ZACK SNYDER'S SUCKER PUNCH: WHAT IS THE REAL REALITY?

It has now been three weeks since I saw the film Sucker Punch at my local theater. I have read more reviews of this film after seeing a movie than any other film I have ever watched. The reason for this is I have yet to read a review that explains to me successfully why Sucker Punch deals in not one fantasy setting, but two distinct fantasy worlds. Most reviewers dwell on the sci-fi-fantasy action set pieces that take place in Baby Doll’s mind as she dances, while either ignoring the nightclub-bordello imaginary setting; or completely confusing it with the real world setting of the asylum. Snyder has done such an extraordinary job of creating lasting and impactful images in the fantasy quest settings that it is almost as if the human mind is not able to retain the more dark and disturbing imagery of the nightclub-bordello. For me at least, I found this primary bleak fantasy setting at least as gripping as the later secondary dazzling quest fantasy worlds. I have still not satisfied my need to understand why the director and co-writer of Sucker Punch created a counter unreality to the harsh reality of the asylum setting. To compound the confusion, the sequencing of these two separate, yet parallel (un)realities is done in a very nonlinear fashion, so that one is forced to piece together the timing of the events taking place in both worlds after the film has concluded.

I decided that if I was going to get an answer to these questions, the only place I might get them is from the creator himself, Zack Snyder. After a fairly lengthy and exhaustive search of the Internet, I came up with many fluff pieces talking about all the surface glamor of Sucker Punch, but not anything that answered what the film is actually about; either thematically or theoretically. The closest I could find was this interview of Mr. Snyder by Jack Giroux posted on the website Film School Rejects on March 27. I’ll post some of the quotes by Zack Snyder from this brief interview that I feel give at least a glimpse as to what Sucker Punch was really about.

Jack Giroux: The film has gotten that interesting type of polarizing reaction.

Zack Snyder: It has. For me, I honestly think with Sucker Punch – it’s weird. I feel like people either see it two ways: completely in the overt version as exactly what they see, which is just this girl going crazy and then going on this adventure for no reason. That version of the movie that people see is as a super straightforward movie. Or people see it as a crazy, sort of, commentary on genre films and what is sexuality and why the girls are dressed like that. I think that’s also valid, because that’s what the movie is.

Jack Giroux: Would you say the film is a critique on geek culture’s sexism?

Zack Snyder: It is, absolutely. I find it interesting, in a lot of ways, that this movie – of all the movies I’ve made – has been universally hated by fanboys, which I find really interesting. It’s like a fanboy indictment, in some ways. They can’t have fun with the geek culture sexual hang ups.

Jack Giroux: I thought it was basically you commenting on those attendants at Comic-Con who shout, “You’re hot!” at beautiful cast members.

Zack Snyder: Yeah! 100%. They don’t know how to be around it. It’s funny because someone once asked me about why I dressed the girls like that, and I said, “Do you not get the metaphor there? The girls are in a brothel performing for men in the dark. In the fantasy sequences, the men in the dark are us. The men in the dark are basically me; dorky sci-fi kids.”

Jack Giroux: Do you feel like most people are missing that idea? Aren’t there self-referential lines about that in the film, like when Sweet Pea says the dances have to be more than titillation?

Zack Snyder: Oh yeah. There’s a few of those. She says, “The dance should be more than titillation, and mine’s personal,” and that’s exactly a comment on the movie itself. I think 90% are missing it, or they just don’t care. See, I don’t know. I haven’t had the opportunity to question people about the film, and I feel like that’s the next step with taking the time to interview people about what they saw, or what they thought they saw. The other line that I think is important is, as soon as the fantasy starts, there’s that whole sequence where Sweet Pea breaks it down and says, “This is a joke, right? I get the sexy school girl and nurse thing, but what’s this? A lobotomized vegetable? How about something more commercial?” That is basically my comment on the film as well. She’s saying, “Why are you making this movie? You need to make a movie more commercial. It shouldn’t be so dark and weird.”

This is only about half the interview, but it deals with the aspects of Sucker Punch that I’m the most interested in. Here is the first quote of Zack’s where he states, “Or people see it as a crazy, sort of, commentary on genre films and what is sexuality and why the girls are dressed like that. I think that’s also valid, because that’s what the movie is.” Is Mr. Snyder saying that the movie is just his way of pointing out the conflicting motives of genre films that both empower women and exploit them simultaneously? If that were the case, he might have chosen a far lighter tone that would have accomplished the same goal. Therefore, there must be more to the film than that.

