There is one film I can’t justify lumping into the exponentially increasing pile of more-than-decent yet repetitive epics: Suckerpunch. Perhaps its title is indicative of what teenage guys felt who wanted to see more hot chicks and think less.
I loved the 2006 action/adventure 300, and the previews for Suckerpunch seemed to promise the same style-fast paced action with brief slow-mo’s in all the right places. Although I came for the action (and got it), there was much more to enjoy.
Simply put, the movie was original. The plot is straightforward but intriguing: step-daughter, unjustly hauled away in the looney bin, enlists help of inmates and alternate realities of her vivid imagination to plot her escape. (It almost sounds like a twisted Cinderella story!) The cinematography and emotional characters made this film a work of art. The healthy budget was effectively used as well.
Maybe I’m a narrow demographic, but I like some rhyme and reason in my action movies, or perhaps some action in my poignant dramas. (In fact, far too many films are pigeonholed specifically into one genre, but I digress.)
In Suckerpunch, we get to see our leading lady conquer her demons-no, literally–with a submachine gun and swords. Director Zack Snyder allows us to see what effect an event in a reality or two had on another which was more, well, real. This way, the viewer gets a combination of climactic conflicts and loaded dialogue. The action seemed to mean more this way. I was impressed by the original soundtrack as well.
No character deserves more of a mention than the antagonist played by Oscar Isaac-a corrupt asylum manager, who in another reality is perceived as an intimidating yet charismatic pimp, keeping dancers/prostitutes at his club against their will for substantial profit. He is such a smooth talker that it is tempting to believe he truly feels for “his girls,” until his actions demonstrate otherwise. And in the second-layer alternate reality, he is an armed adversary with a formidable army at his disposal. All three realizations give us a person we love to hate.
Suckerpunch is what I’ll remember fondly when the smoke from the 2011 epic overload finally clears.