Sucker Punch is horrible. And not just the good kind of whore-able.
[rim shot]
Upon watching the trailer, it seems like the type of film that would work if it didn't take itself too seriously.
Maybe it'll just be a cool action movie with hot chicks - maybe it could have been.
But they throw in all this "Oh, this isn't really happening" bullshit.
It takes up way more time than the action scenes that this movie used to market itself with, and it's two levels deep.
The script is begging to be called an intelligent movie, but it just doesn't know how.
And I kinda like Zack Snyder's directing style.
Whenever he's working with someone else's ideas, he seems to do a pretty good job,
but with this film, he decided he wanted to tell an original story; and it didn't really work out. Here's why:
The movie starts out with an over-dramatic montage to set off the events of the film,
but everything's happening so fast, that ninety percent of the audience members are left saying "What?"
We aren't really given any context to the characters, or their motivations.
It's kinda hard to understand exactly what's happening, but it doesn't matter, cuz it looks really cool in slow motion.
We're supposed to piece together that this guy is evil and he killed their mom, which is also his wife,
because he wanted some sort of inheritance money,
and then found out that the inheritance wasn't actually going to him and then got really pissed.
And even though it's implied that these girls know exactly what he did, they still go home with him after the funeral.
They don't really contact the authorities, but they just wait for him to flip out and go "Oh, no!"
Maybe the mom died of natural causes, but what's with all these looks?
Look at that! I guess it's all left up to interpretation, even though it looks like you probably did something.
He's about to fuck them up, and then Babydoll's like, "Nah, I'm gonna shoot you."
Then she missed and then she shoots his arm, and her sister's dead.
Either he killed her before she got there, or she accidentally shot her sister through his arm.
Either way, the blames on her now. Off to to the loony bin with you.
They're clearly running an illegitimate business, cuz this guy just straight up says,
"Yeah, I'll just forge her signature for a lobotomy in five days."
They show brief shots of these useless items, that they'll put on a pedestal, and pretend are important later in the movie.
"See? It's smart, it's reincorporation, OK?"
And then within a minute, they just skip straight to her lobotomy.
And then the real story begins...
They decided it wasn't really important to tell the story of her struggles in the mental institution.
"Nah, let's make this whole movie about things that don't even happen."
Yay, we're off to our imagination, and we won't even cut back to the mental institution until the very end of the movie.
Basically, the story's irrelevant: anything that happens from now on doesn't even matter.
So, now she's basically in a burlesque house, they just changed the setting for no reason.
She creates this world in her head to try and cope with the fact that she's captive in a mental institution,
so now she imagines she's captive in a whore house.
And for all you know as an audience member, this could be the real world,
until the end of the movie happens, and then you realize that nothing makes sense.
One of the other girls gives her a tour of the place, and the main character doesn't say a fucking word.
She shows her the room where they practice the dancing,
and the levels are set so poorly, it seems like they're the only people in the room talking.
[clip] - I feel sorry for her. - Amber, you feel sorry for everyone.
Do you remember when you first got here? Nobody felt sorry for you.
[YMS] They're basically whispering, and I can hear their echoes. Maybe everybody else just doesn't have anything important to say.
Then they start a really long musical number,
and what musical number in this movie would be complete without another fucking montage?
"Remember? I'm here, and I'm really sad."
and the next scene starts, and then another song starts, and then they're like, "You remember how sad I am?"
[clip] ♪ Don't feel bad for me. I want you to know. ♪
[YMS] OK, good. That montage got interrupted before it went full fledged.
This one's on kitchen duty, and she's like, "Mmm, I want some chocolate."
And he's like, "I don't think so, I'm a man."
And then Babydoll comes in, and is like, "No, you."
[clip] Let her go, pig.
[YMS] She can talk now. It's 25 minutes through the movie, and the main character finally decides to start speaking.
[clip] You OK?
[YMS] It's Babydoll's turn to start dancing and everybody's gonna watch. So they put on some Björk.
