Sucker Punch

A teenage One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in robotic Ninja underpants. A stupid shooter with a bunch of affected chicks in suspenders, acting as if they are in a cheap American porno, framed by a kind of pseudo-spiritual chatter about the power of man. What really disappoints me is the fact that Zack's visual montages are bombastic, but they completely miss the point – I don't know if it's their non-originality or that they are terrible self-serving, but Sucker Punch seems to me to be a wasteful mess that obscures the complete absence of soul with excess effects. It just confirms that Snyder is an excellent short film maker (although Sucker Punch lags behind the rest of his work in this regard) and that he leads the actors very benevolently – as long as he has solid material in front of the camera, it disappears, but once those revived teenage fantasies ring out, the result is disastrous. One advantage of this nonsense is that Watchmen seems like an even bigger miracle to me. But that's it (I curse myself now that I gave 300 such a low score...). P.S. The unreliable narrator has never been as unreliable as in this film (which takes away all his credit and effect). (23/03/2011)

A film of two extremes. At one point it's a perfectly flaring, greatly entertaining, action-packed and almost ingenious ride full of energy and spectacular shots, whilst at other points it's a dragging, boring and stupid show of meaningless dialogues. The sequences where the viewer has fun or is bored alternate regularly. Whenever someone started talking, I tried to look at the ground and not listen. Terrible. On the other hand, when the shooting started, I couldn't look away from the screen. Fantastic perfect worlds. The film was worth seeing just for the German soldier zombies from the First World War powered by a steam engine with a watch. Great. But all of this gloss is wrapped in a dull story set in a nuthouse, which is completely useless and uninteresting. Sucker Punch is like a really beautiful painting set in a really ugly frame. Overall, it’s average. (26/03/2011)

It's you.. Nazis, zombies, robots, dragons, samurais and a group of beautiful girls against them. In other words, six reasons why Sucker Punch couldn't succeed globally. It has everything you can imagine when you want a big, opulent, bombastic blockbuster and the world couldn't handle such an explosion, because having all those hits in one movie is just too much. Snyder clearly fulfills many fantasies and despite a few reservations, I have to cheer for him. I could do without the somewhat forced contrast between painted fantasies and depressive reality (which ironically, I actually liked more), but in the end, it's because of where the story is heading that the ending almost knocked me off my feet. I won't see such a specific ride not only this year, but never again. And now, grab a katana and Baby Doll can start dancing. (18/06/2011)

An incredibly crazy film, full of parodies, references, and captivating visuals. It’s a film made only for film enthusiasts and lovers of “fantasy” action. For bores and rational scientists, it will be a completely wasted hour and a half, followed by a feeling of WTF. Zack Snyder does whatever he wants and in his own way, it's also charming. (09/07/2011)

A very action-packed spectacle full of (almost) everything. The soundtrack was a bit too loud for my taste and it was composed of music that I am not very impressed with, but I have to admit that it was a perfect match for the images that Snyder conjured up. The relatively simple story is not worth criticizing, because with a more complicated plot Sucker Punch would probably not have been as impressive. The girls and women were very good, many scenes were not lacking in unexpectedly believable emotions, and I will probably watch the part inside the speeding train many times. Four and a half stars, and I'd love to see the director's cut. (20/10/2012)