Suckerpunch

Once in a while, a truly unique movie comes up. It makes you go WTF, and really is not something that's readily understood. What's better...it masquerades as an action flick. Suckerpunch is precisely that movie.

There's a word to describe Suckerpunch, and that word is "disjointed". At first glance, the story appears to be incoherent, and from what I've seen it seems that the movie's been badly panned for precisely that reason. Whoever thinks that is the case has totally missed the point. The movie doesn't attempt to be, neither does it serve as, a challenge to Inception. It's not the kind of narrative that is convoluted, while attempting to tie up all the loose ends. It's a unique narrative, to me. A narrative that works by sheer omission: It tells you everything but what the story really is about.

I find the narrative-by-omission to be a stroke of genius, because the premise is about a rich heiress who is politicked into a mental asylum and is basically losing the last dregs of her sanity (and from a procedure that will not be named in the avoidance of providing spoilers).

As I've said, the movie attempts to masquerade as an action flick, and flashes erratically between the dreary reality of the real world, the sordid dance club with its garish colors, and the earthy drama of the fantasy combat realm. I find this erratic jumping to be a perfect representation of the breakdown of the psyche, and is in itself fantastic. What's better, each scene in the combat realm is completely unrelated to one another, yet maintains some aspects of the dance club realm. Yet, the unrelated combat scenes manage to throw in every over the top pop culture trope in bizarre action sequences. The references alone make the movie worth watching.

I've said much, and perhaps I've spoiled it for some even for that. Regardless, I think much remains for personal interpretation, and it's really up to the reader to decide just what the whole thing is about. For me, I'd buy the dvd (or bluray) just to watch it over and over again. 9.5/10.