'Sucker Punch:' A Guilty Pleasure from a '300' Fan

"Sucker Punch" clearly knows what it wants to do. It's for genre fans who find it enough to merely consume the movie's video game fun and eye candy warrior girl reveries. Although it could have been such a greater treat if it added more value to its story and storytelling, its mere visual flavor is enough to carry itself as an escapist treat. It'smerely something to check out for the fight scenes' visual flair. It's essentially for those who love swords, guns, warriors, weapons, and wallpaper-worthy shots of sexy characters.

A Hard-Core Genre and "300" Fan

As a hard-core genre and "300" fan, this latest motion picture treat from director Zack Snyder is something to look forward to. Being an avid fan of visually awesome action sequences filled with swords, knives, blasts, war scenes, and otherworldy creatures, I acknowledge the fact that I'm very much biased with my take on the movie.

Ironically, compared to other movies with similar storytelling caliber, I just couldn't help but enjoy this one, which is actually not expected from me who ultimately prioritizes story quality over everything else. With all the elements I find really interesting way beyond what cinema typically offers, I just had fun watching and anticipating the next action sequences for "Sucker Punch" to the point of wishing if I could only fast forward the lull sequences to get to the next cool, "sensory overload" fight scenes.

Going Beyond the Shallow Story

I have nothing much to say with the movie's relatively lame story. It is quite clear that I watched the movie for the illogical but empoweringly fun action shots, steampunk anime aesthetics, and some strikes of female empowerment. I actually encountered a quite disappointing beginning with the opening sequence's overuse of music video-style slow motion shots. I only started enjoying the film when Baby Doll's alternate reality began.

Paying Homage

I am not sure how directly or indirectly intentional they are, but I immediately noticed specific shots that seem to pay homage to great films coming from various genres and eras. The good thing about these film and pop culture references is that they don't look cheap copycats. They have their own appeal that works well for the fans -- for that graphic novel look and feel Snyder is best known for.

While enjoying myself with the epic elements and fight choreography I see on screen, I just couldn't help but also pinpoint certain references to a number of war movies, animes and many other Asian themes and elements, along with a vague combination of literal and abstract references to films like "Moulin Rouge," "Full Metal Jacket," "Star Wars," "Iron Man," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Lord of the Rings," "Matrix," "Shutter Island," "Armageddon," "Black Swan," "Batman Forever," "District 9," "Kill Bill," "Burlesque," and "300." Actually, some may just be coincidentally similar, but there are also those that are clearly originating from very familiar scenes of great films.

Big Expectations

Amidst the enjoyable time for mindless entertainment and cool soundtrack, my biggest disappointment is that the movie's trailer is quite interesting to the point that I thought the story goes towards the more intelligent direction of the likes of "Shutter Island" or "Inception." Apparently, the very shallow and unpolished story doesn't really help the film. If its cinematic value were in par with my big expectations, this would probably join the ranks of my top film favorites list. Given its story's quality, "Sucker Punch" is definitely outside my favorite films of all time, yet it's such a hard-core guilty pleasure for me.