SUCKER PUNCH - A Movie Meditation

A MOVIE MEDITATION - BY DHAIVAT MEHTA

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I haven’t written a film review since Inception. But Suckerpunch is the kind of film that tends to inspire cult fandom to defend it’s very existence so naturally I had to do this. I am no film critic, but I am a true lover of movies, thus this review will be informal to say the least.

First off, what do you expect from a Zack Snyder movie? Do you expect extremely well fleshed out characters? Engaging and well thought out plot? Or themes that make us question the very nature of existence? If you expect such things from a Zack Snyder film then you are going to be disappointed with ALL his work. You are much better off watching ‘The King’s Speech’.

That brings me to the point that this movie isn’t for everyone, matter of fact this movie is going to be hated by the critics but most probably loved by the crowd. Zack Snyder makes spectacle and so far has proved to be a visionary at stylized adaptation of properties such as Watchmen & 300. Because of those movies he has ingrained himself into the pop culture of the 21^st century pretty well. As well as become a ‘sure thing’ for Geek Culture, keeping it alive and enhancing it with his vision.

After watching SUCKERPUNCH, I declare Zack Snyder the undisputed overlord of Geek/Fanboy Culture. For if you are a fanboy/girl of any of the following: Anime, Comic-Books, Hentai, Manga, Video Games or even Asian action cinema, then SUCKERPUNCH is nothing but 2 hours of pure Geek-gasm. But this is why it will appeal to the crowds because in recent years all these aspects have been blended into our cultural consciousness through comic-book movies and the rise of video game culture. Well for the younger crowd anyway.

This film is the stuff every 13 year old boy’s wet dreams are made of, well atleast mine were. Not to say there there isn't things in it for girls, I mean we have a killer female cast. But I would imagine this film will be to boys what twilight is for girls.

The movie opens in a music-video style montage as we see Babydoll’s mother passing away, her father trying to assault her and her sister and in retaliation Babydoll accidentally shoots her own sister. This whole opening montage is set to ‘Sweet Dreams(are made of this)’. What it gives the viewer first and foremost is a feel of the ‘tone’ of the movie. The tone right off the bat is very ‘pop’ and what follows in the film is nothing short of pulp ‘Pop art’.

The movie then goes to a Mental Asylum where Babydoll is sent for correction. The pop art continues when babydoll begins to imagine herself as a part of a high-class brothel. Where the girls dance for their clients and the clients pick and choose depending on what they see…There is no explanation or point to this transition from one reality to another. But the ride sure is fun.

Then comes the third reality. Which is the most ridiculous of all. Whenever Babydoll dances, she is transported along with her friends to a hyper-real environment where anything can happen, Giant Samurais, Zombie Soldiers, and fire-breathing Dragons.

The whole point through all three of these realities is breaking free from the prison that is the Mental Asylum. As the Wiseman advises Babydoll in the hyper-reality: She must find 4 items, a map, fire, knife and a key and a fifth item is a mystery.

What Zack Snyder does is make these simple tasks incredibly epic. For example, the map in the first reality hangs behind the desk of the Asylum manager. But in order to acquire it, in the Hyper-reality they must go through hordes of Zombie soldiers to reach an army bunker, which houses the map.

Why? Simply for the sake of spectacle and badassery. The imagination of this film reaches far beyond anything that has ever been seen before and that is why it will confuse audiences. Why make a simple task so epic and hyper-real? Why does the mind make up things that are completely out of the possible? What is the meaning of dreams? The answers to all these questions Zack Snyder slices away with an oversized Katana and by the time he is done, we even forget about the questions.

Now onto inspect the elements:

The music in the film will be the thing that sticks out the most, on top of the visuals. The two blend in a perfect mix of Operatic Harmony. The audio and visuals work to create the experience of ‘cool’ within the viewer, the likes of which hasn’t been felt since ‘The Matrix’. The score consists of soundtrack pieces that are all by female singers. The songs are all rock/pop electronic blends, which matches the blurred realities of the film very well. What Zack Snyder creates is an Opera for the eyes and ears to feast on, complete with very exaggerated almost theatrical set pieces and actions. Which is what brings me to the performance.

Let’s talk about the acting and the characters for a second. Which serve in the story as interchangeable archetypes. They are not individuals but an idea of something bigger. They are characters in a video game, all helping each other on their way to escape their reality. Having said that and keeping with the theatrical metaphor, the characters are all very set in stone, leading to easy identification. For example the Asylum manager is a scumbag all the way, from the beginning of the movie to the end. Babydoll, is the innocent wide-eyed, powerhouse from the beginning frame to the end one. Same with the other characters. They are so set in stone into their own archetype, that it gives us room to enjoy the spectacle that the characters are involved in rather then worry about them having a sudden arc or moment of epiphany.

