QuickClick: In Defense of Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch [Video]
Posted 02.02.13 by Ryan
It was only a few years ago that Warner Bros. released director Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch, a fantasy-action movie that Snyder often described as Alice in Wonderland with machine guns." Snyder was coming off of the much-ballyhooed comic book adaptation of Watchmen and was finally in a position to helm Sucker Punch, which Snyder co-wrote after conceiving the original story.
"A while ago I had written a script for myself and there was a sequence in it that made me think, 'How can I make a film that can have action sequences in it that aren't limited by the physical realities that normal people are limited by, but still have the story make sense so it's not, and I don't mean to be mean, like a bulls**t thing like Ultraviolet or something like that?" said Snyder of Sucker Punch way back in 2007. Unfortunately, audiences didn't agree.
Sucker Punch was set in the 1960s and followed a young girl named Babydoll (Emily Browning), who was institutionalized by her stepfather and consequently escapes into a fantasy world in order to plan her escape. Critics weren't impressed, and audiences didn't show up, with Sucker Punch just barely making back its budget. However, according to SlashFilm contributor Adam Quigley, who created a video defending the movie, claiming: "contrary to popular opinion, Sucker Punch is not a stupid movie."
Whether or not you agree with the video's arguments, don't feel bad for Snyder. Even after Sucker Punch, the studio still picked him to direct the upcoming Man of Steel, which, if it does as well as Sucker Punch, will have huge ramifications on Warners' DC Entertainment and their stable of DC Comics' properties.