Sucker Punch Spoiler Free Review

I have seen Sucker Punch and I liked it.  I would say think Inception meets Beautiful Mind.  You will read, probably have read some bad reviews of this movie.  I don't think that all of them are quite fair.  They say that there is no story, but I think there is.  The story just may be more complicated than they expect.

Story-  Babydoll's step-dad is a gold digger.  Her mother dies and leaves everything to her daughters.  This of course leads the step father to get mad and to take actions that will end up with Babydoll in an insane asylum.  Once in the asylum, Babydoll imagines herself in a brothel.  When music is played in the brothel, Babydoll imagines herself in a series of fantasy worlds armed with a handgun with stylish cell phone charms and a katana.    An escape plan is hatched and it in the fantasy world that the items needed for escape are gathered.  The one weakness is that once we enter the world of the brothel, the viewer is forced to imagine the corresponding sequences that are happening in the real world of the asylum.  This is where the negative reviews come from.

Characters-  You meet virtually all of the girls in the fantasy worlds.  Because of this they are all playing roles.  You get snippets of their asylum personalities and stories, but what you mainly get is Babydoll's image of them.  As such, they are not developed much.

Martial Arts-  Although this movie is full of sword play and fighting it is all fantasy based.  Some of the moves may be real, but the are so stylized and over the top that any authenticity is lost.  The fight scenes are definitely something to see though.  Mind blowing, which leads to our next category.

Visuals-  Lets be honest, this is the real reason to go see this movie.  The action is over the top.  The fantasy world is beautifully rendered and flawless.  There are clockwork-zombie-nazis, orcs, dragons, stone samurai, and robots and they all look real and move the way you would expect.  Sometimes the effects can pull you out of the movie as they just don't blend well, but Sucker Punches graphics pull you in completely.

Overall-  This is a movie about empowerment.  That is what the fantasy worlds are all about.  The movie has a message and if you think about what is happening in the real world to not only inspire the brothel world, but also to regress baby into a deeper fantasy world, the movie is much more potent.  Although the theater was full of teen boys, the only thing they are going to get out of it is the pretty. This movie was made for a more thoughtful audience, but it looks like they don't get it.  The movie was designed with PG-13 in mind, but could have been a lot better had they gone for R.

I will recommend this one for 16 plus age group.  You know from watching the previews if you want to see it or not.  While there is a story and it is deeper than most give it credit for, if you watched the trailer and it didn't appeal to you, the story isn't going to salvage anything.  I can only think of one thing that the movie was missing; motorcycles!  Come on Zach Snyder. 

*Originally posted at Practical Black Belt.

15 Science Fiction/Fantasy/Comic movies that are must sees in 2011

Charlie Jane over at io9 has listed 55 genre movies for 2011.  I don't know about you but that sounds like an awful lot.  Looking through the list, there is a bunch of junk in it like Twilight and Beastly (although it doesn't look to bad).  I will attempt to cut this list down to the 15 must see genre movies.

March 11th:  Battle Los Angeles-  I don't know, the production values look good and I am a fan of aliens taking over the world and humanity finding a way to fight back type stories. 

March 11th:  Mars Needs Moms-  I loves this book and so do my girls, this one is a no brainer, but I am interested to see how they fill out more than 30 minutes.

March 25th:  Sucker Punch-  This is my must see movie of the year.  If you like hot girls, mechs, sword play, fighting, and dragons all put together in a really pretty picture, this movie is probably right up your alley as well. 

April 1st: Super-  Dwight as a superhero, need I say more. 

April 8th: Your Highness-  If it weren't for Natalie Portman, this movie wouldn't even be on my radar.  Looks funny enough, but I hate Zooey's acting.

May 5th: Thor- This looks to be the early winner in the comic book movie onslought of 2011.  Can there be a black Asgardian?  Ask the people who complained about a blonde Bond. 

May 13th: Priest-  The preview I saw for this looked really interesting.  I like post apocolyptic worlds were humanity is fighting for its survival.

June 3rd:  X-Men First Class-  Based off of X3 and Wolverine, this movie shouldn't be here.  I am a sucker for mutants though.

June 17th:  Green Lantern-  I was really excited about this movie, until I saw the trailer.  It is DC taking movie making seriously outside of their two bread winners and I want to see the result. 

July 22nd:  Captain America-Nothing I have seen has me excited about this movie yet, and I want to be excited about it.  It is here because it has the potential to win the comic movie wars. 

July 29th:  Cowboys and Aliens-  I mean, how can you argue with a title like that.  Cowboys and Aliens, the only choosing you have to do is which side you want to win.  Should be a lot of fun. 

August 19th: Conan-  What is good in life?  This movie could be the next Conan, Momoa has some big muscles to fill.

August 19th: Fright Night-  I like people who play Doctor Who, and I like the original fright night.  It should be like peanut butter and chocolate, right?

September 30th: Now-  You have never heard of this movie have you?  That is okay; neither had I.  Take Logan's run and add the ability to by youth.  Sound cool to me. 

October 7th:  Real Steel-  Fighting and giant robots , of course I will like it.  Robot Jocks for the 21st century.

Did I miss your must see, let me know in the comments.