History Film / SuckerPunch

%%* HairDecorations: Babydoll.

* HerrDoktor: Dr. Gorski has a thick German accent.

** ''Der Kaiser'' [[spoiler:shrugs off an entire bunker falling in on his head. He's implied to have undergone the same "treatment" as the soldiers, though]].
** The German courier [[spoiler: shrugs off falling out of the sky and landing on his face]].

* WomanInWhite: [[spoiler: Babydoll wears a white, glittery SailorFuku when she sacrificed herself in order for Sweet Pea to escape. Once she managed to do so, Sweet Pea steals a white dress from a clothesline to disguise herself.]]

* CluelessAesop / FamilyUnfriendlyAesop / LostAesop: The argument about the perspectives and validity of these is quite contentious.

** It's okay to exploit woman if you say that isn't your intention.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Blue's cohorts in the asylum world protest to Blue's [[spoiler:plans to rape post-lobotomy Babydoll]], saying that they're "done hurting these girls."

* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Babydoll is sweet, innocent and self sacrificing if a bit insane.

** Played with. Some parts like in the brothel '''occasionally''' it's all up there, but in the Asylum and most of the "Dance" sequences it's kept to a minimum. The audience is meant to see it, so a subversion, except [[spoiler:when you see it from "Blue's" point of view]]. May also be seen to zig-zag itself.

* MandatoryTwistEnding: ZigZagged. [[spoiler:Yes, it's all in Babydoll's head ... until it turns out she actually did everything for Sweet Pea to escape. And then it's heavily implied those weren't hallucinations when Sweet Pea comes across two people that only existed in Babydoll's hallucinations. They may have really been ''Sweet Pea's'' imagination all along.]]

* OrderliesAreCreeps: Blue, especially. The rest of the orderlies are simply ominous, and [[spoiler:this gets hammered home in the real world -- Blue tries to rape a braindead Babydoll]].

* RapeAndRevenge: In interpretations it could be seen as [[spoiler: the "Stepfather" raping her and Blue trying to rape her]] allowed her to take revenge on the other males in the movie except "Wiseman".
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Indicated in the Director's Cut with the reveal of the High Roller's intent. Likewise Blue's croneys [[spoiler: try to stop him from raping Babydoll once she's been lobotomised]].

* TheReveal: [[spoiler:The High Roller's scene in the director's cut, explains the movie in full detail and drives the point home]].

* SpiritualAntithesis: Shares a lot in common and directly conflicts with ''Film/FightClub'' as such. [[note]] both about person who goes insane due to many MANY issues and changes the world through "characters" they imagined / imaginary friends, a guide, with help from a team; while Sucker Punch is feminine focused, ''Fight Club'' is really masculine and violent. ''Fight Club'' is about too much of anything (anti-consumerism, inhibition) and ''Sucker Punch'' is also about that in a very different sense (too much violence against women will hurt you in the end/rape culture is bad/don't be a perv). ''Sucker Punch'' is all about the characters and their mental growth and goal getting, ''Fight Club'' is about the big theatrical audacity of the characters to do what they do. Both feature excessive metaphorical violence and both have an anti-accepted culture sentiment - rape culture and mass consumerism mostly, but other side morals slipped in about freedom. Both also have key character development at about the 20 minute mark, confidence wise. And both feature versions of the song "Where Is My Mind?", ''Fight Club'' featuring the original by The Pixies, and ''Sucker Punch'' features a cover by Yoav and Emily Browning.[[/note]]

** There are some similarities to ''Literature/BridgeToTerabithia'' which also featured characters creating a fantasy world as escapism from their tormentors in the real world. Amusingly enough both movies suffered from MisaimedMarketing - where the fantasy aspects were played up and trailers mistakenly advertised them as straight up adventures.

* {{Stripperiffic}}: Played with. The skimpiest outfits only appear in the action sequences. They're sexy but not as extreme as most examples, and being able to move about in them is justified by it being Babydoll's fantasy. The brothel costumes are similarly skimpy because...well it's a brothel. When not performing and in the mental hospital, the girls' outfits are more modest.

* AnAesop: Has a variety of messages littered through out the movie.

* HelloNurse: Rocket's outfit includes a black nurse's cap, and her dance performance also has her and the backup dancers in nurse outfits. Blondie is also wearing nurse outfits alongside Rocket when we first meet them in the brothel.

* NaughtyNurseOutfit: Rocket wears such an outfit during the cabaret performance night.

