With 17 minutes of extra footage and Maximum Movie Mode, if this the definitive edition of Sucker Punch?
What They Say
Born from the creative vision of filmmaker Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300), this epic action fantasy launches from the vivid imagination of a young girl whose dream world provides the ultimate escape from her darker reality. Locked away against her will, Babydoll (Emily Browning) has not lost her will to survive. Determined to fight for her freedom, she urges four fellow captives – outspoken Rocket (Jena Malone), street-smart Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), fiercely loyal Amber (Jamie Chung) and reluctant Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish) – to band together and try to escape their terrible fate at the hands of their captors Blue (Oscar Isaac), Madam Gorski (Carla Gugino) and the High Roller (Jon Hamm).
The Review:
Packaging:
The extended edition of Sucker Punch comes in a standard Blu-Ray snapcase with slip-cover. There is a double-sided ‘flip’ that hold two of the three discs while the third is on the case itself. The three included discs are: the extended cut, the theatrical cut, and the DVD/digital copy on one disc. The cover is very nice if not a little off putting as it shows Baby Doll in ‘action-pose’ during the Samurai sequence. The reason it’s off putting is because it looks like a painting as opposed to a picture as baby Doll just…doesn’t look like Baby Doll in a couple of facial features. Overall nothing really outstanding about the packaging as it is what we’ve come to expect with newer Hollywood BD releases.
Extras:
The extras on the BD combo set are pretty minimal considering this is an extended edition of the film and a combo pack to boot. But considering what the extras are…I am more than OK with it. The set has three bonus features on it: the four animated shorts used to promote the movie, a quick behind the scenes at the soundtrack, and Maximum Movie Mode! By now we should all know that Maximum Movie Mode is probably the best bonus features that any film can get on its BD release.
Maximum Movie Mode runs during the feature presentation. Just like the Watchmen MMM, Zack Snyder pops up every once and awhile and shows us behind the scenes goodies relative to the scene currently playing in the film. What’s really nice about this is that the movie is still playing in a PIP window so that you can watch everything simultaneously which gives a much fuller experience than watching separate BtS clips. Another good aspect to the MMM is that when Snyder doesn’t jump in, the option to view storyboard and concept art pops up during the appropriate scene. Snyder’s MMM proves again to be worth the price of admission alone and something that all releases should have.
The soundtrack featurette is only about two minutes long and just very briefly talks about why Snyder made the song choices he did and some quick praise for Emily Browning’s vocal talent, she sings about 3 or 4 songs on the soundtrack. While it’s cool that the music got a spotlight, it just wasn’t nearly enough for me. I fell in love with the soundtrack instantly, heck it is the blame for my recent Bjork kicks, and really wanted some more detail and depth here. At least I can still enjoy the music itself.
The four animated featurettes, however, are the weakest part of the extras for me. Each short gives more detail and background for each of the high fantasy sequences used in the film. I don’t see the point. The sequences aren’t ‘actually happening’ and the attempted metaphorical meaning behind these sequences fits with the film. Adding background as if these sequences are real makes it quite confusing if someone hasn’t watched the movie yet. I honestly never saw these promos before I saw the movie in theaters and I’m glad for it. I see now the huge disappointment many had upon watching Sucker Punch, these shorts add a lot of promise that just doesn’t fit into the actual context of the film. However, after seeing the movie I recommend watching them just to see the animation. They have a very Genndy Tartakovsky feel to them and are just interesting as stand alone pieces.
One thing, of annoyance, to note about the special features, is what the viewer has to go through to watch them. Granted it isn’t a huge inconvenience but still, unnecessary. The Maximum Movie Mode is only available on the Extended Cut disc; meanwhile the other two features are only on the theatrical disc! I can understand why the MMM is only on the extended cut, but the other two? I’m just picky I guess. There are no features available on the DVD disc.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I fall into the distinctly small fraction of people who like Sucker Punch. I saw it in the theaters, enjoyed it, and picked up the BD upon release. I will not by any means defend it as a great movie or a ‘perfect’ movie but I don’t think it deserves the abhorrent rage directed at it. The film has many problems but overall it was *this* close to being an amazing movie.
The movie is about Baby Doll, a twenty year old girl whose mother just passed away and is left in the care of her easily despicable step-father. One night during a drunken rage, the step-father is about to sexual assault Baby Doll’s younger sister. Baby Doll shoots her step-father but accidentally kills her sister in the process. The step-father then takes Baby Doll to the local mental asylum where he pays off a corrupt orderly, Blue, to have her lobotomized ASAP as to protect himself.