Wait, what year is it again? I mean, like, in the real world. Maybe she composed the song in her mind before Björk actually wrote it.
It's implied that she starts dancing and, what do you know? She goes into an imaginary world within her imaginary world.
[clip] A pu pa pa tic ta pa ka ga!
[YMS] She's going to an imaginary place,
because he can't cope with the imaginary place that she invented because she couldn't cope with the real world.
This movie's so smart(!)
[clip] With the first two worlds, whether that be the insane asylum/brothel, that transition, and that's pretty straight forward,
We.. that one had to, like... the architecture and everything had to, sort of... the two worlds had to speak to each other.
And, um, you know, sort of had to carry across all those, sort of, metaphors of,
sort of, loss of innocence, and virginity, and all that craziness.
Um, and then, the, uh, fantasy world, those happened...
I knew it wouldn't be that difficult to create separation in those worlds, because they were so different, you know?
They're so crazy, s... you know, giant samurai, or, you know, German soldiers, whatever.
They're easy to, like... They have nothing to do with, uh, the small claustrophobic world that the girls were stuck in.
[man] You will need five items for this journey. The first is a map, then fire, a knife, and a key.
- You said five things. - The fifth thing is a mystery.
It is the reason, it is the goal. It will be a deep sacrifice.
[YMS] Now our character has a goal. Thanks, hallucination man!
Finally, we get to the style of movie that everybody was tricked into expecting.
There had better be some flawless action in this movie, I swear to God.
I'm sorry, what the fuck? As if the fact that this is an imagination within an imagination doesn't make this any less meaningful.
All hopes of any tension within the fight scene are now destroyed, within the first blow.
Great, she can't die. So why am I even watching? None of this matters.
If she can't get damaged, why is she even dodging? Just block the fucking blade with your neck.
Why are you running away from the bullets? Just deflect them with your eyes.
Yeah, you defeated, and apparently that was the best dance anybody in that room ever saw.
How come we didn't get to see it? Just talk about how great something is, and then just don't show the audience.
Like, that whole hallucination was supposed to symbolize her dance?
What did the part of the dance look like when she was walking into a building, or even just listening to that old man and doing nothing.
[clip] All that gyrating and moaning, the dance should be more than just titilation.
[YMS] Why didn't we see it?
[clip] Is there any truth to the fact that this movie originally was planned to be R-rated?
Oh, yeah. When I wrote it, it was an R-rated movie, but...
because I felt like in this movie, because it's inherently sexual and inherently violent,
I felt like letting a lot of that happen, in a more stylized way, would just make the movie easier to wa...
I mean, it's hard anyway, I just felt like if it was rated R, and knowing my, sort of, the way I am...
What was one thing that, that you left out, and because, because of the rating that you were set?
I think it's just, like, tonal.
[YMS] She decides to trust her hallucination within a hallucination, but first she needs a bunch of bullshit.
They decide that the other girls will get an item each time Babydoll dances, considering she's the only one that knows how to Dougie.
Everyone's distracted by this dance, that we'll never see, cuz it's back to double hallucination land.
Yeah, more grey filter. You're really making these worlds look different.
Their objective in this world is to kill some Nazis to get a map.
They're like, how they're getting a map in the real, I mean, first hallucination.
Yeah, this setting totally has significance, it isn't just bullshit.
And then this guy tells them, "No, these aren't just real Nazis, these are Nazi zombies."
[clip] If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.
[YMS] Oh, such words of wisdom. Where have I heard that before?
♪ You don't stand for something, you fall for anything. Harder than you think, it's a beautiful thing. ♪
She's totally writing hit lyrics and songs in her mind, before they're even released.
I know Public Enemy wasn't the first to use it, but my point is that that quote doesn't have anything to do with this movie.
They just threw it in there. Yeah, this is inspirational.
No time to think about, though. We gotta fight some Helghast.
These Nazis have guns, and they're just running up to them one by one, without shooting.
It's not like there be any consequences if they got shot, anyway.
Time to get the map and kick some butt.