** The first "dance" acted out by Sweet Pea is [[spoiler:Babydoll's lobotomy]], which she stops because she doesn't think it is sexy. [[spoiler:She removed her Babydoll wig to reveal that she is sitting in the lobotomy chair, suggesting that she is the protagonist]]. Also, [[spoiler: her line about a lobotomized vegetable not being sexy comes back in the end, when post-lobotomy, Blue is too freaked out by UncannyValley Babydoll to find her sexy]]. [invoked]]

Not to be confused with a certain [[Creator/SuckerPunch video game company]] of the same name. For an ''actual'' sucker punch, see TalkToTheFist

* MamaBear:
** The mama dragon is not amused when the girls kill her child.
** Also Babydoll and Sweet Pea have their moments, usually focusing on something Rocket did.
** Babydoll was also a MamaBear to her sister.

* TheBigGuy: Blondie, who, in the dream-world, is the most ruthless and ferocious, and carries the biggest weapons, and who presents a street-smart, tough personality in the brothel-world (ie: cheering on a fight between two other patients in her first scene, teaching Amber how to seduce people). Vanessa Hudgens has described her as "The Tough One". Also notable in the WWII fantasy - she uses a lot of hand-to-hand combat while the others rely on gunfire. In the castle fantasy Blondie is also in charge of the bigger guns on the plane.
* BigSisterInstinct:

* FiveManBand: Babydoll is TheLeader and protagonist, Sweet Pea is TheLancer, the voice of caution and dissent, {{The Smart G|uy}}irl: Amber is TheSmartGuy who's in charge of transport in the dream-world, and who's shy, timid demeanor in the brothel-world (ie: nervousness about seducing the mayor) is common for this role, Blondie is TheBigGuy as, in the dream-world, she is the most ruthless and ferocious, and carries the biggest weapons, and who presents a street-smart, tough personality in the brothel-world (ie: cheering on a fight between two other patients in her first scene, teaching Amber how to seduce people). Vanessa Hudgens has described her as "The Tough One". Also notable in the WWII fantasy - she uses a lot of hand-to-hand combat while the others rely on gunfire. In the castle fantasy Blondie is also in charge of the bigger guns on the plane, Rocket is TheChick, being TheHeart, who exhibits an emotional personality-type and is determined to hold the girls together.

* FourElementEnsemble: Downplayed but it's there for each of the four fantasies. The temple fantasy has a battle that takes place in a snowstorm (Water). The WWII fantasy takes place in the trenches (Earth). The castle fantasy involves fending off a dragon (Fire), not to mention the girls needing something that makes Fire. The final fantasy involves a train on a raised platform amid clouds and mist (Air) - not to mention the girls needing to escape by helicopter and trouble arising when a jet pack doesn't work.

** In the WWII fantasy, they have the man with the map cornered...but he escapes with the map into a Zeppelin.

* FiveManBand: Babydoll is TheLeader and protagonist, Sweet Pea is TheLance, the voice of caution and dissent, {{The Smart G|uy}}irl: Amber is TheSmartGuy who's in charge of transport in the dream-world, and who's shy, timid demeanor in the brothel-world (ie: nervousness about seducing the mayor) is common for this role, Blondie is TheBigGuy as, in the dream-world, she is the most ruthless and ferocious, and carries the biggest weapons, and who presents a street-smart, tough personality in the brothel-world (ie: cheering on a fight between two other patients in her first scene, teaching Amber how to seduce people). Vanessa Hudgens has described her as "The Tough One". Also notable in the WWII fantasy - she uses a lot of hand-to-hand combat while the others rely on gunfire. In the castle fantasy Blondie is also in charge of the bigger guns on the plane, Rocket is TheChick, being TheHeart, who exhibits an emotional personality-type and is determined to hold the girls together.

* RatedMForManly: {{Deconstruct|ion}}ed in that you have GirlsWithGuns in skimpy outfits battling in a {{High Fantasy}}/{{Steampunk}}/{{Cyberpunk}} setting, but the message is meant to be AllMenArePerverts.

%%* ThreePointLanding: ''ALL THE TIME''.

* AmbiguousSituation: Whose story were we told? What was real? What was a interpretation of the events? What is from Blue's perspective? What is from Babydoll's perspective? What was Sweet Pea's visualizations?

** Amber's name means "fierce". She's quite docile and submissive.

* IndecisiveDeconstruction: Action-movie {{Fanservice}}, or a deconstruction of Action-movie {{Fanservice}}? Who knows?

** Also falls into IndecisiveDeconstruction. It deconstructs as much as it builds expected tropes in the movie, which could mean it is a DeconReconSwitch of the horror/action genre.

* PantyShot: Only if you're looking for it!

