Brude, there are plenty of times I do not bother with critics. However, when they are all saying to expect what I was expecting (over-stylized mix of fast/slow motion with no story) and they are all panning it consistently, there would have to be a pretty compelling reason to doubt them. Keep in mind I didn't care for 300 and while I have finally seen the Watchmen, I left feeling... meh.
Having seen it, I wouldn't go as far to say there is no story. The story is weak, but the purpose is stronger. Sucker Punch suffers from a poor script, likely because Zack Snyder knew his own vision so clearly and what he wanted to do that it was hard to break it down onto paper.
Sucker Punch's purpose seems to be methodically breaking down the last twenty years of geek fantasies. There's a reason this movie feels like a video game, or a comic book, etc. It's because the movie focuses so heavily on the fictional staples that geek culture embraces so heavily and then physically destroys them on film, likely to have the same effect psychologically.
There are four sequences, each isolating specific geek subcultures.
-Anime/"Japanese" Culture
-Steam Punk and Nazis
-Medieval Fantasy
-Outer Space Fantasy
The action vignettes are overloaded with phallic imagery and each sequence features women in cosplay physically destroying the entire universe. The opinion is rather split, but this is a movie about female empowerment. There isn't a male character in this movie that isn't a scummy bastard who should be repeatedly stabbed to death. The sexualized nature of the lead girls is a reflection of the era the film is set - the late 60s - and is a comment on sexualized feminist movement as a whole. This is touched on in the review I linked earlier.
Sucker Punch's downfall is its purpose was very ambitious and the weak script didn't carry the message or intention as well as it could have. The movie falls somewhat flat, but it is not a complete failure because some thought and reflection reveals everything I just explained. Sucker Punch will likely be embraced by many people for the wrong reasons which is in my opinion the largest and most unfortunate failure, but an educated mind can see Sucker Punch as an analysis of all geek subcultures people have taken for granted. Snyder is making a statement by destroying these recycled fantasies on film, but whether or not that statement is clear to its audience is debatable.
