At least the title works.

Rating: 1/10 (11 May 2011)

Sucker Punch confirms many of the numerous allegations levied against Zack Snyder for his adult films. Now people have evidence of misogyny and pointlessness that was only suggested earlier. His latest film reveals, beyond these simple criticisms, a surprising inability to construct a whole film out of his ideas. His insistence in bludgeoning us with repetitive (and frankly boring) action sequences only amplifies the lack of meaning behind his projects.
Sucker Punch borrows its narrative structure from platforming videogames (meaning players guide an avatar through distinct levels). This isn't necessarily a problem, just look at Scott Pilgrim vs. The World but Snyder was too lazy to translate one medium into another. In his flick, the main character enters a prison facility (the overworld), meets her allies (other playable characters), learns she must find certain items to escape (mission objectives), fights fearsome enemies (these vary between boss fights and regular encounters), and tries to escape the prison (beating the game.
Going along with the video game structure is an appropriate level of fetishization of his five female characters. Each gets a sexy name like "Baby Doll" and wears skimpy clothing completely inappropriate for her environment (who fights Nazi zombies in a tank top?). Snyder is emulating the hyper-masculine sensibility of "hardcore" games usually played by young males. His problem is not including a story to go along with his setup. Even derivative games have some loose plot that serves only to introduce each level logically. All we see here are different game fantasies thrown at us senselessly. Even by game standards where the plot can be de-emphasized, this is unacceptable.
Instead, after his characters finish a random mission, they return to be humiliated, beaten, sexually assaulted, or killed. So much for proto-feminism. His disregard of women for any purpose other than the sexual satisfaction of men is clearer with each passing intermission between levels. It's almost like a therapeutic effort on his part to show the positives of a group he obviously feels is inferior, all while stroking his enlarged hubris.