Not to be confused with a certain [[Creeaor/SuckerPunch video game company]] of the same name. For an ''actual'' sucker punch, see TalkToTheFist

For an ''actual'' sucker punch, see TalkToTheFist

''Sucker Punch'' is a [[GenreBusting fantasy action horror thriller film]] directed, written, co-produced and conceptualized by Creator/ZackSnyder (his first film not to be an adaptation of any kind), and released by Creator/WarnerBros

It is about a about a young girl, Babydoll (Creator/EmilyBrowning), and her FireForgedFriends. Together, they plan escape from the insane asylum where they're being held against their will. Babydoll can't cope with the trauma of being trapped there, and imagines the asylum as a fantasy world instead. But she can't cope with her fantasy world either... which is when things get complicated. For an ''actual'' sucker punch, see TalkToTheFist

It is about a about a young girl, Babydoll (Creator/EmilyBrowning), and her FireForgedFriends. Together, they plan escape from the insane asylum where they're being held against their will. Babydoll can't cope with the trauma of being trapped there, and imagines the asylum as a fantasy world instead. But she can't cope with her fantasy world either... which is when things get complicated.

''Sucker Punch'' is a [[GenreBusting fantasy action horror thriller film]] directed, written, co-produced and conceptualized by Creator/ZackSnyder (his first film not to be an adaptation), and released by Creator/WarnerBros

''Sucker Punch'' is a [[GenreBusting fantasy action horror thriller film]] directed, written, produced and conceptualized by Creator/ZackSnyder, his first film not to be an adaptation, and released by Creator/WarnerBros

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[[folder:E–K]]

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[[folder:L–R]]

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[[folder:S–Z]]

** Babydoll views the High Roller--[[spoiler:the lobotomy specialist]]--as an evil, slimy, threatening man, [[spoiler:but in reality he's extremely reluctant about his job, viewing lobotomy as flawed and inefficient, especially since his latest patient wasn't in need of a lobotomy at all.]] The rest of the orderlies are much the same--they're depicted as passively malicious and threatening from what we see of them in the hallucinations, [[spoiler:but after the lobotomy, they've had enough of Blue and stop him from raping Babydoll.]] In addition, the asylum's psychologist, Dr. Gorski, notes that she tried to reach out to Babydoll in reality but Babydoll didn't respond, whereas in the hallucinations, Babydoll takes her lessons to heart. Gorski is intimidating when introduced in the fantasy world, but isn't anything like that in reality.
** As for Gorski, her role is interpreted as the person trying to reach out and help her in both universes - in the asylum universe she perceives Babydoll's actions incorrectly and she cannot offer the aid she needs, while in the brothel universe Babydoll takes the role Gorski represents and her intentions and brings them to fruition. In the brothel reality Babydoll reframes her limitations as someone actively working against her kindness.
* AmazonBrigade: Babydoll imagines her friends as such in her (second!) fantasy world. They're each a [[OneManArmy One-Woman Army]] (except for Amber who's an AcePilot) who can wipe out hundreds of enemies.

* CostumeTropes:
** BareYourMidriff: Babydoll's and Amber's outfits.
** ChainmailBikini: Sweet Pea.
** CombatStilettos: All.
** FanserviceCostumes: During the cabaret performance night. Amber wears a FrenchMaid outfit, Rocket wears NaughtyNurseOutfit, Blondie wears a BellyDancer one and Sweet Pea dons a "[[OurAngelsAreDifferent sexy angel]]".
** GogglesDoNothing: Blondie.
** GracefulLadiesLikePurple: Dr./Madame Gorski.
** HairDecorations: Babydoll.
** InTheHood: Sweet Pea.
** OfCorsetsSexy: All the girls wear a corset at least once.
** PantyShot: Only if you're looking for it!
** RuleOfSexy: The girls' outfits are ridiculously impractical for all the fighting they do. But damn if they don't look good in them.
** SailorFuku: Babydoll.
** StockingFiller: Rocket.
** TooManyBelts: Sweet Pea and Blondie, especially the latter.
** TrueBlueFemininity: The Lennox hospital dress is colored blue.
** UnderwearOfPower: Amber and Sweet Pea.
** WomanInWhite: [[spoiler: Babydoll wears a white, glittery SailorFuku when she sacrificed herself in order for Sweet Pea to escape. Once she managed to do so, Sweet Pea steals a white dress from a clothesline to disguise herself.]]
** ZettaiRyouiki: Babydoll has the stockings/skirt combo and the pigtails for a Grade S.

* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: In the fantasy sequence.
* InstantAwesomeJustAddMecha: In the WWI sequence.

* RuleOfSexy: Invoked with all the girls' outfits.