Posted 10:51 am Monday, January 28, 2013
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LOST & FOUND: 'Sucker Punch' is fanboy's dream turned nightmare of fantasy proportions
During the past 15 years, the world of nerds, a term I borrow from Dr. Seuss and The Fonz, has taken a center-ish stage place in the world of pop culture.
Whether it's the fantasy/science/horror TV Shows (“The Walking Dead,” “Arrow,” “Lost”) or shows attempting to depict nerd life (“The Big Bang Theory,” “The Guild,” “King of the Nerds”) or just the TV networks that have grown in popularity (Discover, SyFy and Science), the métier of nerdom is on full display and I haven't even mentioned the vast amount of films based on comic books and science fiction books and short stories.
So back off nerds, this is not a blog. I have limited space here.
My point is, you can't sling a dead M0100 Mouse without hitting something nerdy or someone claiming to be a “nerd, seriously it's so true.” Thank you for trying, random Victoria Secret model.
But the benefit of all of this is, writers and directors are taking comic books and science-fiction novels seriously and creating strong, and not campy, films and TV shows.
Then of course there is “Sucker Punch” (2011), a CGI mash-up of every fanboys' dream that somehow turns into a nightmare.
And I thought the musical number in “Spider-Man 3” (2007) was bad.
“Sucker Punch,” set in the 1960s, is about a girl nicknamed Babydoll (Emily Browning) who is wrongly institutionalized, at Lennox House for the Mentally Insane, for the death of her sister.
Babydoll's evil stepfather (in movies, is there any other kind?) has paid off an orderly, Blue Jones (Oscar Isaac), to get Babydoll a quick lobotomy so she'll never be able to reveal the true reason her sister died.
To help her cope with the harshness of Lennox House, Babydoll creates a fantasy world where she is the new girl working at a brothel. While at the institute/brothel Babydoll befriends other patients/prostitutes — Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and Amber (Jamie Chung) — and they try to help Babydoll escape Lennox House.
OK.
Do you want to take a moment and re-read those last two paragraphs? Because there is one more “layer” I have to explain.
Go ahead. I'll wait.
You back? Are you clear on those parts? Here's the capper: For Babydoll and her crew to escape Lennox House, they must go on missions to retrieve five items — a map, fire, knife, key and what is called “a deep sacrifice.”
My point is, you can't sling a dead M0100 Mouse without hitting something nerdy or someone claiming to be a “nerd, seriously it's so true.” Thank you for trying, random Victoria Secret model.
But the benefit of all of this is, writers and directors are taking comic books and science-fiction novels seriously and creating strong, and not campy, films and TV shows.
Then of course there is “Sucker Punch” (2011), a CGI mash-up of every fanboys' dream that somehow turns into a nightmare.
And I thought the musical number in “Spider-Man 3” (2007) was bad.
“Sucker Punch,” set in the 1960s, is about a girl nicknamed Babydoll (Emily Browning) who is wrongly institutionalized, at Lennox House for the Mentally Insane, for the death of her sister.
Babydoll's evil stepfather (in movies, is there any other kind?) has paid off an orderly, Blue Jones (Oscar Isaac), to get Babydoll a quick lobotomy so she'll never be able to reveal the true reason her sister died.
To help her cope with the harshness of Lennox House, Babydoll creates a fantasy world where she is the new girl working at a brothel. While at the institute/brothel Babydoll befriends other patients/prostitutes — Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and Amber (Jamie Chung) — and they try to help Babydoll escape Lennox House.
OK.
Do you want to take a moment and re-read those last two paragraphs? Because there is one more “layer” I have to explain.
Go ahead. I'll wait.
You back? Are you clear on those parts? Here's the capper: For Babydoll and her crew to escape Lennox House, they must go on missions to retrieve five items — a map, fire, knife, key and what is called “a deep sacrifice.”
Now this requires the women to go into another fantasy world to fight in male-dominated video game-type settings. So, at this point the women are patients/prostitutes/warriors.
“Sucker Punch” was directed and co-written by Zack Snyder (“300” and “The Watchmen”), and it his first movie from an original script.
I've never been a fan of Snyder's directing — except for the Dionne Farris “I Know” music video he directed.
“Sucker Punch” has this weird “balance” (no, that's not the right word, but I'm not sure what is) of depicting women in a sexist, misogynistic light, but while also showing them out-foxing (sorry for the pun) and slaughtering their male oppressors.
I still can't grasp Snyder's logic that states being a captive prostitute is better than being a mental patient. But after writing that, a lot of “Lifetime” movies are making more sense now.
Snyder's films are visually wonderful to watch, I will not fault Snyder or his crack team of special effects and CGI wizards for that aspect of their work.
And you would think, watching a ridiculously gorgeous woman, dressed in a school girl/“Sailor Moon” outfit, leaping and fighting in a Chinese dojo or steampunk battlefield or dragon's lair would be a great film, but it isn't.
There just isn't any there … there.
I wanted to punch myself in the face every 45 seconds while watching this film.
Which makes sense, because after watching “Sucker Punch,” I did feel like a sucker.
“Lost & Found” is a weekly column and review of films the author Seames O'Grady, self-professed movie expert, has in his DVD collection or on his Netflix queue, but just hasn't got around to watching until now.
“Sucker Punch” was directed and co-written by Zack Snyder (“300” and “The Watchmen”), and it his first movie from an original script.
I've never been a fan of Snyder's directing — except for the Dionne Farris “I Know” music video he directed.
“Sucker Punch” has this weird “balance” (no, that's not the right word, but I'm not sure what is) of depicting women in a sexist, misogynistic light, but while also showing them out-foxing (sorry for the pun) and slaughtering their male oppressors.
I still can't grasp Snyder's logic that states being a captive prostitute is better than being a mental patient. But after writing that, a lot of “Lifetime” movies are making more sense now.
Snyder's films are visually wonderful to watch, I will not fault Snyder or his crack team of special effects and CGI wizards for that aspect of their work.
And you would think, watching a ridiculously gorgeous woman, dressed in a school girl/“Sailor Moon” outfit, leaping and fighting in a Chinese dojo or steampunk battlefield or dragon's lair would be a great film, but it isn't.
There just isn't any there … there.
I wanted to punch myself in the face every 45 seconds while watching this film.
Which makes sense, because after watching “Sucker Punch,” I did feel like a sucker.
“Lost & Found” is a weekly column and review of films the author Seames O'Grady, self-professed movie expert, has in his DVD collection or on his Netflix queue, but just hasn't got around to watching until now.
