Escape to the Movies: Sucker Punch

[Caligulove]

Moviebob is nothing if not right about how divisive movies can be- Sucker Punch now being added to the list of movies that I vehemently disagree with the man on. That said, Bob forms cohesive opinions about why he likes something, and I can respect that. Even if some of it can come off as pretentious.

I still watch everything he does, and this is mostly why- I don't always agree with him like many other features on the Escapist.

 

[LonelyWizzard]

How can you call 300 "Frank Miller Dribble". Its not a timeless classic, but its a fuckload better than that shitty movie. I've never enjoyed the work of Zack Snyder, and I doubt this will change my opinion of him at all, but I'll try to be open minded.

 

[Aptspire]

will see it... eventually (f***ing region D

 

[qbanknight]

No Bob, this is not an example of a young director expressing his artistic talent in a positive way. This film is to Snyder as "Lady in the Water" was to M. Night. It's Snyder's own personal world that only makes sense to him and him alone.

The script is utterly insipid. The first 15 minutes have no dialogue and all we are treated to is a remix version of 80s songs that dealt with dreams. Now "Up" had a beginning that had no dialogue and was so emotionally resounding that it was amazing to see people NOT cry in the beginning. But nothing interesting is going on here, just Snyder's "unique" artistic style. And by "unique", I mean slowing down and speeding up every goddamn frame to make mundane activities seem interesting: close up on a key, stop, quick cut to face slow-mo, quick cut to lock speed up, etc. It's absolutely pointless and it's nothing interesting.

The characters are bland and uninteresting. I cannot fathom how you saw ANY character in these girls. These girls were just archetypes: the shy but free-spirit, the hard-knock life chick, the flirt, the screw up, and the...I don't know what to call Vanessa Hudgens since she has less than 15 lines in the whole damn movie. Joe Hamm is totally wasted, he is constantly demonized as the "High Roller" throughout the movie but he doesn't say a word of dialogue until the last 5 minutes in the movie. The "Wise Man" giving the girls instructions says so many off-the-wall-completely-unrelated quips (like "if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything") that my audience was laughing in the screening we got. They would make a fortune cookie say, "what the hell are you talking about?!"

This is style over substance and yes, pandering, Bob. You are claiming critics are dismissing it as such. And they are totally right, because there is nothing empowering about these girls fighting when we are treated to so many crotch shots of their panties when they fight.

People, rent this movie. Don't bother catching this theaters. That way, you can at least fast forward to the cool sequences and stop it all when the last dream is done.

Now I'm looking to Superman with a sad, sad face.

 

[Jennacide]

SON OF A *****!!!

I was going to see this movie tonight. We had everything planned. Then what happens? My friend sees its score on metacritic and "won't pay for a shitty movie" so now we're seeing Paul...


I WANT TO SEE THIS FUCKING MOVIE!!!!!!!

Hopefully I can persuade him otherwise...

No offense, but your friend is an idiot for ever taking Metacritic at face value.

As for the movie, since you trump it up so well Bob and I generally agree with most of your views, I may give it a chance. I originally wrote it off just like you point out as being pure pandering, which Snyder being the director didn't totally help stop that opinion. But it won't be the first time a movie looked awful at first glance and I ended up liking it, so guess I know where I'm going this weekend.

 

[The_ModeRazor]

Well, I liked Watchmen, so I might as well watch it. Except for Manhattan being naked half the fucking time. First time, I laughed. After that, it became really irritating.

Aaanyways. Other reviews I read on this say it's rather avarage, but just looking at the scenes in this review, something tells me they're wrong.

 

[Ashcrexl]

i had every ounce of confidence in zack snyder. apparently i was right. unlike moviebob, i loved all 4 of his movies for varying reasons, so sucker punch being great is no surprise.

 

[ragsmorrison]

Okay, bob, here's how I see it: Snyder is nowhere near the second coming of Stanley Kubrick that some people see him as. His adaptations have so far been complete disasters. Watchmen was a flop because the core story was butchered in favor of upping the ante in terms of global catastrophe and placating the potential outcries of "but the villain can't save the world! Not without at least getting smacked around and told he's been very, very bad!" That and everyone besides Haley and Cudrup phoning in their performances.

He added a pointless and boring side plot to 300 to placate potential complaints of "why aren't there any women in this testosterone-fest?" and he made Leonidas shout too much "THIS..IS...UNNECESSARILY LOOOOOOUUUUUD!!!!"

And finally, the only way Scott Pilgrim could have been remotely good was if Edgar Wright time traveled to 1985 and asked Michael J. Fox to play the lead.

