I just watched suckerpunch...

[AngloDoom]

Let me try to explain it another way: One woman, tired of being ignored by the film industry, came up with something called the Bechdel Test (you may have heard of it). In order to pass the test, a movie must contain:

1) at least two women, who
2) talk to each other, about
3) something other than a man.

An unbelievable number of movies fail at this, but Sucker Punch passes with flying colors.

Maybe I'm being picky, or just don't remember the film, but isn't most - if not all - the dialogue about escaping the male characters? Isn't that a form of talking about men in a way that fails the above test?

Correct me if I'm wrong, also, but isn't that test concerning whether the film has a female presence in it? It's not exactly a coherent test of 'good' women in films, since any film staring a mostly female cast will actually pass this test: even if all they do is talk about purses and shoes.

I'm not big fan of the film, really. I think the meaning was less subtle than it was hardly existence. The female characters were still lifeless in my eyes and their fantasy seemed all too willing to empower the men of the film above the station of the women. I really do see it as trashy action with heavy emphasis on music and stylisation, which isn't a bad thing but I was made to expect more.

 

[ajh93]

i saw it with one of my friends...all i'm going to say is giant robotic samurai + chain gun = happy ajh93

 

[Veret]

Maybe I'm being picky, or just don't remember the film, but isn't most - if not all - the dialogue about escaping the male characters? Isn't that a form of talking about men in a way that fails the above test?

Correct me if I'm wrong, also, but isn't that test concerning whether the film has a female presence in it? It's not exactly a coherent test of 'good' women in films, since any film staring a mostly female cast will actually pass this test: even if all they do is talk about purses and shoes.

You're absolutely right, on both counts. Most of the dialogue is about the men, since they're the dominating aspect of their lives, but it only needs one non-male-centered conversation to pass (and there are plenty). And that's the point of the test; it's not about feminism per se, it's just a quick and dirty check to see whether the female characters are completely defined by men, or whether they have lives of their own.

That's what makes this movie more interesting when you do the inverse test: None of the men are independent. The bad guys exist to oppress the main characters, and the good guy (that old man) exists to support them, but both groups completely revolve around the women. Normally this sort of thing (male or female) is the result of lazy writing, but here it's just downright subversive. And I love it dearly.

Also: Robot-zombie-steampunk-nazi-samurai-zeppelin ninjas with an awesome soundtrack.

Spoilers ahead:

Spoiler

Right. No-one's been willing to talk to me about what the hell went on in the plot, so I'll do my best to force you to instead. Here are some questions:

1. Did she kill her sister at the start?

2. Did she imagine the whole club/escape plan/dancing thing in the time it took for the lobotomy hammer to fall or was that just out of order to confuse us?

3. Why did the creepy evil guy want to rape her if it didn't happen?

I actually thought the stepfather killed her, and blamed it on the main character because he knew he could get away with it. But I may have read that wrong.

 

[plugav]

Does anyone except MovieBob think it's great, really?

Still, I liked it, despite it's horrible pretentiousness.

No, I thought the movie was great. People just take movies off of face value. I found that the movie put a lot of emphasis on using the imagination to escape reality, something we are all guilty of at least once in our lives, and that is what made it great. It kind of pulled off an inception thing, but didnt overplay it like inception.

For me, the film just took itself too seriously. It had an interesting structure and was fun to watch, but I didn't enjoy the message being shoved in my face in voice-overs, as if the director was trying to make up for all the geekiness and fanservice.

 

[oldmeme]

The movie is all about giving you OMG moments because it sets off your geek receptors.. not that you have to be a geek to get that though..

All it set off were my "this is why I hate geeks" receptors. Admittedly I went to go see the movie with a bunch of people after work without having any idea of what it was about, or I never would have seen it in the first place. But it was a reminder of everything that annoys me about 14-year-old male weeaboos and adults living in the mind of a 14-year-old weeaboo.

This guy gets it.