In this next quote, Mr. Snyder seems to reinforce this theme of Sucker Punch by saying, “Do you not get the metaphor there? The girls are in a brothel performing for men in the dark. In the fantasy sequences, the men in the dark are us. The men in the dark are basically me; dorky sci-fi kids.” Zack Snyder seems to be underplaying the darker undertones of the brothel, by stating that it is a metaphor for “dorky sci-fi kids” who go to see genre films to watch girls in skimpy outfits acting out male fantasies. If I thought Mr. Snyder was being completely truthful with this comment, I might be insulted. However, I think he’s having a laugh here at his own personal joke, which he is still unwilling to completely let anyone else in on. I think like most creative people, he wants the work of art to speak for itself and he feels uncomfortable or is just unwilling to explain it to anyone else. It’s like the old adage: If you have to explain the joke, than it’s not really funny is it?

The most revealing comments of this interview is when Zack Snyder says, “The other line that I think is important is, as soon as the fantasy starts, there’s that whole sequence where Sweet Pea breaks it down and says, ‘This is a joke, right? I get the sexy school girl and nurse thing, but what’s this? A lobotomized vegetable? How about something more commercial?’” Here is where Mr. Snyder at least infers that he intentionally created a film that contrasted ugly truths with beautiful fantasies; but still, he does not address to what end! Is Sucker Punch just one glorious visual manifestation of men’s ignominious treatment of women; at least within the confines of our popular entertainments? These quotes from the director seem to indicate just that. If that is the case, than Mr. Snyder is a far shallower creative mind than I have given him credit for.

Even now I find myself wanting to better understand this dark disturbing film that is interrupted by bursts of intoxicatingly stunning visual images that should have made it far more entertaining than it actually was. I find that I’m disappointed that Sucker Punch wasn’t either a pleasant diversion or a profound exposé, but a diluted mixture of both.

Anyone who is interested in reading the entire interview with Zack Snyder can read it at http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/interview-zack-snyder-on-the-sexuality-and-world-of-sucker-punch.php.

SUCKER PUNCH – 2011 – OR SUCKER PUNCHED?

Sucker Punch is an extremely difficult film to, categorize, summarize or analyze; especially in the space of a relatively short review and by a layperson such as myself - but I will try. I like to think that it is important for me to write reviews of poorly reviewed films, because I typically disagree with the so-called professional film reviewers and therefore I feel I offer a different view of these genre films that I love. However, I find that what really motivates me is that writing these reviews has helped me better understand what I loved, liked or loathed about a film. Is it possible to experience all three of these reactions to a single film? In the case of Sucker Punch, the answer is a definitive yes!

One reason Sucker Punch is a difficult film to categorize is that it is three films telling the same story from three differing realities. There is the “real” world that the film begins with, then the first “imaginary” world that the film segues into and finally the secondary “fantasy” world that the film transitions into. Because the vast majority of Sucker Punch takes place in the “imaginary” world, it would be hard to classify it as a character drama, but this is what it is. I believe that the director and writer of Sucker Punch has used the overlapping imaginary and fantasy worlds to tell a straight up drama that would be more palatable to genre fans. This odd blend of the realistic and the fantastic makes if nearly impossible for the average film fan or film reviewer slot Sucker Punch into a neat category. However, I do think that it works as a fantasy film as well, for reasons I hope to make clear in the course of this review.

I will try to summarize the plot of Sucker Punch, just so that when I make reference to specific plot points you will have an idea from which point in the film they are from. The film opens with a sequence told entirely without dialogue. A mother dies and her two daughters are emotionally distraught. The older daughter – later to be known as Baby Doll – attempts to console her young sister, but is violently separated from her by their stepfather. The stepfather has learned that the daughters are the sole inheritors of their mother’s fortune and he takes steps to correct his misfortune. The stepfather locks “Baby Doll” in her room, then chases down her younger sister and accidentally kills her. Baby Doll escapes her room, finds a gun and nearly guns down her stepfather, before the police arrest her. The stepfather blames the death of her sister on Baby Doll and has her incarcerated into an insane asylum.

Once Baby Doll is in the asylum, Baby Doll undergoes a series of therapy treatments by Dr. Vera Gorski, whose job it is to assess the proper treatment for the patients. Sensing that Baby Doll’s treatment may result in her eventual release from the asylum, the stepfather pays off the head doctor to have her lobotomized, which will rid him of her threat to his blood money forever. The film flash forwards to the day of Baby Doll’s lobotomy and just as the doctor undergoes the gruesome procedure, Baby Doll’s mind escapes to her first imaginary world… or the film flashes back to the events leading up to Baby Doll’s lobotomy.

