Sucker Punch

Release Date: 01 April 2011
Director: Zack Snyder
Starring: Abbie Cornish, Carla Gugino, Emily Browning, Jamie Chung, Jena Malone, Jon Hamm, Scott Glenn, Vanessa Hudgens
Details: US/109mins 12A

I firmly believe that Zack Synder is a visionary filmmaker. Dawn of the Dead is one of the best remakes ever produced. 300, despite its flaws, had stunning action, while Watchmen will age better than most comic adaptations and is a truly underrated barrage of visceral style and layered, nihilistic substance. Sucker Punch is the first that he has (co-) written as well as helmed, and it's essentially the director indulging himself. It's predictably stunning to look at - as is its core cast - but it's rammed down your throat so violently and without coherence that most viewers will never be more than momentarily engaged.

Emily Browning plays 'Baby Doll', a young woman we are introduced to just as her mother is been murdered by her step-father for financial gain. When trying to save her little sister from an attack from him, she inadvertently kills her and is thrown in the nut house. There, she meets a concoction of beautiful patients, and retreats into herself in order to concoct a plan to escape and deal with her traumatic experience - roping in her new friends to do the same.

Snyder goes hell for leather from the opening frames of Sucker Punch. From the very start, he uses abrasive music and slick CGI-heavy action, only letting up occasionally to pan around Browning's beautiful face. When Baby Doll dances, she enters another world; somewhere very dangerous, but somewhere she's also capable of anything. The patients join her there, and they work together as a team. Those sequences are really beautifully done - one involving steam-powered Germans in particular is phenomenal. Snyder has a blast as the body count rises, and every one of his heroines is given a chance to shine.

Plot-wise, however, is where this film really struggles. As it works on similar levels to Inception, comparisons with Chris Nolan's cerebral blockbuster are unavoidable. But where Nolan had just the right mixture of exposition, character and action, Synder doesn't really explain anything, instead hoping that audiences will be distracted by hot women in skimpy clothes doing really cool things with swords and shit in slow motion. When you have a plot built around something like that, those moments are cool - but when all you have are those moments, it quickly becomes repetitive.

Basically, Sucker Punch doesn't really work. It's a mishmash of ideas in an extremely pretty package that soon becomes tiresome.

Review by Mike Sheridan

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Your Comments

mojo

Personally, I think Sucker Punch is a better film than 300 or Watchmen(and I liked both films a great deal and own both) and Mike Sheridan's review is totally wrong, this film was NEVER tiresome in any way. For those of us with dark natures this film works on so many levels it is amazing. Sucker Punch, unlike Zack Snyder's other films is a very serious and dark piece of work. A troubled girl is locked in an institution and must rely on herself and some new friends to escape a real(and a self imposed) hell. There were no comedic moments or light banter between the characters, but those script tricks were not needed for this film. The surrealistic nature of this movie kept me engaged from the opening moment until the closing credits. The way the realities that Baby Doll created, and that she and her friends inhabited, kept morphing from one to another and back again during her dances kept me asking is this really happening or is this poor girl living in a world few of us will ever know or see. Were the actions she and her friends undertook ordinary in themselves and the fanciful ways they were played out merely in Baby Doll's head ? These fantasy sequences by the way, were off the chart. The way all the characters in this film kept changing to suit whatever reality they were in was an excellent use of the actors. This film had the same feel (to me) as the films "Night**tch" and "Daywatch". The way the struggle between good and evil was played out. In the end you come to understand that all the actions that took place really happened, just not in the way they were presented. If you are a true fantasy fan, then this is a film for you. I have recommended this film to all of my friends and would recommend it to anyone who asked my opinion. Unlike some recent films, this one is well worth the price of admission and I saw it in 2D.

Posted 27/03/2011 23:09:00

Pandora

Thanks mojo, that's the cinema choice for next week sorted, esp when you likened it to Night**tch and Daywatch.

Posted 01/04/2011 03:18:13

Mark

I come down in the middle between mojos review and sheridans review above. The message of the movie is laughable, but the director has made something so off-the-hook crackers and beautiful to look at -- its tough to fault really. I thought of leaving early on in the movie, realising how thin on plot it seemed it was going to be...but i was soon glad i stayed. Still no real substance to the movie by the end - but gorgeous babes, futuristic/medieval/WW2 sequences and cool music should be more than enough for you. Leave the brain behind and enjoy.

Posted 06/04/2011 14:48:15

alison

LOVED IT.....!!

Posted 07/04/2011 16:35:32

noel

This is a very flawed movie, story, script, dialogue, are all in need of serious work, does it look pretty? yes it does, is Snyder one of the very few directors working in Hollywood that has a unique eye for detail and style? yes he, is it as good as Watchmen,300, Dead. No its not but damn it looks pretty. Is it bonkers? Hell yeah its bonkers plus 10, Like all snyders movies it will be cult with a capital C, maybe though he should stick to directing or working with a better writer than himself as he shows here its not his strong suit. It is pretty though....

Posted 12/04/2011 14:58:09

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