From here we get a quick montage of the asylum and key things that Baby Doll sees. The final clip of the montage is that of Baby Doll being placed in a chair about to be lobotomized. The movie quickly cuts to the inside of a brothel where Baby Doll is an orphan who has just been delivered there by a priest selling her innocence. One of the things that bothered me the most when this movie came out was the critics likening it to Inception. Even going so far as to comments on the ‘dream’ sequences and ‘dreams within dreams’. This movie has nothing to do with Inception or dreams, everything is metaphor. My best friend, who hasn’t seen the movie yet, described it perfectly after I tried explaining the film to him (he was following the Inception buzz crowd). The film is like Calvin & Hobbes. These events that we are witnessing are actually happening, we are just seeing them differently through a metaphorical lens. Therein lies the greatness of Sucker Punch and its greatest weakness. By telling the story through metaphor we get an extremely nuanced look at what is happening to Baby Doll and the other girls which gives a lot more depth and perspective than it would’ve if just shown ‘normally’. However, there are a lot of events that take place that work very well with the story being told, but when attempting to figure out the metaphor and understand what really happened…some things just make absolutely NO sense at all! Gaping plot holes pop up everywhere when applying the metaphorical aspect but work well within the brothel storyline.
Throughout the film we are introduced to multiple fantasy sequences. These sequences are where all the action in the movie is and what we saw the most of during the trailers for the film. Since the asylum is portrayed as a brothel, each of the girls has to dance for the audience during business hours. The dances are basically the girls attending therapy sessions on the treatment stage in the ‘theater’ hall. Obviously this is a little degrading, to go through therapy in front of everyone, hence the highly sensual/sexual nature of the dances/brothel. It is found out that Baby Doll is the most amazing dancer anyone has ever seen, the thing is…we never see her dance. Every time Baby Doll dances we get transported to a fantasy sequence, starting with the Samurai sequence. These sequences were the hardest for me to wrap my head around as they are extremely metaphorical too. Only after watching the Maximum Movie Mode and Zach Snyder explaining his base intent behind the sequences did it really click for me. Given the new information from the MMM, I love these sequences even more! Each sequence is high on the action, and very high on the CG. They are a blast to watch because of the high action and it is very obvious that the actresses had a lot of fun making them.
Here lies the other big problem with the movie. Snyder has stated multiple times that his intent with this movie was female empowerment. These sequences are all about the girls looking very sexy (ESPECIALLY Sweet Pea and Rocket! Good Lord!) and kicking a lot of ass. However, female empowerment doesn’t mean looking sexy and kicking ass just to kick ass. These sequences, in the eyes of the right viewer, not mine, can come off as simply exploitative and trashy. Also, the names of the main characters is not by any means flattering to women, especially those who ARE empowered and are watching this movie for the ‘intended’ reasons. I can sympathize with the sentiment but, I’m just THAT demographic I guess.
Overall, I think the movie is very good but it just misses the mark on a couple of things here and there. If those couple of things were added in, this could’ve been an instant classic and something to really be remembered. But sadly it’s not. That fact, and that fact alone in my opinion, is the cause of all the hate. Just caused it missed some marks and failed as a truly great movie doesn’t make it a terrible one. Thankfully, rumor has it that the studio forced a lot of the movie be cut to meet time and rating requirements. The extended version must surely fill in those gaps and elevate it to the level it was striving for! Right?
Warning: EXTREME Spoilers
Now to talk about the extended version of the film directly. There’s going to be major spoilers so stop here is you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want…well, spoilers. The extended cut of the film runs 17 minutes longer and has an R rating attached to it, instead of the usual Unrated rating attached to extended cuts. I was extremely disappointed with the extended cut of the film. Whenever I get the hankering to watch Sucker Punch again, it will be the theatrical cut. Basically this version adds two scenes into the movie. These two scenes are entire scenes about 8 minutes in length each. There are no little snippets littered here and there to fill in any gaps in the story.
