If you haven't noticed by now, I've fallen in love with
Sucker Punch, a film that literally plays to all of the tropes in my own stories! So, you can imagine how disturbed I was to see all the venom and hate spewed at this wonderful film by "professional" critics, too lazy to get off of their own asses to actually watch the film with an unbiased eye. It says a lot about our present civilization where a film with scantily-clad, but strong female warriors is judged harshly before it can get out of the gate good. Honestly, was
Inception judged so harshly? A group of well-dressed men run across ceilings. Sounds stupid, doesn't it? And yet, for some reason,
Inception was given immediate respect even before the film was out in theatres. Meanwhile,
Sucker Punch is roasted because it has a sexy heroine in a schoolgirl outfit slicing up giant samurai. Mentioned out of context, it might sound silly. However, in context of the film, it makes perfect sense. Then again, it would make sense out of context anyway, because in all honesty...
Sucker Punch is anime, through and through. As a guy who has crawled his way through the anime trenches over the years, I found it cool that Zach Synder had another reason for his great heroine story, something about how these women, despite their oversexualized costumes and trappings, persevere and save themselves from misogynistic evil. I admire that. I really do. But Snyder didn't have to work that hard:). All he had to do is point at the anime medium, with its beautiful female warriors, who, despite their sexy outfits, are more powerful than any man. Also, despite overwhelming fanservice, you'd be surprised by the actual stories behind the sensationalism. For example, the
Witchblade anime might have
heroines and villainesses in skimpy armor, with big breasts and
sexual hinting out of the frame...but it also has the theme of motherhood and the importance of having a mother in one's life.
Ikki Tousen, another anime, might have
big breasted heroines in tiny school uniforms
beating the clothes off of each other, but the central story is also about fate...how one goes about either accepting and fighting it. And that's another thing that bothered me when people would complain about this movie...video game references. I'm not saying they aren't there, but to me, that's far too limited a comparison. If anything,
Sucker Punch was drenched in anime homages and nods...Emily Browning's Babydoll was more of a callback to
Saya from
Blood: The Last Vampire(complete with katana) and
Mikura(from
Mezzo Forte/
Mezzo, complete with girlish pigtails and gun), the rest of the girls(in the second-dream reality) seemed like they shared costume and fighting tips with the crew from
Daphne In The Brillant Blue and the
Dirty Pair. The dream mission set in WWI reminded me of
Hellsing(when they are fighting against the zombie German soldiers), and Amber's mecha with the bunny face could have originated in
Sakura Wars or
Power Dolls...geez, look at all of this good stuff people are missing out on! Anyway, again Snyder, Browning, and the rest...good job. The film may not ever get respect with the mainstream, but really...who fucking cares? Wanting a sequel to this film is selfish...but I would at least want an anime tie-in, ala The Animatrix or Batman: Gotham Knight...maybe a prequel showing Baby's life before she was stuck in the asylum. Anyway, other tidbits:
- Battle of LA: This movie is what it says on the tin. Okay, that's not being fair. It is an alien invasion movie, ala Independence Day, but with Marines as opposed to the Air Force. From my understanding, the same FX studio who did the bland Skyline did this film, thus the similarities. Basically, Skyline ripped the Battle:LA folks off or something like that. Anyway...I'll give this movie a B-. The plot is entertaining, basically focusing on a group of marines in combat with the aliens on the city streets of LA, when they initially go on a mission to retrieve innocents caught in the invasion. The characters are your usual stock fare...even though I liked Aaron Eckhart's main character's burden with losing men on a previous mission in Iraq. Anyway, while this movie delivers some good war action, I found the antagonists to be...well, boring. While I hate Skyline, I really liked the creativity of the aliens, using human brains as CPUs to power their giant Cloverfield-esque mechs and other monsters. I just felt that would have brought a lot more fun to the proceedings, as opposed to bland aliens with fire guns. I also found it funny that Michelle Rodriquez was yet a soldier once again...she's a tough broad, but shouldn't she play other roles once in a while? And one more thing...where was the homage/nod/mention of the "real" Battle of Los Angeles?
- I might go see Hanna. I might. While I love tough heroines, I also like a healthy helping of fanservice. Hey, at least I'm honest, lol. Wait...the actress is sixteen? Oh, damn...er, wow, look at the time...
- Waiting on Thor, Fast Five, Green Lantern.
If you haven't noticed by now, I've fallen in love with Sucker Punch, a film that literally plays to all of the tropes in my own stories! So, you can imagine how disturbed I was to see all the venom and hate spewed at this wonderful film by "professional" critics, too lazy to get off of their own asses to actually watch the film with an unbiased eye. It says a lot about our present civilization where a film with scantily-clad, but strong female warriors is judged harshly before it can get out of the gate good. Honestly, was Inception judged so harshly? A group of well-dressed men run across ceilings. Sounds stupid, doesn't it? And yet, for some reason, Inception was given immediate respect even before the film was out in theatres. Meanwhile, Sucker Punch is roasted because it has a sexy heroine in a schoolgirl outfit slicing up giant samurai. Mentioned out of context, it might sound silly. However, in context of the film, it makes perfect sense. Then again, it would make sense out of context anyway, because in all honesty...Sucker Punch is anime, through and through. As a guy who has crawled his way through the anime trenches over the years, I found it cool that Zach Synder had another reason for his great heroine story, something about how these women, despite their oversexualized costumes and trappings, persevere and save themselves from misogynistic evil. I admire that. I really do. But Snyder didn't have to work that hard:). All he had to do is point at the anime medium, with its beautiful female warriors, who, despite their sexy outfits, are more powerful than any man. Also, despite overwhelming fanservice, you'd be surprised by the actual stories behind the sensationalism. For example, the Witchblade anime might have heroines and villainesses in skimpy armor, with big breasts and sexual hinting out of the frame...but it also has the theme of motherhood and the importance of having a mother in one's life. Ikki Tousen, another anime, might have big breasted heroines in tiny school uniforms beating the clothes off of each other, but the central story is also about fate...how one goes about either accepting and fighting it. And that's another thing that bothered me when people would complain about this movie...video game references. I'm not saying they aren't there, but to me, that's far too limited a comparison. If anything, Sucker Punch was drenched in anime homages and nods...Emily Browning's Babydoll was more of a callback to Saya from Blood: The Last Vampire(complete with katana) and Mikura(from Mezzo Forte/Mezzo, complete with girlish pigtails and gun), the rest of the girls(in the second-dream reality) seemed like they shared costume and fighting tips with the crew from Daphne In The Brillant Blue and the Dirty Pair. The dream mission set in WWI reminded me of Hellsing(when they are fighting against the zombie German soldiers), and Amber's mecha with the bunny face could have originated in Sakura Wars or Power Dolls...geez, look at all of this good stuff people are missing out on! Anyway, again Snyder, Browning, and the rest...good job. The film may not ever get respect with the mainstream, but really...who fucking cares? Wanting a sequel to this film is selfish...but I would at least want an anime tie-in, ala The Animatrix or Batman: Gotham Knight...maybe a prequel showing Baby's life before she was stuck in the asylum. Anyway, other tidbits: 
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