 

[Smertnik]

Been waiting for this movie for months. Probably going to watch it next week.

 

[Stabby Joe]

Currently this film is getting critically slaughtered despite my initial hopes so of course it's refreshing to see something more positive.

I'll still go see it but I will go with the open mind that I might just end up leaving cinematically offended a'la Micheal Bay style.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Pro Tip: If you want a movie to be successful, don't compare it favorably to Scott Pilgrim.

I liked Scott Pilgrim. I imagine I'm going to enjoy Sucker Punch immensely.

One pattern that I've picked up on... If Movie Bob gives a recommendation, even if it goes against the general consensus of other film critics, I'll usually like what the movie has to offer. It's when he pans a movie (especially if he invokes the Rant of Bob) that I usually ignore him. This holds even more true with his opinions on video games.

Personally, I found Scott Pilgrim the movie to be fun and energetic for the first third. The second third was draggy and the last third was confused and tonally uneven. Scott Pilgrim the character, on the other hand, as a complete loss on me. A serially depressed, mopy loser.

As for Bob, he is one of the few critics I cannot predict, and that makes him unique and special to me. I love watching his reviews and placing them against my own thoughts on films.

I think the pacing issues primarily stem from the fact that it's a feature length film adaptation of a 6 volume comic. I can forgive it that, and really didn't even notice on the first viewing (because I was too busy having fun watching it). As for the character, I think that, after reading the comic, Michael Cera wasn't the best casting decision they made with that movie. The problem is that I can't really tell you who would fit the character.

All in all, I enjoyed Scott Pilgrim for what it was, and believe that the only real way to improve it would be to stretch it into TV series, preferably of the sort that HBO would host, or possibly some of the better SciFi Channel mini-series (BSG, Dune, etc). Oh, and change the Katayanagi twins back into robot engineers instead of the lame retcon into DJs. That would be great.

Personally, I loved the movie the first time, but did feel a little held back by the pacing. The second time I watched it though, The pacing issues totally vanished. It felt like once you know where the movie is going, Scott Pilgrim's pacing is actually perfect for the kind of movie it's trying to be. Give it another watch, you may be surprised.

I have it on disc and have watched it somewhere around 10 times. Did I mention that I like that movie?

 

[Rottweiler]

Personally, I intended to see after the first trailer I and my friends saw.

When you see a trailer, and you are standing outside the theater with your friends, and everyone is saying variations of "Oh that looks awesome"...and yet at the same time when you ask "does anyone know what it's about?" and no one can answer you...

This just says "I will see it".

 

[EmzOLV]

I'm definitely going to go and see this in the cinema. I think that I can form my own judgement on it (although perhaps I have bigged myself up for it already so either going to love it regardless or be utterly disappointed) but I feel if I didn't see it in the cinema it just wouldn't be quite the same.

Especially with all the dream/reality worlds and the special effects, don't reckon a home setting will really do it for me. If I'm going to like it, it's going to be on the big screen.

Still psyched!!

 

[k-ossuburb]

I've been looking forward to this as much as the (hopefully) forthcoming "The Goon" movie, I seriously can't wait for this to hit the shores over here.

For those of you not in the know, this is "The Goon". I'm pretty sure you'll love it.​

 

[RaikuFA]

i wanna see it i wanna see it i wanna see it I WANNA SEE IT!!!

did i mentiion i wanna see it?

 

[NickCooley]

Honestly, I was just gonna see for the girls in skimpy clothes killing shit and I make no apologies for that. But it's good to see it's a lot more than just an eye candy fest. Must be seen in IMAX.

 

[vato_loco]

I loved this movie. Fuck the critics (I didn't even see any critic before watching it), this movie has every single thing I could ever ask a movie to deliver. Everything from the game / anime / fantasy references to the gorgeous protagonists to the awesome music to the great script to the perfect direction, photography, montage, etc.

Don't listen to critics. If you're a regular to this site, chances are you'll love Sucker Punch. It'll talk to you in ways you didn't even know you could be reached, and you'll leave the theatre a more complete, happier person.

To me, this is, hands down, the BEST action / fantasy movie I've ever seen. Yes, better than Matrix, and even better than its predecesors, 300 and Watchmen.

 

[Mister Linton]

I'm super pumped to see this. I am a huge Snyder fan and hope he keeps getting the projects he wants to do because they seem to all be right up my alley. He should team up with Robert Rodriguez some time (aaah I think I just messed myself)

 

[Jimmybobjr]

So, its like Scott Pilgrim?

Ah, so its bad. A miss then.