The first scene…is not really a new scene. During the end credits of the film there is an inter-cut scene showing Blue and Madam Gorski singing Love is the Drug on stage at the brothel. It was a cute interesting scene in the credits that was really out of place considering the tone of the movie. Well, that scene in its entirety is re-introduced to the movie proper. And…it is really out of place considering the tone of the movie! It is a fun scene, don’t get me wrong, and there are little shots here and there that add a lot to the overall metaphor of the brothel. For example, before, we were pretty sure the orderlies were raping the patients; with this new scene, we KNOW the orderlies are raping the patients. During the MMM, Snyder even says during this scene that the reason it was cut from the theatrical release was because it was too fun. It removed the danger and tone the film was setting up to that point. I can live with it or without it. It doesn’t really add a whole lot or detract TOO much, but it should’ve been a simple deleted scene so that we could watch it.
The second scene happens at the very end of the movie. In the theatrical cut, when Baby Doll distracts the guards at the gate of the asylum/brothel to allow Sweet Pea to escape she gets punched in the face by one of the guards. The instant she is punched in the face, the film cuts back to the ‘real’ world and the punch in the face is the ice pick being jabbed into her brain (the lobotomy). This has a great impact on the viewer, well, me at least, as it was very sudden and made extreme sense given the context. The plot hole however is that the person who punched her/lobotomized her is not the same person in the two realities. In the extended cut, after she is punched in the face, Baby Doll wakes up lying on a bed. She has been moved to the high-roller/doctor’s room. What follows is an overly long scene in which the high-roller ‘cons’ Baby Doll into willfully having sex with him. He continuously repeats how he won’t ‘take’ her until she is willing. That it is against his morals to do otherwise and the sex will be better if she consents. OK, this is just wrong. It’s like watching a rapist talk to his victim who is currently tied up in a damp basement somewhere bleeding cause he beat her first and telling her that she must ‘want it’. Yeah, this scene really kinda bothered me because of that. It isn’t helped that the high-roller is played by Jon Hamm. That dude wows the ladies flawlessly, and far less creepily, on Mad Men; he just isn’t pulling off that signature suave charm in this scene. The other issue I had with this scene is that because of the setup and the dialogue, it beats you over the head REPEATEDLY with the implied metaphor that Baby Doll has resigned herself to accept the lobotomy because her real purpose in the asylum was to help Sweet Pea escape. In the theatrical cut we understand that implication immediately and quite effectively; we don’t need this scene to treat us like children who need everything explained to us!
There is also a quick little scene of Sweet Pea in a field stealing a dress off of a clothesline. This brief scene is very nice, both visually and as a means to the story. It fills in the hole of ‘Where did she get that dress in the final scene?’ and is a real nice touch with some good aesthetics and emotional punch. The problem with this scene is that is acts, looks, and feels like the right end to the movie, or at least the right end for anything concerning Sweet Pea. And then the final scene at the bus station still happens. The addition of this tiny little scene make the bus station scene seem superfluous. In my opinion, if I wanted to add the scene in the field I’d have cut out the bus scene altogether and re-sequenced the scenes appropriately. But, if I did that I wouldn’t have Scott Glenn show up as the bus driver and be awesome. Yes, Scott Glenn showing up as the bus driver in the end kind of makes things really confusing and might have been better left out but…it’s a fun scene. So conflicted!! In the end this extra scene is another unnecessary scene that should’ve just been a deleted scene extra.
In Summary
Sucker Punch is a movie that was almost perfect. Almost a landmark. Almost what it should have been. But sadly there are a few things that hold it back from greatness and a few things just plain missing from the film. This doesn’t make it an outright bad film and I still really enjoy watching it. The opening sequence is my highlight by the way. The extended edition brought a lot of promise with it. The promise to fill in the spots that were missing before and make the movie what it should have been. But everything added into this cut is unnecessary and actually detract from the enjoyment of the film. A little bonus feature very common on home video releases called “Deleted Scenes” would’ve been the ideal place for them.
So, with a single disc version of the movie that is just the theatrical cut available; is this version worth the extra $5? Yes and no. No, in my opinion, it is not worth it because the extended cut isn’t better, it doesn’t improve, it’s worthless. However, you can only get the Maximum Movie Mode if you buy the combo pack with the extended cut, since the MMM is only on the extended version. That alone is worth the extra $5. So, if you were planning on purchasing the movie on Blu Ray (extended cut and MMM not available on DVD version), spend the extra couple of bucks for the combo pack. Who knows, you might like the extended cut whereas I didn’t.
Content Grade: B- Theatrical/C Extended
Packaging Grade: B
Extras Grade:B+
Age Rating: PG-13/R
Released By: Warner Bros.
Release Date: 6/28/2011
Running Time: 110/127 minutes
MSRP$35.99
Aspect Ratio: 2:4:1