The imaginary world that Baby Doll inhabits in her mind is hardly an escape. It appears to be a whore house that uses a nightclub as its cover and caters to rich clients who judge their tryst of chose by their dance for the evening. All the people that inhabit the Asylum reality also inhabit the Nightclub reality. The head doctor is the owner and pimp of the Nightclub-whore house, the therapist is the dance instructor-madam and the four girls that Baby Doll meets in the asylum are the dancer-prostitutes. Also paralleling the Asylum reality is the deadline hanging over Baby Doll of her impending visit by a High Roller that has a habit of making his female companions disappear after he is done with them. Learning that she has five days before the High Roller’s visit, Baby Doll plots to escape the nightclub; enlisting the aid of Sweet Pea, Rocket, Amber and Blondie to collect the five items that they need in order to make the escape plan of Baby Doll’s work.

During each one of these items thefts, Baby Doll uses her gift of her dancing to mesmerize the men of the nightclub to distract them, while one of the girls carries out the plan. It is during these hypnotic dances that Baby Doll is transported in her mind’s eye to a different fantasy setting. Each fantasy is world is different from the other and each represents the increasing difficulty of each theft in the imaginary world. Eventually, all the items are collected, but the plan goes horribly awry and Baby Doll is forced to execute her plan in a much more dangerous and haphazard manner.

This fairly detailed synopsis of Sucker Punch only outlines the main plot of the film and does not touch on theme or purpose of the film’s story. I’ll start to try and explain what I thought Sucker Punch’s driving thematic objective was, with the aspect of the film that I loved. The fantasy sequences, which are shown extensively in the trailers and advertisements for the film, are truly a marvel of the imagination! The “map” fantasy sequence has a World War I motif, replete with biplanes, zeppelins and trench warfare. The “fire” sequence is a high fantasy theme, with dragons, armored knights and sword fights. The “knife” sequence is a science fiction looking world, with robots, ray guns and spaceship battles. The “key” sequence utilizes visions from all the other fantasy settings and features Baby Doll’s personal demons in the form of a gigantic warrior. Central to each of these fantasy worlds is the Wise Man, who offers Baby Doll inspirational words before she sets out on each quest. The Wise Man is the only character that has thus far not been seen in the real world and I only point this out because his revelation at the end of the film is one that either works or doesn’t work, depending on your interpretation of the overall meaning of the film. Personally, I loved the visual splendor of these fantasy sequences and I thought that they did an impressive job of amplifying the level of danger in the “imaginary” world setting. They also communicated Baby Doll’s mind set during her dances, showing her need to escape mentally from the reality that she herself had created.

I also liked the imaginary or parallel world that we are led to believe are Baby Doll’s creation during her real world escape plot from the asylum. However, I question if this is indeed the case. Why would Baby Doll envision such a repressive world to inhabit? I think a better explanation is that the entire Nightclub-whorehouse reality is a reverse visual allegory for Baby Doll’s asylum reality and entirely the creation of the filmmaker and not the character of the film. Taken in this light, the horrors that are perpetuated on the women in the nightclub world make much more sense. Why Zack Snyder chooses to add this additional layer to Sucker Punch, I’m not entirely sure. Sometimes artistic choices that make perfect sense to the artist make no sense to anyone but themselves. If art is about communication, then in this case Mr. Snyder has failed to make me understand what the significance of this particular layer to his film is. Still, if nothing else, it does offer a sort of exclamation point to the overall ill treatment of these women in the asylum reality.

Finally, the one aspect of Sucker Punch that I truly loathed was its message at the end. I will not give this away, because I think that if you’ve made your way through this review this far, you should be able to tell that I think Sucker Punch is a film worth watching. I will say that my understanding of Sucker Punch’s overall thematic vision is not one of women’s empowerment – which you might get the impression is the case from its fantasy sequences. I had a definite negative reaction to Baby Doll’s solution to her final tribulation, but this may not be shared by everyone. Sucker Punch does reward a patient viewer with a definitive conclusion; it just may not be the type of climax that everyone will find rewarding or satisfactory. Such was the case for me, but it still did not deter me from appreciating Sucker Punch as a whole or from recommending it to someone who doesn’t mind a difficult and dark journey with a less-than-uplifting finale. You will definitely not be Sucker Punched by Sucker Punch.