Sucker Punch Movie Review

Releases: 7th April 2011
Rating: M – Contains violence
Duration: 110 minutes
Genre: Sci-Fi Action
Starring: Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Carla Gugino and Oscar Isaac
Director: Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen)

The Premise>> A young girl (Baby Doll) is locked away in a mental asylum by her abusive stepfather where she will undergo a lobotomy in five days’ time. Faced with unimaginable odds, she retreats to a fantastical world in her imagination where she and four other female inmates at the asylum, plot to escape the facility. The lines between reality and fantasy blur as Baby Doll and her four companions, as well as a mysterious guide, fight to retrieve the five items they need that will allow them to break free from their captors before it’s too late…

The Review>> Zack Snyder, he’s had some big hits with 300, Watchmen & the Owls of Gahoole (maybe not such a hit there), but I’ve always had the sneaking suspicion he may have a leaning towards style over substance. Sucker Punch has only reinforced my theory. It looks cool, has a mean soundtrack, got a super-hot cast of actresses, but a lack of solid characters, plot & logic. 

It starts well, a girl ‘Babydoll’ gets wrongly sent to a mental asylum, she meets some other oppressed inmates and plans an escape. The escape is told through other realities she’s imagining (I think), I don’t know why, maybe it’s cause she’s criminally insane? Although I thought she wasn’t crazy in the first place.

I think I’ll give up on the thinking in this one.

She fights dragons, giant samurai’s, Nazi zombies and shiny robots, these represent the issues or challenges escaping the mental asylum. The trouble is the battles come across as random and a little pointless. You’d think a fight between a girl in a Japanese school uniform and three giant samurai would be compelling, but it’s surprising how many times I drifted. Sucker Punch does ramp up the drama in the third act, once you start seeing the negative effects of the battles in the other realities it gets more interesting. A few of the actresses did some good work too, Jena Malone & Vanessa Hudgens were engaging and Oscar Isaac pulls off a bad guy that could’ve almost come from a Tarantino flick. 

Sucker Punch has made me realize there is such a thing as a ‘cool’ overkill, guitar solos and industrial beats with chain guns, robots and dragons come off as laughable when they’re all chucked together, like one of those KFC double downs, it’s a bit ridiculous.

Sucker Punch has been billed as Zack Snyders complete vision as he wrote & directed it. His directing is pretty much bang on, given the right story he’s awesome, if a touch melodramatic, you can’t help being impressed by his visuals and his concepts. The writing on this one leaves a lot to be desired, if you’re prepared to put up with the ‘what the heck just happened’ moments and you can appreciate visuals over storyline; you might find something in Sucker Punch.

The Conclusion>> Visually stunning but a little lackluster in the storyline.