Best Comic Styled Movie

Rating: Null/10 (4 August 2011)

I usually tend to shy away from movies that are based on graphic novels and comic books because they tend to only appeal to a niche audience. It seems that those people who have seen this movie either passionately love it or they despise it. There does not seem to be any middle ground on the subject. However, after reading many mixed reviews on the film, I decided to invest some time into viewing this film in order to make up my own mind. Long story short, I absolutely loved it.
The movie is centered around the main character, Baby Doll (played by Emily Browning), being institutionalized by her abusive step father into an insane asylum. While in the asylum, Baby Doll teams up with Sweet Pea (Abby Cornish), Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), and Amber (Jamie Chung) to develop an escape plan. Each stage of the escape plan is lived out through an alternate reality. Each stage is played out through extremely intense battle scenes. After some surprise deaths, it seems Sweet Pea is the only one of the group to make it out of the asylum. Depending on your interpretation of the film, the ending may or may not be a surprise to you. This is a film that I probably want to view several more times before deciding on my concrete interpretation of the story.
The casting is excellent. With the exception of Hudgens, I was not familiar with any of the other young women's work. This is what made the movie work for me. To me, these actresses were unknowns and that fact helped me to view their characters as real people. Also, I must note that Zack Snyder's work as a director was amazing. I did not care much for his previous film, Watchmen yet; this movie killed every expectation that I had. The special effects end of the movie was handled in an amazing way. The blu-ray port of the movie gives the viewer an amazing view for the battle scenes as well as the best surround sound I have experienced outside of a theater. You will almost feel every action of the movie.
Overall, it is a great movie. It could make anyone a believer in the graphic novel genre of movies; at least it worked for me.
10 Stars Out Of 10