A Disappointing Movie (Considering Zack's Previous Achievements)

Rating: 3/10 (25 March 2011)

Just got back from the midnight premier of Sucker Punch and I can say that I am disappointed. Being a huge fan of Zack Snyder's films since Dawn of the Dead, I was expecting another classic. The first 10 minutes or so of the movie are a slow mo montage intro which he seems to think is his "trademark" now. I thought, hey this looks incredible. And it does. The film itself looks visually amazing. The problems arose when people started speaking. THE DIALOGUE IS AWFUL. I laughed at literally 80% of all the lines said in this movie. I couldn't tell if the movie was serious or if it was more of a Sam Raimi style film on Comic-Book style movies. What I couldn't understand is, after watching all the excited interviews with the cast and crew talking about how great it was, how they even thought they were making a good film. Maybe the script looked really good on paper, but the movie itself was just all over the place. I wont get into the details about the alternate realities and such that people have already described, rather I'll talk about what I think lies at the heart of the problem.
This film is pretentious. This is Snyder getting too powerful with all of the money he has brought in doing what he loves. EVERYTHING in this film is in his head. The job of the director, however, is to communicate a story to the audience. The story itself made no sense, at least in my mind. The only redeeming thing about the movie was its visual effects which, while stunning, were not good enough to fill the gap left by all the shallowness of the movie.
The whole time I kept thinking, "God, Zack. This better be a joke." And maybe it was. I can picture it now. Zack and his producers sitting around a table. "I'll make you guys a bet," he says "that we can make the silliest, worst movie ever. Put my name on it, add in some slow- mo sequences, and it will make back its budget and then some. What do you think?"
"Well, what did you have in mind Zack?"
"I'm thinking Alice in Wonderland...Only with guns."
Dear God, Zack. How you got a studio to produce this film i will never know. The thing that bugs me the most is that Zack seems to be a talented director. He certainly is one of the most visual directors in Hollywood. I had really high hopes for him. The problem is that he can't write a story. He may be able to direct it, but he can't write it. And that's where Sucker Punch falls flat: The writing. You can't really tell a good story if the story is sh*t to begin with.