Well, I just got back from the theatre and I was quiet the entire way home just thinking about what I had just watched. It was a simple enough story. I don’t think the story could have been successfully more complex or it would have totally been lost in the dream sequences. But what was done so beautifully, is that the transitions between sequences were seamless enough to pass between realities without the pain of going, “WTF?”
That being said, it also laid out the obvious path to the film, which I believe to be the film’s worst foil. You knew what was going to happen and what sequences were coming next, just like the girls knew by the nifty power point presentation that Baby Doll scribbled in chalk on the black board. It nearly spoiled the flow.
Now, as for the action sequences are concerned, I could not have been happier. Zack did what he does do incredibly well, by painting each frame as a masterpiece of brutal art, while guiding you through his world of creation. My favorite sequence was the one where the bouncy bunny Nazi killing machine and the girls infiltrate a Nazi bunker and obtain the map. My least favorite: the dragon slaying sequence. (The Orcs were oddly reminiscent of the ones used in LOTR and got a chuckle from me).
The theme of the story was one of fight and sacrifice and it came to an end that, again, was predictable just from the plan that had been laid out to Baby Doll by the Wise Man. (Who was a very enjoyable character that used his words and cameos wisely).
I’m still kind of taking it all in (it was a 2 hour movie that went very fast) so I will definitely watch it again on DVD. I just don’t get all of the bad reviews this film is receiving, though. If you haven’t figured it out by now, you don’t go to a Zack Snyder film to get a warm and fuzzy feeling and walk on a cloud on the way out. You go to take in some visual violence and escape reality just for a little while.
And that’s just fine with me.
