That looks so cool...

Rating: 8/10 (23 February 2013)

Fabulous! By relying on tropes so familiar he doesn't need to contribute a story, Snyder justifies over-the-top visuals and gives us a gang of kick-ass warrior-women without one close-up shot of a bosom or one ripped skirt at the thigh. Think "Aeon Flux" and that style of "cool," instead of "Black Scorpion" (and that style of trash), and you get what Snyder has to offer.
Drill down on the IMDb ratings and take note of the fact that, except for the IMDb staff, the highest rating comes from females under 18. A number of critics mistakenly dismissed this movie as being aimed at men, because the heroes (the right word for these women) wear a lot of black leather and fishnets. But look closer at what you _don't_ see: there's not a lot of bare skin, nor even much hinting at anything racy. In the "club," they wear the same practice leotards every professional dancer has. In the fighting scenes, their outfits cover almost their entire bodies, and in ways that are no more demeaning than how most male action heroes are dressed. Closest thing I could see to adolescent fantasy stuff was one character's black leather nurse's cap, which frankly looks pretty jaunty, kind of like the winged cap of the Italian carabinieri. Amazing that the teen-aged young women seemed to get this, while the middle-aged female professional reviewers mostly missed it.
Extra fun for those of us who remember Scott Glenn for the similarly plot-less, equally atmospheric, ultimately inferior (though almost as satisfying) 1983's "The Keep." He is equally enigmatic here, though a bit more sly as he leaves the combat to the main characters.
Don't look for a story. Look for something you kind of partly wish were real, if only it weren't so likely to hurt you, and then say, "Gee, that looks so _cool_!" You'll be glad you did.