 

[TheFeistyOne]

True that Sucker Punch did rip from pretty much every single video game game I know, and acting did not help, but the story was interesting for me, something different and fresh, at least that's how I saw it.

And come one, you have to admit that at least one time, you imagined yourself in the situations that the girls are, at the movie. Feeling like a total badass and what not.

 

[CplDustov]

I absolutely loved the Steam/Dungeon/Cyberpunkish design. It isn't the best film ever but the way the story is told through layers of imagination where each action is a metaphor for the levels above. I think more could have been done with that storytelling technique though, yes. For what it's worth I enjoyed the story a lot.

 

[tomtom94]

It's not as good at serious drama as Watchmen and it's not as good at dumb action as 300.
And in general Zach Snyder really needs a steadying hand saying "Okay, no more slow motion PLEASE". Lack of contrast really killed this film.
BUT... it's alright. And it is possibly the most badass film ever conceived.

 

[similar.squirrel]

Sexiest cast in existence, amazing visual set-pieces, plot that doesn't pander to douchebags in the way that might be expected of a similar film.

To each his own, I guess. I think it's one of the best films ever made.

 

[gothicboris]

I thought it was one of the cleverest films in ages to deal with how we as humans cope with stressful/frightening situations. This isn't me trying to sound like I think I know better but it seems that most of those who didn't like it didn't understand it.

 

[Rin Little]

I liked it, I like psychological twisters like that and movies that actually require your full attention in order to understand what's going on.

 

[Azure Knight-Zeo]

It wasn't bad (It's one of my favorites), it just is not what it appears. It's very deep, but it's all deep. If you don't want to go down and get the story, you will just see it as a sequence of music videos.

I don't consider "it's so deep, you probibly didn't understand it" as a legidimate argument in anything's favor. The same as how the liniarity in something like Far Cry 2 was an artistic move and not poor design from that artical awhile back. If it isn't fun to watch/play, than it isn't good.

I haven't seen SuckerPunch, this is just my outlook on how it's judged.

I find "Your IQ must be at least this high to ride" a perfectly valid entry point for any discussion. Why pander to the lowbrows and knuckle-draggers when we're discussing the merits of something that they won't care about, and whose opinions we won't credit anyhow?

However, this does not make it inherently worthwhile. It just invalidates the arguments of those who "don't get it".

Suckerpunch? Good film. Thoughtful. Sexy while at the same time making you consider what that ideal means. Not for everyone? Agreed. I can't say the acting was stand-out, but I don't recall it being terrible either.

I'm not saying things should be simplified for the masses, in fact I'm against that notion, I just don't like it when people use "it's art" to defend something. As I said I haven't seen the movie yet so I can't say wether it's good or not.

 

[Soulfoodman]

It's one of my favorite movies because of the action and visuals. That's what I wanted and that's what I got. The same can be said for the Speed Racer movie. The races (especially the last one) blow my mind with awesome. They're the kinds of movies I want to make.

 

[Futureman]

every thing that is epic is in this movie haha

 

[II2none]

You mean having opinions?
EDIT: The goddamn fight scenes are boss though.

This...

The fight scenes?

nope, the statement above it.

 

[KaiusCormere]

The crazy fight scenes are fairly unnecessary and obviously turn a ton of people against this movie on principle. I thought it was fairly good as a tragic story. The atmospheres were well done, but fighting hordes of nazi's is just strange. It worked for me, because I am willing to follow along, but I can see how some people JUST care about the fight and hate the rest, and others are the opposite, and both groups end up indifferent or hating the movie.

 

[Jitters Caffeine]

I went in expecting a rather crazy, expoitative action fest and left PLEASANTLY surprised. I was not expecting something so cerebral out of what LOOKED like some schizophrenic, unfocused mess of a male fetishists ideal movie. I mean, just trying to figure out all the levels that were going on made me enjoy it. I'm a psych major and I ate this shit up.