Them's Fightin' Words - Sucker Punch vs. Battle: Los Angeles

Sucker Punch

Ah, Zack Snyder.  In 2004 he gave us an unneeded but decent remake of "Dawn of the Dead".  In 2007 he brought us "300", a visually arresting action fest based on the Frank Miller comic book which was based on real historical events.  2009 saw his bold adaptation of the "Watchmen" graphic novel hit theaters (see my "Top 25 of 2009" blog for further info), and "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" arrived in 2010, a decent animated movie based on the "Guardians of Ga'Hoole" novels.  Then there's "Sucker Punch" (The Present Day - 2011, duh), Mr. Snyder's first attempt to make a movie based on a completely original script (written by him and another dude, Steve Shibuya - 'I'm shattered').  Unfortunately it doesn't work, which is a shame, because it seems to be an honest attempt by Zack (can I call you Zack?) to make a signature film, a personal masterwork straight from his film loving heart.  But the movie derails at about the 2/3 mark and never recovers, disintegrating into ash before our very eyes.  :^( - Sad Face.

Story?  Sure, kind of.  There are three levels of "reality" in this movie.  The First Reality concerns our main character (or is she?) named Baby Doll (Emily Browning), who accidentally kills her sister and is committed to the local nuthouse by her evil stepdad, the intended target of her murderous wrath.  All the nutty chicks at this nutty nuthouse work out their issues in a place called "The Theater" which, in the Second Reality, Baby Doll sees as a kind of burlesque/whorehouse where the ladies are imprisoned and forced to entertain male clientele.  The ladies team up and decide to escape, but they need to get ahold of a few items first.  In the Third Reality, their attempts to procure these items become special effects-laden action spectacles - for instance, when the ladies need to lift a lighter from a male client, it's presented as an epic battle against a fire-breathing dragon.  And Scott Glen shows up as a zen spouting monk.  Yeah, I'm not sure either.  Like I said earlier, it's not bad for the first 2/3rds or so.  Mr. Snyder knows how to make great looking and sounding music video, and the general weirdness of the storyline had me hooked for a while, wondering where it was going.  Then there's a Big Twist (which I saw coming) and a couple of little twists (which I didn't), but they didn't amount to much.  In the end, none of it "gelled".  In a movie about false reality, you need to have some kind of touchstone, preferably emotional, to anchor the story as well as the audience.  There's nothing like that here.  And there are a couple of extra ideas added to the story which dilute the coherency even more, even when analyzing the story after the fact.  It's a bummer.

But while it may be the most disappointing movie I've seen this year (so far), it's not an entirely bad movie.  Take Adam Sandler's "Grown Ups", for example.  The first minute of the movie is terrible, the last minute is terrible, and the 90+ minutes in between are terrible.  In other words, it's terrible.  Meanwhile, "Sucker Punch" has arresting visuals, kinetic action, great music, sexy sexy Jena Malone (as "Rocket" - my fave character), and a cast of actors who all seem to be giving it their best.  It just doesn't amount to anything sensible or satisfying.  Too bad.  To be fair, I do want to view this movie again sometime and see if there's something I missed.  I think all movies should be seen at least twice before getting reviewed anyway; one time to dispel all preconceptions, a second time to see the movie for what it is.  So I'll let you know, should my opinion shift.  To me, right now, "Sucker Punch" seems like the annoying pothead kid sister of "Inception".  It's a nice try, Mr. Snyder, but no cigar.

Battle: Los Angeles

And now for something completely different - it's "Saving Private Ryan" meets "Independence Day"!  Aaron Eckhart stars as Sgt. Nantz, a career military man who's only days away from retirement.  Suddenly, alien bad guys begin invading coastal cities all over the planet and Nantz, put under the leadership of a green 2nd Lieutenant, must accompany his platoon into enemy territory to rescue survivors from a besieged police station.  In Los Angeles, of course.  It's a straight-up men-on-a-mission war movie with a sci-fi twist, featuring both the strengths and weaknesses (i.e. cliches) of both genres, but still emerging as an entertaining night at the movies.  Shot with you-are-there immediacy by director Jonathan Liebesman, "Battle: L.A." is full of tension, emotion, horror, tension-breaking humor, and rah-rah action scenes that, at times, made me want to stand up and cheer.  Hoo-rah!  Kick the tires and light the fires!  Kill them alien sons o' bitches!  To quote Will Smith from "Independence Day" -

"Welcome to Urf!"

The special effects are very nicely done, especially since this movie was made for a lower budget than most sci-fi epics.  The aliens aren't given much motivation or depth (they're here for our water - spoiler alert), but that's fine.  It's the people I care about.  The aliens are a little different from your usual E.T.s, though, a little stranger in their physical makeup, kind of interesting-looking.  The cast is fine.  Most of the characters are painted in broad character strokes, but this is a war movie where anyone can die at anytime, there's no time for lengthy in-depth emotional exchanges.  But they're likable enough that you want them all to make it out alive.  Many of them won't.  Aaron Eckhart is given the most to work with, and he's great, except when he has to say a couple of cheesy cliche lines here and there, but he recovers nicely.  Michelle Rodriguez is also here, playing the type of character she's never ever played before - a tough-talking butt-kicking hispanic soldier babe.  Sarcasm.

In the end, it's a loving tribute to our fighting men and women all over the world.  I'm not kidding, it really is.  And you know what I love most about it?  THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NO POLITICAL SUBTEXT OR SLANT ANYWHERE IN THIS MOVIE.  It's so refreshing to see a war movie these days without a political agenda behind it.  Thank.  The.  Lord.  Like I said before, it's a love letter to the men and women who put their lives on the line for us, and also a great time at the movies.  Nothing intensely groundbreaking, but surprisingly powerful.  And it makes a helluva lot more sense than "Sucker Punch".

In this battle of the fighting flicks, "Battle: Los Angeles" wins!