Here we go again, another Friday, multiple bombs along with its share of hits. Which movie clicked this time? Looking through last week’s hits, I bet there were quite a few hits and some unexpected ones too.
Having watched the trailers earlier, I was quite, no scratch that, VERY excited at watching comic booklike characters, mostly superheroine with curves that would probably shame Barbie at her bad figure. And what an image the director has managed to conjure in some of the visuals. Really EPIC. Imagine 3 girls in a diving plane with guns blazing at men in Nazi uniforms. The vivid colors used in that scene portray a very lasting impression. Here at last was a movie which I looked forward to.
So finally, when I walked into the multiplex on Sunday, 18 people in the multiplex hall, gave me the shivers. Imagine watching a horror movie in these empty halls. Why don’t they reduce the prices to a reasonable level instead?!? Even good movies go haywire due to bad pricing. In contrast, Donga Muthallu which borders on average is a hit as the stars have not collected their payment and the pricing has deliberately been kept low in single screen theatres.
About the movie: The movie starts off with a rendition of the Eurythmics song, ’Sweet Dreams’ to the background story of the illtreated(no idea on that) daughter/Step daughter seeing her sister die. Babydoll’s sent to the asylum, and she notices a few things on her way in. Like a signboard about fire, a key on the doc’s neck, and a few other items. She is asked to show her dance skills inside. Something snaps inside her, as she literally battles her demons(trying to shake off her fears). Meaning she sleepwalks through the dance while her sole focus is how to get out of there. And in her dreams she fights demons to obtain the clues to escape out of it. The mentor(in her dreams) states that there are 5 things she requires to escape. Fire, key, map and etceteras. She manages to convince her mates at the asylum to join her side and they plan on escaping from the asylum. By dancing, she’s keeping the guards on duty busy looking at her while her colleagues set about collecting the items requred. The concept is good on the storyboard, but I find after watching the movie and giving it a day before I reviewed it, the story is eminently forgettable. However, the movie can definitely be watched once as it is a visual masterpiece. Coming back to the story, I have already thrown in enough spoilers. Does she escape? Watch the movie for the rest.
Firstly, when watching the movie, the action sequences look totally designed for a game console.I felt awed by the visual treat in some of the scenes, yet, the story strangely did not live upto it completely. At times, with the strange creatures, I felt it was a role playing Dungeon Siege game(limited to its 8 characters), and at times quite relieved to come back to the real story. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone told me that a game was releasing soon for the Xbox/PSP. For ex., there are some scenes which you may find copied, but you may wonder which game. For ex., the hall where she battles on the way to and back from the dragons. Dungeon Siege? If you play a dozen games, then you may dispute the fact that its a copy from such and such a game. Does it really matter?! And we have multiple scenes which appear to be straight snitches. Not that it itself is a bad thing. Infact the scenes in this movie are what you call the stand out features. So I didn’t expect much of a story to begin with, I was immensely happy with the quality of the visuals. My only regret was that it was not 3D. With such idiotic movies on 3D nowadays, I wonder why this movie wasn’t. The quality of visuals would definitely have made a tremendous impact to its box office earnings. That is definitely this movie’s undoing. Secondly the bad pricing at the mall plexes seem to ensure all movies flop. Regardless of what critics say, (obviously their damned jobs pay to criticize) I was outright thrilled with this movie. I mean, c’mon which movie has a storyline these days? Titanic? Avatar? 2012? Have you even heard of a movie called Airbenders which supposedly had a strong storyline instead?(Shymalayam’s last dud) I can go on, but what’s raking in the moolah is the presentation and style. This movie has oodles of it. So my takeaway from the movie 24 hours after watching the movie? Visually appealling, definitely average story with you feeling letdown with this verry short movie and a lot of missing details, with a style statement. You feel letdown as there are very little details provided by the director to grasp the story. There are lots of questions which go unanswered. And damn, I can’t raise any, as it is Fantasy fiction! I walked out barely in 90 mins. How short is that? As for Zack Snyder, he will be remembered for this from now on, not 300 which was blood and gore redefined.
Funnily though, the movie works as anti to your dreams. I mean have you ever tried to run in your dreams, or even walk? As per definition, dreams are images, not a sequence of motion pictures, if you get the gist, so no action sequences unless you are awake. Even if you are, try imagining an action sequence and you will find it either hazy or quite difficult to level up a short action movie. So either the story teller had the latest CPU processor embedded in the lead heroine or whatever… However, the end result is what matters and Sucker Punch remains an excellent movie treat visually. Music is a patchwork of a multitude of hits right from the 80s, mostly renditions.
As for critics, for a change, let them look at the mirror and do their worst.