Yay, she got the map, and she's back into hallucination one without showing the dance that she did - everybody wins!
[clip] Could you give me an example of how that dance works, because I'm just trying to figure out how that was interpreted?
I keep thinking you can interpret fire to dance, but that was, uh, was there a kind of practice for that or any kind of logic to it,
that when Zack said "Well, this is where you're going at this point"?
No, I think there was... I mean, the idea is that there didn't need to be any sort of logic to it.
Wow, wow, wow wow, wow. Awesome movie, guys. Really, really, really enjoyed it.
What do you think this movie now says for women in action movies?
[YMS] Is this movie sexist? Kind of?
The main actors have nothing else to say about it, other than the fact that they feel really empowered being a strong female character.
I mean, this is a movie where the chicks don't have to get saved by the dudes.
But some people think that you can't be empowering and hot at the same time.
Yeah, I get it. Men are going to this movie to see hot chicks.
But at the same time, if the Bletchdel [sic] test had reversed genders for this film,
then it would be the men that didn't pass the test. Not to mention that every male character is an asshole.
[clip It's interesting, I feel like I didn't really indulge in the exterior, and judge it, or objectify it at all.
I felt like I was playing, you know, I was playing the big sister of Rocket, in a insane asylum in the sixties.
[YMS] I'm just trying to be fair here. I mean, if this movie's sexist, then 300's sexist.
Against men.
"It doesn't matter what the characters are doing, it's wrong that these scantily-clad bodies are pleasing to the eye."
[clip] There's nothing that a woman can't do on film, I mean there really isn't.
- And even off film, I wanna say. - Yeah, for sure.
[YMS] Oh shit, Sweet Pea failed and didn't put the map back properly. Tension!
Now it's time to get the fire. The next scene starts, and, oh, God! What did you do this soundtrack?
♪ (We Will Rock You) ♪
[Rapper starts singing over it] ♪ (We Will Rock You) ♪
[Snyder] I think it's a fun album, you know. I have it in my car right now. I'm driving around, I'm listening to it
It's really fun to listen to, I think. It's really eclectic, and really cool.
[YMS] Once again, Babydoll distracts them by doin' a sexy dance and then we're transported to another vibrant world of grey filter.
[clip] The thing about Zack, is that he's got such an incredible imagination,
and like, six thousand different, like, vibrant worlds living inside of his mind.
Drop into the courtyard, and kill the creatures in your way.
When the helicopter sets you down, you must run over to that cargo box, and use the crowbars to pry it open, and then pull the lever,
which will send that truck barrelling towards that live ammo dump.
That is so sick!
[YMS] Still no tension when they're invincible. Why are you even stopping to fight them?
Just walked past them, and let them stab you a couple times, it won't really matter.
To get the fire, they have to slit a baby dragon's throat.
Uh oh, that pissed off the mom!
[clip] I knew they had to get fire as an element of their escape and then we talked about it, and I was like,
"Well, where do you get fire?", you know. I guess they gotta fight a dragon.
Yay! Obvious CG with no real presence!
They kill the dragon, and blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah.
The evil men show up, and he's like, "I'm on to you", and he threatens them.
Even though they might get fucked over, they decide to go with the plan anyway.
After all, they only need two more things, and one other unknown thing.
They lock the chef in his kitchen, and he's so horny and stupid, that he allows himself to get distracted.
"Time for me to dance into my magical world"
Hey, this world's slightly yellow. But it's still got that ugly filter.
[clip] This is what's on our dance card for the night. The bomb, code-name 'Kitchen Knife'.
[YMS] Really, you couldn't think of any way to fit in the knife into this futuristic scenario?
They're disarming a bomb, called 'Kitchen Knife'.
It could have just as easily been a bomb called 'Fire'. Or 'Map'.
[clip] I went in, and I was reading the script, I was about page ten, and I thought, "Oh my gosh! I can't believe this is real.
I can't believe I'm really reading this." I felt like I'd conjured parts of it up.
