Live Action Anime Film

Rating: 7/10 (25 March 2011)

Sucker Punch = anime fan's wet dream! The best sentence to describe this film - "Live Action Anime!" All the fight choreography and the poses were ripped right out of Japanese anime. I'm not sure if Snyder or Shibuya are anime fans, but the film definitely had that vibe. Which leads me to believe that this film will do well in the overseas Asian markets where anime is far more prolific in the market.
Visually amazing of course, Snyder never fails to deliver the visuals, however the story was a bit disjointed at points. It is very unfortunate that the foreshadowing very early on essentially offered up the end of the film. The audience should be allowed to discover it on their own. Perhaps a lack of objectivity by one who co-authored the script? Blue Jones came across as a weak antagonist, even when he got mean I didn't find it really believable. Maybe it was because there was a problem nailing down what the antagonist was? Blue or the short time Baby Doll had to escape. Some focus on this aspect would have helped to drill the story down to it's essential parts.
The whole step-father aspect seemed to be some sort of MacGuffin or a loose thread left dangling, I couldn't really tell since it was abandoned early on without explanation or clear reason. This happened a few more times during the movie.
If each of the girls were a splinter of Baby Doll's mind, then where does Sweet Pea fit in since she is supposed to be real? If they were not, then why wasn't that made clear? We see the girls in the asylum early on, and then the story focuses exclusively on what appears to be Baby Doll's "fantasy world"- what happened to the asylum?
"Inception" this is NOT folks!
Many aspects were introduced in this film and then never really revisited. The asylum, the step father, the other patients, it became initially puzzling, which then turned to annoying...
Ambiguity as a gimmick is really sloppy story telling, IMHO.
To revisit the asylum and the parallel events (we suspect) is to reinforce the idea of Baby Doll's fantasy or psychosis, which would have helped the film round out the story.
The segway into the various "missions" was rather smart and the anachronistic touches were clever, however after the second one, they began to appear rather generic as they didn't appear to have any discernible theme outside of different war eras.
Scott Glen as the wise man throughout didn't work for me. It stretched my suspension of disbelief too far to see an American as the wise man in Japan (even if this was an American girl's fantasy).
The first sequence should have had a Japanese actor like Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa playing the wise man and for each segment a different appropriate wise man would appear with a common iconic catch phrase or article of clothing that would make Baby Doll recognize him. Perhaps a Frenchman for the second like Jean Reno, a Brit for the third, like Daniel Craig and finally Glenn for the last. That would lend sense of period focus to each war era mission.
I found the Action sequences were merely there-visually stunning to be sure, but not very thematic as far as I could tell. I hoped they would become progressively more challenging and difficult to complete, but they didn't go there. They were action vignettes for the sake of action, not so much to progress the story along in any meaningful way.
For the record, as a frequent movie goer I am really getting tired of the shaky hand-cam shots in recent films lately!
NEWS FLASH to DIRECTORS! :
Shaky cameras don't give the audience sense of frenetic action. It only serves to confuse the visuals and annoy the viewer. Take a cue from Stanley Kubrick's work on "Full Metal Jacket" and master action shots with the damn steady cam!
Ultimately what "Sucker Punch" lacks is a heart, a soul to draw people into the plight of Baby Doll. That never happened. Perhaps it was the weak antagonist or the various dangling story threads abandoned to allow more screen time for extended fantasy sequences with the "wow" factor.
The real life peril Baby Doll was in, was a dramatic story unto itself and it never seemed to be fully exploited, which was unfortunate.
All in all, Sucker Punch is a fairly descent anime styled film, with several shortcomings. Those who love pure eye candy action will love it, others who are more discerning or require a strong narrative may not care so much.
The smartest thing the studio did for this movie is to go for the PG-13 film rating. Adolescents will certainly appreciate all the flash of the "Goth Girls with Guns" action. A more sophisticated crowd might quickly pass on the picture.
I saw a lot of potential, that was never realized. Maybe Mr.Snyder should stick to making films he DIDN'T write...
I wish more producers would at least have enough business acumen to send a director's script to a screenwriter for the final pass.
Too often a film maker shooting their own words lacks the necessary objectivity to cut or change the film so that it works.