Ok, I finally got to watch it and it blows me away. Before you continue reading, I would want to stress that the below are all SPOILERS! If you had not watched the movie, I strongly suggest you do so before you read on because otherwise, you won't understand what I am talking about anyway. Also, you should catch the 3 short animated trailers SPOILERS below!!
Here is my post to links for the 3 short animated features:
http://nemesisv.blogspot.com/2011/03/suckerpunch-animated-shorts.html
OK, I think this film is really going to be a cult movie very much like Pulp Fiction and Matrix. Some will not agree, but there are many many deep levels to talk about. First, lets set some terms. I group the reality into 3 levels. The first, being the asylum. The second, the brothel and the third will consist of the 3 other worlds - The Nazis, The Dragon and The Robots. Now, before I go on, I want to talk about the number 5 in SuckerPunch. I read somewhere it took 5 years to cook up the whole SuckerPunch movie and so there are a lot of things in 5s. 5 Heroines, 5 worlds, 5 days to lobotomize, 5 items etc... I think Zack wanted it that way. They could had made 5 level 3 worlds for 5 items, but of course the film would be too long.
So, let me talk about the 5 worlds. The asylum is what we all agree should be the reality. I think the brothel is a world created by Sweet Pea as she mentioned she is the star of the show and then later introduced to BabyDoll. The idea of using music as a therapy is also first applied to Sweet Pea. After BabyDoll was introduced to the brothel, she had her own way to "dance" out the other reality necessary for them to complete their mission. I actually had the thought that BabyDoll was Sweet Pea "Guardien Angel", but I kinda think its Wise Men in the end that was her angel. So, there is a possibility that BabyDoll was nothing more than a split imagination of Sweet Pea, because you will notice that Sweet Pea and BabyDoll has many in common especially the sister relationship.
Back to the remaining 3 worlds. Each of these world represents a conflict, especially if you had watched the 3 animated shorts. The first Nazi worlds is a conflict about the living and the dead. This could had been brought out by the trauma of death of BabyDoll's mother. The second world of the Orcs and Dragon represents a conflict of the religion where the Orcs believe in their "god" - The Dragon and the human denies it. I would interpret it as BabyDoll's blaming that a true "god" did not exist or else all the suffering will not had been rushing to her like a tsunami. In the end, we also see that BabyDoll killed the "god" (Dragon) as a form of denial. The third world of the robots. In the shorts, it was revealed that it was a conflict between the rich and the poor, at least in physical cash. This is probably a result of BabyDoll's father selling her out for money.
After looking at this, I was very inclined to believe that BabyDoll exist and is not part of Sweet Pea imagination, until. I reach the end. After being lobotomized, the movie purposely did not want o reveal BabyDoll's face giving the audience some expectation that it could be of Sweet Pea's instead. Which then would really be a SuckerPunch! But in the end it show that it was of BabyDoll and not Sweet Pea. So maybe BabyDoll did exist.
Now, there is also the never ending question whether Amber, Blondie and Rocket really existed. I guess maybe and maybe not. I did recall seeing a few girls fight in the first scene when BabyDoll was introduced to the theater, but are those girls our heroines? I guess not. But Rocket especially was in many way a shadow of BabyDoll's sister whom she had failed to protect and thus dies in the level 3 world. Their existence however does makes the obtaining of the items much easier to explain. Sweet Pea or BabyDoll would had more trouble getting all those item on them own. The question remains then is, did they really died? Remember in the end, to Dr Gorski, there is only mentioned of her setting a fire and letting one patient (Sweet Pea) escape. I think if 3 patients died, it would be worth mentioning. So I did not think the 3 heroines died. At least not physically. They could had been lobotomized, but it was never mentioned that they faced this fate, especially one scene where it was mentioned to BabyDoll that that's her own problem, not theirs. So, we can simply even imagine they got taken away and isolated and thus could not continue their mission and thus have to die away in the level 2 world. Of course, if we read that these 3 heroines are not even real, then its just fragments of Sweet Pea's or BabyDoll's imagination that died off.
The 5 items was pretty clear, especially the map and the lighter. their purpose was to create the fire that unlock the main door and guide our heroines out. The knife was to defend, but ironically it was used both as a defence and as an attack to obtain the key. The only thing left was the 5th item which was the ultimate sacrifice. If BabyDoll was unreal, it would means that Sweet Pea had to make her final sacrifice to give up her last fragment of imagination before she leaves the asylum. I am more convinced that Sweet Pea did really made the escape in the end. And another segment that supported the fact that BabyDoll was not real was that BabyDoll had to made the last sacrifice to set herself free. In the end, she was lobotomized. One way to explain her getting the freedom is through Sweet Pea. And it seems that the whole thing may had been Sweet Pea imagination because of the Wise Man character. It doesn't make sense for BabyDoll to meet him where the only person that saw him in reality is Sweet Pea at the very end. This could only had been possible is all the other characters were created by Sweet Pea to help herself escape in the end. It was mentioned by Rocket that Sweet Pea came in because of her and that is a suggestion that Sweet Pea is totally sane. Well, but every insane person I met says he or she is not insane. Could this be what Sweet Pea cooks up too?
We all know the whole movie is about Sweet Pea and not BabyDoll as the film suggested throughout, before the end. I guess this was deliberate as well. Well, thats the SuckerPunch (SP=Sweet Pea)! I hope you are not more confused after reading my thoughts. Of course, all the above are only my interp[retation. Feel free to share yours in the comments!
