"One flew over the matrix" - nice summary, but not as brilliant

Rating: 5/10 (11 February 2020)

"Sucker Punch" is a fantasy action film directed by Zack Snyder starring Emily Browning and Abbie Cornish. There are not many directors in the business who are despised by some and simultaneously praised as a genius by others. Before he became sort of the "godfather" of the DCEU he established himself as someone who knew to entertain with mindless fun flicks and mediocre remakes of horror classics, such as "300" or "Dawn Of The Dead" and this reputation is palpable in this production as well. With each and every film of his filmography it's either hit or miss, hot or not, you either love it deeply or absolutely hate it. I have mixed feelings with this one. By all means, it's definitely not a great film, but I'm surprised that it had the right ingredients to become so good and a well made action flick, the premise is extremely interesting, but well, what am I to say? It's a Snyder film in the end. I'm having the feeling that his personal motto concerning film making is "style over substance" and I think that's the quintessence of it all. It's his eccentric directorial style that results in stunning visuals and stylish colours, but it's not making up for the basically nonexistent plot and storytelling. A phenomenal cast that consists of both excellent actors and promising newcomers plays a bunch of shallow and forgettable characters that really could have been fleshed out more. The only performance that exceeds the hurdle of mediocrity is Oscar Issac's. He surely made the best out of his messy lines. Furthermore, I'd consider myself as someone who's able to shut off his brain and enjoy some good action, but even though ZS aimed to create this, I'm surprisingly disappointed that he even failed to reach this goal. The over the top action sequences are basically nothing more than generic choreographies in slow motion, mostly filmed from unusual and experimental camera angles. When an action film doesn't succeed to entertain me and makes me prefer the quiet sequence between them, you know what's going on. At least there was a brilliant choice of songs for the soundtrack that thoroughly fit the atmosphere of the film. Next to subliminal antifeminist tendencies (believe me, it desperately tries to be the opposite, but in the end it fails to do so) and excessively sexualized female protagonists, it also has a lot of average CGI effects in it. Don't get me wrong, the leading ladies all are bombshells (especially Vanessa Hudgens. You know, childhood crush), but I think that the screenplay doesn't treat them with enough respect and basically reduces them to the role of just looking sexy while playing out what appears to be a male fantasy. Also, was that in the end supposed to be a plot twist? Within the first three minutes I saw through the dilletant attempt of a compelling three-layer plotline. The only thing in it that amazed me was the message behind the almost totally hidden metaphor that the only one who's able to overcome mental illness is oneself. This uplifting aspect made me feel good. But that's it. All in all, this genre mix tries to cheat on the audience by simply looking stunning and wants you to ignore the disastrous plot, shallow characters and boring story. It had endless possibilities to be something greater, but Snyder decided to live out his messy style instead and ruin a promising premise. Once again, he proved that the only one standing in his way is himself. It's such a pity, really.