Okay. Wow. Let me collect my thoughts. The reason I am writing this so late is becasue I just got back from seeing Suckerpunch with my friend Connor. Let me say this. Put away all preconcieved notions about this movie. Shelve all negative or disparaging reviews. Disregard the statement of 'offensive to women' or 'sexist'. THIS. MOVIE. ROCKS. It blew my mind. ( Granted, its no Citizen Kane.) The movie is in all honesty a cheap thrill, a way to kill a lesiurly Satuerday night. Is it worth it? Heck yes.
The movie opens with an unnamed girl whos mother dies. The tone is set by the somber visuals and grey palate. Her evil stepfather ( natch) tries to take all the money, but finds the will and testement that leaves it to the two daughters. Drunken rage, attempted rape, and a gun all follow in the space of 30 seconds. The girl takes the gun intending to defend her little sister, but winds up accidentally shooting said little sister. She is committed to the Lennox House for the Mentally Insane in Vermont- though Vermont matters not in the slightest. Rapidly this girl finds a cadre of friends and after recieving instruction from both a Russian ballet instructor, and a dream-like sensi devises a plan to bust out of the ward. It centers around five things - a map, fire, a knife, and a key, and a fifth thing that is yet to be determined. The action rapidly expands from there. The kicker though is the quest to gain each one of these items takes place in a suberbly rendered fantasy world. My favorite was the steampunk WWI. The action rapidly developes from there.
Now comes the time where I say what I don't like. The ending took a turn I didn't expect, and left me wondering what was true/not true. Also, there are some instances where it is clear that the characters are animated. Barely noticable, but still there. Finally, and biggest of all, the phsyics of the movie. Its literaly like Zack Snyder took The Matrix, Spiderman, Die Hard, Star Wars and Avatar: The Last Airbender threw them into a blender and hit puree. What came out was the physics of the film. I would critique more, but right around the time of my pyhsics quadary my brain went OH DEAR GOD ITS A SAMURAI WITH A FRIGGIN' MACHINE GUN!!!!! WHOOO!!! and shut down execept to drink in the stunning visuals and action fights.
As a final note, the music is spot on. It takes classic songs and re-imagines them with a technoy-alt- punky electrosythy vibe. I particually like Jefferson Starships song White Rabbit blasting over the WWI scene. Mabye that's just because I like the song. Whatever the case, it works perfectly.
Oddly enough, this movies PG-13. I loved it, but if the theater today was any indication, it's not going to be around in theaters for much longer. I see it definitivly having a cult following though.
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