Just as expected, for me at least..

Rating: 6/10 (26 March 2011)

First of all, I have to say I'm impressed by how many people gave this movie 8 or 9 stars. Note: I'm not trying to seem over-the-top smart, I'm just stating what i think about this movie.
Now about the matter at hand, I'll just come out and say it: I expected a fairly bad movie and that's exactly what I got.
I believe I am part of the target audience (18 years old, I like comic books, samurai and robots shooting rockets) and at the same time I can see how this movie can appeal to many, many people: - the action sequences are, indeed, really good and the fighting scenes will keep you on the edge of your seat - having all the action done by hot girls with at least one of them in a schoolgirl uniform (bordering on fetishism) will be the delight of some viewers - a convoluted action film? Wow cool!
These are all the good parts of the film though, I'm afraid. Everything else feels..lacking and I'll explain why.
1. Directing:
Yep, good old Zack can't stop using his slow motion-fast forward gimmick here either. There's lots of it in the action scenes, even in some places where it clearly doesn't fit (SPOILER: for example that bit in the Nazi war story where the girls sloooowly walk through the trenches, nothing happening around).
Another thing I didn't like is that there's no lighting in some scenes, and although you can see some flashing swords or bullets flying through the air, but the rest is really dark.
Last but not least, the shakiness of the camera is really annoying at times. It works in some movies (say, Cloverfield), but here it's like...come on I want to see what's going on because that CG monster actually is cool.
2. Screenplay:
Here, I think Zack Snyder thought he could do more than he actually can. I've read some reviews comparing Sucker Punch to Kill Bill and I too think it's very similar. They seem alike because both give the feeling that they're movies these guys have always wanted to make, and now finally got the money (or the funding) to do it. It feels like they said "Oh I sure love samurais, hot chicks, fast cars/ robots (respectively), revenge stories and comic books! But a movie with all of them wrapped into one? God yes!".
In the end though, Tarantino can not only write better, but he also understands that putting all these things together will limit that movie's seriousness. Kill Bill has moments that are very serious, but also has moments where it makes fun of itself (Bill sitting with a wife he tried to kill and talking about Superman or having a character named Sofie Fatale). Sucker Punch on the other hand keeps a serious tone all throughout and this bothered me. I can't see how a movie with a giant robot with a pink bunny face painted on will discuss matters as serious as (SPOILER) raping lobotomized young girls. I understand that the little stories were a way for the girl to cope with being in a loony bin, but it just doesn't fit, not for me.
In my opinion a story is very much connected to a certain medium. This way, some stories work really well as movies (the battles in The Lord of the Rings have to be seen, literally), some stories work better as books (you can't write a movie about Proust's works) and some stories simply work better as video games. This is one of them. The whole story of the film would be wonderful as a game. A slow and steady prologue, many, many great action scenes and an ending from which you can (maybe) learn something. As a movie, to me it feels shallow. It seems the story is trying too hard to be deep and complex and Zack Snyder hasn't got the skills to pull it off (yet).
Anyway, it's worth seeing on the big screen for the special effects and the sounds as it would look pretty sad on a TV set.