Sucker Punch

So it appears a lot of critics out there didn't watch the same movie as I did..  Yesterday I saw Sucker Punch, written and directed by 'Watchmen' and '300' visionary Zack Snyder. In fact, I saw it twice, because after reading some of the reviews by 'big time' critics and even a few I actually look up to, I needed to make sure we were talking about the same film.

Sucker Punch is the story of Babydoll played by Emily Browning of 'Lemony Snicket's' and 'The Uninvited'. Babydoll's life is shattered when her mother dies and leaves everything to her and her little sister making the abusive and apparently sexually deranged stepfather take out his aggression on the little sister. Babydoll, attempting to defend her sister, makes a terrible mistake and is unjustifiably committed to the Lennox House for the mentally deranged.

The corrupt warden Blue, quickly takes a bribe to make sure Babydoll is unable to testify about the actual events surrounding her incarceration. Inside, she meets sisters Rocket (Jena Malone) and Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), along with Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and Amber (Jamie Chung).  The treatment that the girls are being subjected to are so wicked and unnatural that Dr. Vera Gorski (Carla Gugino) has taught them to create wild fantasies to live in and help them deal with their tortured lives inside the Lennox House.

While Babydoll is being forced to perform lewd "dances" for male clients arranged by Warden Blue, her mind retreats to a fantastical world where she must learn how to defend herself metaphorically while she "performs". In the fantasy she learns about the 5 items she must acquire in order to escape Lennox House. With the help of the other four girls they must distract the guards and collect each item using wild fantasies to help them so they can escape before Babydoll's memory is erased forever.

There are several well written characters: Babydoll who has lost everything but is still selfless and composed. Rocket, who wants to escape with Babydoll who she has formed a close bond with after a near death experience Sweet Pea, who wants to keep everyone safe, especially her little sister Rocket. Even Dr. Vera Gorski who is sympathetic to the girls and wants to help them, but is also a captive of the Warden and must obey his orders out of fear.

The flow of the story is at times hard to follow because you as the viewer are thrown into the action as abruptly as the characters themselves. It all becomes clear upon completion of each objective but I can understand people losing interest in the story before they give it a chance to make sense. This lowers my rating slightly because audiences of an action movie are less likely to care about plot development, which is really an insult directed towards the audience, but when promoting a movie, you have to sell it to the right fans.  The same thing happened with 'Watchmen'.  When it was released it was promoted more to the superhero fans when it was in fact a political thriller. Sucker Punch is less of an action movie and more of a psychological jail-break film with crap-tons of action in it.

Also, this movie loses points, not as a result of the director or actors but the production company. Warner Brothers chose to make Zack Snyder cut this film into a PG-13 rating which I believe reduced the effectiveness that he envisioned when writing the script. Look out for this to release on Blu-Ray and DVD. I'm sure Zack will have an awesome director's cut of the film that will show his fully realized vision.

One more thing I need to hit on was the soundtrack. The music and score for this movie were FANTASTIC! Each scene was beautifully scored and each song was used perfectly. If you choose to see this movie (and i suggest you do) make sure to hit the IMAX or at least a theater with an above average sound system. You will definitely enjoy it better this way.

So, in closing, I think you should see 'Sucker Punch'.  If you enjoy movies being more complex than just having insane fight scenes with everything blowing up, I think you will be satisfied when leaving the theater.  It successfully takes you out of reality to experience the pain these girls are feeling and their need to save themselves, even if it costs them everything.

I'll give this one a 7.5 out of 10. 

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that..... he's gone."