12 Subtle Movie Plot Points You Probably Overlooked

9. It's A Satire Of Sexist Fanboy Culture - Sucker Punch

The Plot Point: Within hours of Sucker Punch's first trailer hitting the web, commentators were taking director Zack Snyder to task for cobbling together another deeply sexist action movie that objectifies women and patronises men, appealing to their basest desires in a lazy attempt to sell movie tickets. Though it's far from a great film, it is, at least, far more intelligent and self-aware than most critics have given it credit for, because Sucker Punch is at its core a satire of the tacky fanboy culture that breeds this sort of sexism. The proof? The sheer over-the-top nature of the costumes and nonsensical action, the ridiculous character names like Babydoll, Sweat Pea and so on, and the fact that almost every male character in the movie is a perverse scumbag, in essence reflecting the audience's own leering nature if they went to see the movie just to ogle some cute young thing in a sailor costume. Whether Snyder entirely succeeds in his satire is an entirely different matter (can a movie satirise something while also showing it off?), but it's clearly what he was shooting for. Why You Probably Missed It: Because who expected a Zack Snyder movie to deliver anything this sub-textual and ambitious? Given Snyder's rather dubious depiction of females in his prior movies, why wouldn't he just make some sexy fanboy-bait that's catering to the lowest common denominator? Still, in the years since its release, it's been re-evaluated by many, and though plenty flawed, it's at least a much braver film than most give it credit for.