Sucker Punch Film Analysis

Rating: 10/10 (12 April 2011)

While it may be true that this film is a CGI extravaganza it is not true that the film functions on only one level, a visual feast it may be, but this is a work with more depth than you would initially think. Am I as a red blooded heterosexual male biased by the acres of female flesh and overtly sexual nature of the films premise, yes of course I am and the film makes no apology for being aimed squarely at a young male sci-fi oriented demographic. Those who have written this film off as just misogynistic titillation though, have poorly understood the complex interplay of concepts and propositions put forward in this film. The main proposition being that reality itself is all about perception, and if it feels as real to you as the real world does, then maybe given the right circumstances it's alright to choose the fantasy instead, and nowhere in the film is this proposition more salient than in the final scenes of the main character, Baby Doll (played by Emily Browning.) Of course ignoring what is going on around you completely is not beneficial to anyone but if the fantasy helps you deal with reality, in much the same way that a nervous stage actor might picture the audience naked, then you are using something you can deal with, to help you with something you cannot. Many after viewing the closing moments of the film will be disappointed by the finish, but they would do well to take note of some lyrics by Aerosmith "Life's a journey not a destination" and so it is with this film, when you run away from monsters you escape them, but you take your fear with you, if you do not know how to fight back then you need to learn, and just like the philosophers of old, when you cause change without, you cause change within. It's not getting to the end that counts, its how you travelled.
The accompanying soundtrack to this film serves a dual purpose, it does what a good soundtrack always does and underscores the emotional highs and lows of the main characters, but it also serves as a guide that in several instances in the film if not correctly interpreted will leave the viewer wondering what the hell is going on, for instance when the song 'Where is my mind' starts playing, you know that this means the protagonist is about to temporarily escape the unpleasant reality of the brothel, (this reality is itself a facade created by Baby Doll to protect her from the reality of the lunatic asylum) what is not so evident and something that many seem to have missed is the fact that this song, which is the backbone of the movie asks the question quite literally, not just where is my mind at the moment, but what is the mind. It might be something of a stretch to suggest that this film raises deep philosophical questions about the nature of the Ego but those who have not understood that it does at least tip it's metaphorical hat in the direction of Descartes (I think therefore I am) and his 'Wax Argument' have seen only the surface and will come away from this film feeling like they have watched something with no real storyline. The reality is that they have watched the film and only understood a small part of the story, the irony here is that this ultimately is what the film is trying to say, you might think you know what is going on, you might think this is about scantily clad girls who perform for the benefit of an almost exclusively male audience, but if that is what you think then you have only seen the first reality, and you unlike Baby Doll, have failed to escape, and that is the Sucker Punch that the title refers to. Because of the complex nature of this film many will not understand what they have seen and write it off as style over substance, but this film is almost certainly guaranteed to one day be considered a cult classic.
And as to the questions, what is the mind and what is reality? Maybe, they are the same thing.... You decide.