to puberty for young females in the audience or fantasy fuel for young males, one will only have to wait and see, but I gather neither of these results are what Zack Snyder would have wanted from this bore fest.