Sucker Punch

I enjoyed Sucker Punch.  It’s hard to hate a movie that was so proud of it’s own ridiculousness.

Sucker Punch reveled in it’s own stupidity.  The entire movie was an experiment to see how much awesomeness the filmmakers could fit into one movie.  The answer, as it turns out, is a lot, provided you don’t worry about it making sense or anything.

The movie was about a team of hot chicks fighting their way out of an insane asylum, using their imaginations.  That means that in these girls’ minds they aren’t fighting guards and security personnel.  They’re fighting dragons, and ten feet tall samurais, and a trainful of robots.  And they’re doing it all with nothing but an armory full of assault rifles and the skimpiest clothes they can find.

Now you see what I mean.  This movie knew exactly what it wanted to be, and it had a blast getting there.  And for that I respect it.

Their wasn’t a whole lot of acting going on here, but I did enjoy Oscar Isaac’s suitably despicable performance as the man in charge of the asylum.  I did notice the movies obvious attempts to “un-Disneyfi” Vanessa Hudgens by giving her the worst swear words and having her do the most sexual moves.  These moments felt awkward and forced.

Sucker Punch did wear out it’s welcome by the third act.  The final dream action sequence on the train felt tired and repetitive.   After the movie returned to reality, it made the mistake of trying to be clever and explain everything that had happened.  This was not the Sucker Punch that I had come to know and love.

Overall, it was a fun ride.  Unlike Battle Los Angeles, another recent mindless action film, Sucker Punch realized that it was mindless action and pushed that to the limit in an original and undeniably cool way.

And if you’re wondering, the Scene Where I Decided I Liked the Movie was definitely the mayor’s entrance.  You’ll know why when you see it.

3/5