The structure of the film is absolutely unexplainable. How the realities blend and why they blend. Why does the hyper-reality consist of the things that are in it? All these questions are irrelevant as everything is just there. Like a level in a video game, you don't know what enemy you're going to face next, how strong they will be, what items they will give you. Infact that is actually what the movie feels like, a Video Game with three levels and we are put into the midst of it all with Zack Snyder holding the controller.

This is Zack Snyder unleashed. Unleashed from the bounds of any source material, he creates a vision so absolutely ludicrous and senseless and within that senselessness lies the sense. If you don’t try and make sense of the film and just enjoy it for the pastiche fetishistic fantasy of our wildest imagination, then you will enjoy the movie.

The themes in the film are absolutely basic. The hype that the film is about female empowerment is not entirely true. For it is only about a single part of female empowerment, the 21st century male's idea of female empowerment which is way sexier than anything a practicing feminist will ever come up with. Because in my opinion female empowerment should consist of more than sexy outfits and big guns, no? Obviously I am a man and can only give my opinion and it would be interesting to hear a woman's perspective in this matter.

I would also argue that the central idea of the film is that of escapism and even that is vague. The goal of the characters is to escape from their current reality by going into a hyper-reality. Does that serve as a metaphor for the fantastical worlds we create in our minds to escape from our current reality? Maybe. That is why the film is an adolescent boy’s fantasy and yet, it is the most no-bullshit straight up entertaining films you will ever see. Because even we will not be able to provide logical explanations for most of the things that go on in our minds yet we enjoy them.

So that brings us to the conclusion.

My consensus is this: The film is for sure a piece of nonsensical pop-art, and yet, it gets to the heart of what movies are really about. They are about the ride, the experience of a fantastical world right in the comfort of the theatre. Films are about Opera, the perfect blend of audio/visual elements that arouses feelings within the audience. But with the content SUCKERPUNCH, the audio/visual arousal will only work for the adolescent crowds, who are used to the same elements in video games, comic books and other pop culture outlets and therefore will be able to immerse themselves in the experience rather than become distracted by contemplation of character and plot. Which is so not what this movie is about.

Zack Snyder has only now come into full recognition of his voice as a film maker and his voice is that of a die-hard fanboy, who enjoys things for the sake of enjoying them. He is going to be hated for it, his vision will be shunned into the corner for being so self-indulgent it will even put Tarantino to shame. But that is why I love Zack and can't wait to see what he does with Superman.

As always check it out for yourselves! I am only ONE film geek.

RATING 41/50

Artistry : 10/10

Experience: 10/10

Performance: 5/10

Story: 6/10

Badassery: 10/10

THIS RATING SYSTEM IS TEMPORARY I WILL REFINE IT AS I GO ALONG.

Inception Review

SPOILER ALERT!

It was a badass movie. But yes, it does have it's flaws.

Christopher Nolan is one of my favourite film makers of all time and he could be considered the Kubrick of our generation. Now all his previous films have been something of a spectacle. Everything from Memento to The Prestige and the comic-book masterpiece The Dark Knight. Inception is no different.

It is a spectacle of pure cinema. The concept of the story is simple. Dom Cobb (DiCaprio) and Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are two paid agents who are paid my giant corporations to go inside the dreams of their rivals, enter their sub-concious and steal vital information. Until Ken Watanabe comes up with an offer for the two duo to return home. (an impossibility after Cobb was framed for the murder of his wife.) The job requires inception, or planting an idea inside the heir of a corporation to break up his dad's empire. Naturally Cobb and Arthur take this job and all hell breaks loose.

