Justice League

So here we go, my review of Justice League, list-style.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Where to begin?

Man of Steel

In the immortal words of legendary Aldous Snow from Forgetting Sarah Marshal - "Awful bloody movie". I was left with a number of reflections other than this one as soon as the end credits of the new Superman movie Man of Steel came up on screen -  how the hell can a movie with Henry Cavill 1. shirtless 2. in a tight suit be so dull? How in the world Adams and Cavill had zero chemistry? Why did they make Diane Lane look like a homeless person? But among those questions there was also one request - don't ever let Zack Snyder direct a movie again.

Sucker Punch

(110 min, 2011)

Director: Zack Snyder
Writers: Zack Snyder (screenplay), Steve Shibuya (screenplay)
Stars: Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens and Abbie Cornish

One flew over Heavy Metal island

I wanted to like this movie. I really did. I thought this can be an interesting film, where there are different secrets and mysteries to uncover under all the visual effects, where the innuendos and hidden meanings create truly disturbing picture. Unfortunately, although “Sucker Punch” had a lot of potential it is ultimately a very flawed mess of beautiful visuals, gorgeous actresses, plot-hole filled story and confusion. Nonetheless, it's nowhere near being the worst picture of the year and it's still an entertaining movie. The problem is, that the film is not fun when it should be and it's at its best during brief moments untainted by presence of dragons, Nazi zombies or robots. But those moments are simply too brief.

A young girl (Baby Doll) is locked away in a mental asylum by her abusive stepfather where she will undergo a lobotomy in five days time. Faced with unimaginable odds, she retreats to a fantastical world in her imagination where she and four other female inmates at the asylum, plot to escape the facility. The lines between reality and fantasy blur as Baby Doll and her four companions, as well as a mysterious guide, fight to retrieve the five items they need that will allow them to break free from their captors before it's too late...

The biggest problem with “Sucker Punch” is that it's a mix of things that do not fit together. When Baby Doll stays in the asylum she imagines the whole place as a glamorous brothel. And if Snyder just ended the fantasy element there the movie would have had a shot at consistency. Unfortunately, when Baby Doll performs her dance and goes into some kind of trance state, she goes into another fantasy, where she fights undead soldiers, futuristic robots, dragons...Given how the movie is set in 50's and the girl imagines all of that it makes you wonder....how? Why? Wait...how again? The fantasy scenarios have no reflection in the real world at all, they are horribly out of place in the movie. The CGI is impressive at times, but more often than not, it looks too fake to get inside this world and forget you are watching a movie. If only those scenes were somehow anchored in the Baby Doll's real world – just a figurine of dragon in her room would explain that whole sequence. Unfortunately, Snyder doesn't even attempt to patch this all together and we never get explanation as for why exactly a teenager in the 50's imagines the things she does.