To me, this is a film that written by a very horny 12-year-old boy. It has all the fantasy stuff.
When you were choosing the arena where they were gonna fight, you know,
how did you come up with these different, you know, these different little stories?
I'm a huge fan of, sort of, samurai and animé-ish fight scenes. That's, like, where the samurai sequence came from.
I really wanted them to go to the future, cuz I felt like that would be cool, and that's where the robots came from.
[YMS] Now they're fighting a bunch of robots, and even the room they're in is CG, and it feels like we're in a video game.
It's like a video game, right. That's a negative connotation. Now I feel like, if you can really do it, you know, if it's also like a video game.
The funny thing is, I was talking to someone, like, there was this, you know, woman from Vogue Magazine, saying, like,
"It reminded me of a video game" and I'm like, "Have you ever played a video game? No."
Well, it's kind of a thing, a weird thing to say, then.
Cuz if you actually go play some games, and then watch the movie, you'll see that it's, it's sort of transcendent in a lot of ways.
I mean, yes. It owes some language to the video game world, but it also...it's also aspirational to the video games.
[YGS] They're about to disarm the bomb, when, "Oh no, the music stopped! I can't hypnotize people without music."
He's about to stab her friend, but the music comes back on again, and she goes back into her hallucination world,
But does this mean she's dancing? Like, her friends getting stabbed on the floor, and she's just doing a sexy dance on the kitchen table?
[clip] All that gyrating and moaning.
[YGS] Anyway, this one sacrifices herself, just like in the real, I mean, first hallucination. Now she dead.
Dick Face gets pissed and starts dominating the fuck out of everybody.
And then stupid Vanessa Hudgins admits to ratting on everybody.
[clip] The thing is, we hate snitches, so...
Ohhhhhh!
[YMS]Then he gets Babydoll alone in a room, and she's like, "No, you." Now's their chance to use all their special items to escape.
They make it outside, and Babydoll's like, "The last item must be me. I'm gonna be a distraction, and you can be happy."
Instead of dancing this time, she just does this:
Babydoll's still stuck there, but it's all right, because the high roller shows up and apparently he's a nice guy.
Oh, by the way, everything that you've been watching this whole time, didn't actually happen.
Did she hallucinate this other world as she was experiencing the real one,
or did she imagined all afterwards, in that split second that she got a lobotomy?
I guess it's left up to interpretation, so it doesn't really have to be consistent, or make any sense.
They imply that all the exact same things happened, but just in a different setting. So why do we have two settings?
Out of the mental institution and the burlesque house, one of them really doesn't need to exist - it's superfluous.
So, if all these same things happen, then what happened when she was doing a sexy dance in front of patrons?
Maybe she was just having seizures in front of the nurses.
It doesn't really matter, cuz she's free now. Mentally. Now she'll fit in with all the other crazies
Oh wait, there's more.
Sweet Pea escaped from the mental institution, then this guy shows up again. He lies to the cops for this women he doesn't even know.
The end.
So, this is what happens when Zack Snyder tries to direct an original concept.
[clip] People think that they're coming for one movie, and they get a completely different experience - that's a sucker punch.
People are just gonna constantly taking hits to the face.
[YMS] Don't get me wrong. I don't think you were lazy about it, you had everybody working at the top of their game.
[clip] That's how I deadlift, you know, 235 pounds. It's not muscle, it's will.
[YMS] It was just in the wrong direction. I know you put a lot of effort into it, but I think you should stick with other people scripts.
[clip] Certainly critically, you got the sort of kicking that normally is reserved for M. Night Shyamalan movies.
That sort of reaction, that a lot of critics, that it wouldn't aimed for them, of course. There's a different kind of market.
But, would that, was that something that caught you by surprise, that you were...
Or did you expect in a way that...
I, I feel like they w...there was always gonna be criticism, and mixed reviews because it's, it's the nature that type of film.
I mean, it's so different, so unique, it's very innovative, its so, uh, it's such an impact.
Subtitles by JorWat
Ber, ber, ber.