The very concept itself is brilliant, dream manipulation as industrial espionage and the possibilities that exist within one's dream. One of the most memorable sequences for me personally was the montage where Cobb goes to hire an architect who will create the world of the dream where the inception takes place. Cobb is explaining the concept of shared dream and subconcious to Ariadne (Ellen Page) and thus we get an insight into the 'rules' that Chris Nolan has created for this whacky concept. Even though he doesn't fully explain why or how one can share a dream and not just that, but later on how 6 people can have a shared dream all because of a device that Nolan doesn't care to explain. But it's ohk, because that is not the important thing. What is important is that we are on a journey through the subconcious of the corporate heir called Fischer (Cillian Murphy)

Now this journey which makes up pretty much the last half of the movie is one that is filled with magic and mayhem. Ariadne the architect has created three layers of dreams within a dream, to reach Fischer's inner most subconcious. This is where the plot gets at it's most complex. There are four layers of existence, for Cobb and his team. The first is in a warehouse(First Layer) The second is in an expensive hotel and the third is in a ski field god-knows-where, all they way through they are trying to plant this idea inside this guy Fischer's head about breaking up his father's company. Now the last half an hour or so is hard to keep up with definitely because all three of the layers have a lot of action going on and our main characters are in peril throughout all three layers of dreaming.

But I kept up with it, I was there through the entire sequence, even during the parts where Cobb shared all those melodramatic moments with his dead wife, that he keeps alive in his sub-concious. But by the end of the film I was not attached emotionally all that was left was intellect. I could follow the movie intellectually, but emotionally I was out of it, right when they reached level 2 of the dreamworld.

Now, the movie is a mind fuck, no doubt. It has been dubbed 'the new matrix'. It sure requires intellect and thinking beyond the box. I still think it is a very powerful piece of cinema that deserves recognition for what it has accomplished with its complex storytelling. Maybe I need another viewing to fully grasp the film emotionally, as is always the case with films of this nature.

But, as always check it out for yourself. The film is a fucking ride!

The Karate Kid Review

My First review will be that of The Karate Kid, which stars Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith. Coincidentally this is the latest film that I saw. Now for the sake of this review, I am not going to compare it to the old Karate Kid, for that will be an insult to the effort that Harald Zwart and his team put into this film and also an insult to the film itself, which should be seen as an independant piece of art.

Now right off the bat I can tell you that The Karate Kid is a GOOD movie and for many reasons that I will discuss. First let's see how young Jaden Smith performs.

Jaden Smith, the son of Will Smith (who was the producer, along with wife Jada) is going to be a star no doubt and his performance in this film is exceptional. Right off the bat, you give a shit about this little 12 year old who is moving off to China.

His character is very loveable not only because he is a little kid but also because he has his shortcomings. Now once he moves to China that is when Jaden really shows his shit. First of all the beatings that he takes by the bullies are all very brutal so much so that me and others in the audience were yelling out "ooh" and "aah". Jaden makes you feel the shit that he is getting, so much so that you get pissed off and want Jaden to throw in a punch or two, which he does. But to no avail. There are also aspects of his character that people can relate to as a 12 year old, the relationship with his mother, his constant effort to fit in to a foreign enviroment, which are all acted very well by Jaden smith. His performance is a star making one and he will have a bright future in this industry.

Now let's talk about the real surprise, which is delivered by Jackie Chan who plays Mr Han, the kung-fu master.

Now this is not the Jackie Chan that you have grown up knowing. The one who throws himself through glass windows, high buildings and kicks people's ass, all while making you laugh till you pee. That is the Jackie Chan that I knew, the Jackie Chan who was in Drunken Master, Police Story and Rush Hour. But no sir, this Jackie Chan is more mature and way more BADASS!!!

Right off the bat, the character of Mr Han is a complicated one. We never really know his motivations, and Jackie Chan plays the character so seriously that one really feels the mystery and confusion about this character. Once his path collides with Dre (Jaden Smith) then shit really gets interesting. As he becomes Dre's Kung Fu master we see that he is a very strict man when it comes to Kung Fu making Dre do the same shit all the time until he gets frustrated. The character never really fully gets revealed, the closest is a scene where Mr Han, reveals a thing or two about his past to Dre. In a scene that melted my heart and brought tears to my eyes. Jackie Chan's performance was serene. The best performance that I have seen out of Jackie Chan, and that is a bold statement to make. But its none-the-less true. This man deserves an award for what he did in this movie and someone out there should make sure he gets it.

Now the two performances aren't the only thing that make this movie a masterpiece. There is also the amazing and distinct visual style that this film has. The beautiful colours and photography make this film feel like a true chinese opera. Which is what this film is, it is a marriage between east and west and what a beautiful marriage it is. There are so many quotes by Mr Han about the spirit and the nature of Kung Fu, there are so many moments between Dre and Mr Han that are so intense, the training, the blood, the sweat and the tears all make for one hell of a movie experience.

Well done Harald Zwart, you have truly made a masterpiece and it should be recognized as one.

Everyone should go and check out this flick again and again.