Sucker Punch (2011)

Director Zack Snyder is known for his distinctive visual take on rich source materials such as 300, Watchmen and the upcoming Superman: Man of Steel. Sucker Punch is Snyder's first film that has come from original material and the outcome: Sucker Punch is not as good as his other films.

Though Sucker Punch is far from a bad movie (and by bad, I mean Skyline, Zookeeper bad) It's still rather disappointing when you consider the technical wizardry and cinematic artistry that has been put into the movie. It all looks gorgeous, but there isn't much of a story, so you come out thinking, what was the whole point of it all?

Sucker Punch is set in 1960 Vermont and follows lead character Babydoll (Emily Browning) who is taken to a mental institute after attacking her evil stepfather with a gun and accidentally killing her younger sister. Babydoll gets close with four other inmates (Vanessa Hudgens, Jenna Malone, Abby Cornish and Jamie Chung) and plans an escape which, via the powers of her imagination, puts the girls up against Zombies, Dragons and Robots. Just so you know, It's a ludicrous as it sounds.

If Zack had his original choice of girls then we would've seen Amanda Seyfried play Babydoll with Emma Stone and Evan Rachel Wood playing her fellow inmates. But they all dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. There's certainly no denying that cast of very talented ladies would of been very interesting to see.

One could describe Sucker Punch as just a feature length music video. You certainly won't here this reviewer complaining about the soundtrack as it's superb. It mixes well known artists (Bjork and Queen) with lead actress Emily Browning singing Eurythmics Sweet Dreams. Each selected cover version plays during one of the four set-pieces which starts off with Babydoll swaying her hips from side to side and closing her eyes before waking up in a different war zone before pulling out again looking all sweaty and driving any male observers absolutely wild. As mentioned previously, This is Snyder's first film that isn't based on other work. However, the film does feature motifs from various other films and computer games including Prince or Persia (game), Half Life 2 (game) and Alice in Wonderland (Book, film and er, game)

The result, while technically looking the same as the one Zack used for 300, has a vast gulf in quality. While 300 is certainly no masterpiece, it's solid entertainment that seems to get better after repeat viewing. Sucker Punch soundtrack is amazing and the four set-pieces in the film are made well (Stand-out is set-piece one with Babydoll fighting 3 huge samurai s). But it isn't just about slow-mo and having a great looking cast. You also need to have a story so the audience can connect with characters, which sadly, this doesn't have. The story of the five girls doesn't seem real which makes it hard to find any sort on connection.

Sucker Punch is a visually impressive movie with a great soundtrack but lacks any kind of emotional pull, which makes this film less satisfying than it should have been.