I Watched Sucker Punch For The First Time

If you read the title, I am here to talk about watching Sucker Punch for the very first time.

I heard about this movie before and seen pictures of it, but I didn’t watch it until last night around 11pm out of boredom, and oh my god it’s wild.

To start, Sucker Punch is a 2011 film made by Zack Synder and it’s main character Baby Doll ends up in an asylum and her and a group of other inmates try to escape. When I first read the description I was like “Ok, so it’s like a psychological drama type of film” but then I saw the preview on netflix and this girl gets a samurai sword and a gun from this old man who I guess watches over her. So after reading the description and seeing the preview, I knew it was gonna be wild, but not as wild and confusing and strange as the movie actually was.

Before I continue I have to say spoiler warning, because I honestly can’t describe and talk about this movie without spoiling it. Plus honestly me spoiling the movie and trying to explain it, I don't think I really can since again this movie is so confusing. Also there is some triggering topics such as forced sex work, sexual assualt, abuse, and mental health, so fair warning. So with that let’s just start this shit show.

So the movie opens up with a little dialogue and some badass music, like the music in this film is amazing, and we find our main character Babydoll in her house. Then for 7 straight minutes we have this weird dramatic opening where we see all the different scenes mashed together. It was very confusing and made me a little dizzy. So basically Babydoll and her younger sister live with their stepfather after their mother died. Then we cut to this scene of the stepfather trying to get to Babydoll and she fights back. Then the stepfather locks Babydoll in her room and goes after the sister. It’s presumes he’s going to harm the younger sister or something, I’m not sure, but Babydoll saves the day by somehow jumping through her bedroom window and coming back into the house, and somehow manages to get a gun and fires at the stepfather; however, she ends up shooting her sister.

So the stepfather called the police, and Babydoll ends up in an all woman asylum. We meet our villain of the story which is a doctor that is called Blue who is paid by the stepfather to perform a lobotomy on Babydoll. We also met Vera, another doctor there. Later on Babydoll is changed and goes into her lobotomy appointment and cuts right there.

Now at this point I was already confused but what happens next is just wow. Just a neutral wow. All of a sudden the asylum is changed into a sort of a... prostituion ring??? I’m not sure what to call it, but suddenly like the asylum is changed into a club-esque setting, and all the female patients are now “dancers” that perform in front of men in very tiny articles of clothing. Like we go from mental hospital to strip club in a blink of an eye, and I was very like “Huh?”

Then I thought, “So is the asylum actually a facade and they actually take these patients and force them to become strippers?” like I need some answers. It was such a polarizing change and so sudden. It was hard to grasp what the hell was happening, but the movie acts like nothing happened and we just start meeting new characters. We end up meeting Sweetpea, Rocket, Amber, and Blondie. Sidenote, Blondie is played by Vanessa Hudgens...what the hell! Like it was just weird to see her, and Vanessa usually plays stupid and awful characters, so I was prediciting Blondie is a stupid and awful character, but let’s not skip ahead and talk about the chef scene.

One of the girls, Rocket, get’s attacked by the chef and Babydoll comes to the rescue. After this incident, Rocket and Babydoll became closer, and Babydoll became a bit of the talk of the town. Because of this Vera, who was a doctor that’s now a choreographer, tells Babydoll to dance.

I was thinking, “Oh shit ok” and I thought we would see some dancing but nope. Suddenly we focus into her eyes and the scenery changes into some Samurai era shit. All of a sudden it’s winter and we are in the 12th century of Japan, and Babydoll has a new outfit, which is actually really cute. Actually I do love the fashion and styling and grimy look of the whole movie, it’s really nice, but anyways we are in japan. Babydoll goes into a temple and there she meets the old man who is her guidance in the whole film. The old man gives her a samurai sword and a gun, and she ends up fighting 3 big ass samurai soldiers made out of stone. This small woman fights these 3 colossal giants and takes them down. Now another thing I enjoy about this movie is the fight scenes. The fight scenes are so amazing and elegant in a way, plus it kind of reminds me of the fighting scenes in Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, cause they are both in like a cartoony style way. So yeah Babydoll takes down these 3 samurai giants and then we zoom back into her face, and we are back in the dancing room.

I guess she did a good job because everyone is clapping and cheering her on, and the main doctor Blue especially loved it. Now Blue is the ringleader of this whole circle I guess, but yeah he loved Babydoll dancing. Also Babydoll must have danced for 10 minutes straight at least cause that fight scene was kind of long. But yeah the fight scene wasn’t real. It was just in her head and part of her performance. So we are back in the asylum/club place, and Babydoll decides she’s going to escape. Rocket, Sweetpea, Amber, and Blondie wants to escape too. So they end up going on a treasure hunt on finding 4 items: Map, Fire, A Knife, and A Key.

