There may be Zack Snyder movies more notorious than Sucker Punch — particularly those that pertain to Batman and/or Superman and/or their mothers’ shared first name — but no Snyder movie has bombed harder at the box office than his action-fantasy-psychodrama. (Yes, even the one about warring owls did better.) Perhaps not coincidentally, Sucker Punch, which takes place simultaneously in a corrupt mental institution, a gangster-run brothel, and an impossibly vast fantasy battle-scape, is also the only Snyder movie not based on pre-existing materials to receive a wide theatrical release. Its flop was a sign that, for as much mainstream success and cult adoration as the filmmaker has enjoyed on various projects, there are limits to his fandom, and maybe also his imagination.
