A fistful of mediocrity.

Rating: 4/10 (25 March 2011)

With 300, Zack Snyder has made it abundantly clear that his movies dazzle they eyes, indeed they do, but his characters never engage the audience in a personal and emotional level. And Sucker Punch is just that. A visually dazzling collage of mental insanity taken to the extreme with a fairly interesting premise that looks promising on the surface, but never truly lets you sink your teeth into the inner workings of the main character.
Emily Browning plays Babydoll, a blond bombshell who is placed in a mental institution by her cold stepfather, and is then seen trying to persuade the orderlies into lobotomizing her to keep her from giving details surrounding a tragedy in her life. However, Babydoll begins to create a dreamworld in which not only to pass the time, but to figure a way out of the asylum.
As if that makes any sense whatsoever, here are the main problems with Sucker Punch that's been plaguing modern cinema; no plot and character development. Barely any of the characters that the protagonist meets are developed. They're just static talking heads spouting out lines that are trying to hammer into the audience that they are more than just clichÃ©'s and cardboard cutouts. The acting feels stiff and artificial with no sense of tension or suspense. You never feel that the characters are in real danger of any kind. It just goes thru the motions and despite having a nice premise to go on, the film feels like a half-ass-ed attempt to be something new and fresh.
Sucker Punch has some merits. The special effects and action scenes are impressive. I did get a kick out of some of the battle scenes which are nicely choreographed and executed with lots of explosions. Watching it is sort of like looking at a silent film on steroids but minus the heart and soul of that bygone era.
The incredible aesthetic beauty and action choreography are a lot impressive than Snyder's 300. But the problem with Sucker Punch is that even in a fantasy film, or any action film for that matter, you have to put effort into making the audience care for your characters no matter how good looking the action and special effects are. You simply won't care who lives or dies in this film. At some point, you have to try to make the audience care. This film simply never does.
I think that I got my point across perfectly clear regarding this film. If it entertained you, fine, then it did it's job. The problem is is that there's nothing remotely remarkable about this film aside from the visual aspect of this film. If more time was spent fleshing out the story, characters, with a more coherent script, then this could've been a really good film. But since so much potential was utterly wasted, I have no choice but to give my grade and it's a D.