They end up getting two more items, the map and a lighter, and during this time of getting the items Babydoll dances as a distraction and we get some more fantastical fighting scenes. This time the other girls join in on the fight, and instead of fighting giant samurais they fight an army of zombies and a dragon. Again, I’m very confused why we have these fight scenes and what the hell is going on, but they get the two items so yay! However, Blue starts to suspect they are plotting something and threatens them. Sweetpea tells the girls they need to stop before they get caught, but Rocket is like “Hello no” They continue on their path.

I guess these threats get to Blondie who ends up crying and breaking down in the dance room, and there she confesses to Vera and Blue about the plan to escape. See. Vanessa Hudgens always play stupid and awful characters, like Blondie what the hell. Blondie could’ve just stepped out of the plan and be like “Bye Bitches” but no she snitched. Anyway during this Babydoll and the rest of the girls go for the knife and Babydoll performs in front of the Chef. As she dances, we get a fight scene where the girls fight robots on a train and try to defuse a bomb. Unlike their other fights, they lose this one. The radio cord gets into some water and messes up the music. The chef catches them trying to take his knife so he goes after the girls and ends up killing Rocket.

Blue then bursts into the kitchen and takes the girls. We are then in the dressing room, and Blue is angry and drunk as hell. He gives out a long villain lecture, and he ends up shooting Amber and Blondie. That leaves Babydoll and Sweetpea the only ones left in the group. Also I forgot to say Sweetpea and Rocket are sisters, so Sweetpea is breaking down but Blue decides to lock her up in the closet since she’s being too emotional. Even though she just saw her sister die. Ok.

Blue gets Babydoll alone and tries to assault her, but she ends up stabbing him and taking his master key. She then finds Sweetpea, and they manage to get outside. However there are a bunch of people in front of the gates, so Babydoll tells Sweetpea to go, and she distracts the people. One of them goes to punch Babydoll and suddenly we are back at the asylum where Babydoll is getting a lobotomy.

We are back to Babydoll in the beginning getting her lobotomy and the asylum is a normal asylum. My first thought was “What the fuck!” Then it clicked. It was all in her head. All the dancing, the girls, the strip club, it was all in her head. But in the real world she did end up setting a fire, stabbing the real Blue, and helped a patient escape. Everything else was pure imagination.

Ok. That is not the end though, we have ten more minutes where we see Babydoll who has now got a lobotomy become basically a vegetable. She has no mind I guess, I’m not sure how lobotomies work, but she’s not there in the present. So Babydoll is then taken by Blue who puts her in a room, and Blue starts to kiss and choke her. He’s about to assault her, but Vera and the cops come to save her. That’s the end of Babydoll’s story. Also fuck Blue, that’s very disgusting he used lobotomy to be able to assault these girls. Disgusting so I hope he get’s the electric chair ha!

After he’s taken, we see Sweetpea, and honestly I don’t know if Sweetpea is real or not. Because we see her get on the bus and the old man from all the fight scenes is driving the bus. The old man is there. So I’m not sure if he’s real or not. I’m not sure if Sweetpea is real. I’m not sure if the whole bus scene at the end is real. But that’s the end.

That was Sucker Punch, and it was a lot to digest. Honestly I didn’t think I would write this much about Sucker Punch but oh well. Now honestly I probably need to watch it again to fully grasp what this movie's intention was. I mean it was a psychological drama mixed with fantasy action, and basically about how this doctor abused his female patients. Maybe it’s also about female empowerment in a way? I’m not sure, like I said I need to watch it again to fully understand. All in all though, I love this movie but also hate this movie. I have so many mixed emotions about this film. Because I loved all the scenes, but putting them all together is so damn confusing. I mean one minute we are at an asylum and next minute we are fighting a horde of zombies, it’s a lot to process. Then I do like the whole style and aesthetic of the movie. I love the outfits, the coloring, and the grungy aspect of it. I also liked the characters, the only one I had issues with was Blondie, but they were ok, but their dynamic was a bit off to me. I mean Rocket and Sweetpea and Babydoll made sense, but Amber and Blondie didn’t add much to the story and were just there. Then with the story, I get it but at the same time I don’t get it. Overall this movie was a fun disaster in a way. It was really bad but also really great. Honestly, it might be one of my favorite movies now, because it’s so awful but so good at the same time.

I definitely need to watch this movie again, but yeah first time seeing it I love but also hate it.

Sucker Punch is just strange, but what’s stranger is if you made it through this article/post thing. Thank you for reading, I really appreciate it. Plus this post is quite hefty because Sucker Punch was quite hefty. So thank you and enjoy your day or night!