Sucker Punch Review.

Rating: 7/10 (19 June 2017)

Did I just watch a film or a music Video?
After giving this film some time sync in, I still find myself highly conflicted towards Sucker Punch. On one hand it's a well made action fantasy film. On the other I have serious issues with the story and it's blatant, poorly conceived foreshadowing that constantly took me out of the film.
Sucker Punch tells the story of a young woman(Babydoll the name given to her) played by Emily Browning whose father has recently passed. She and her sister have inherited his fortune, much to the anger and jealousy of her abusive stepfather. After a fatal accident she is blamed for her sisters death and put into an asylum where she is scheduled to have a lobotomy in five days time at the behest of her stepfather, who's trying to cover up what really happened.
The opening ten minutes where all this plays out like a video game cut scene was frustrating. Whilst I appreciate dialogue free visual storytelling it's filled with every annoying visual motif in Zack Snyders locker. Slow motion, crane shots, colourless pallet and rock music that was distracting and didn't fit the tone of what was happening on-screen.
As the film progresses to the asylum we are Introduced to Oscar issac who plays Blue Jones the head guard, and the one that's essentially running the asylum. I burst out laughing when I initially saw him. He essentially looks like a pimp that has escaped from a 1970's Roger Corman film. After getting myself accustomed to his unique costume design, he's one of the strongest parts of the film. He gives a terrific menacing performance filled intensity and a certain amount of instability.
Emily Browning plays the lead character of Babydoll in the film. Once she's at the asylum, she is sent to what is essentially a brothel section of the asylum. Here she has to learn to dance for the patrons of the establishment. We are then introduced to Dr. Gorski whose the madame of the brothel, played by Carla Gugino. With five days till her lobotomy and the horrors of the asylum, she decides to plan an escape with help of a group of other inmates.
The first thirty minutes of the film I found to be Incredibly dull and infuriating. The story plods along without much interest, except for when the camera spends extra long time on what will be key items for the escape, that will then be revealed later in the film. No prizes for guessing what they are when you watch the film, as Snyder makes sure to insult the audiences intelligence, and make sure that everyone knows what they need to know without giving any credence to subtlety.
At this point of the film I had lost most of patience and was getting close to turning the film off. However when Babydoll goes into her first dance routine, the film completely changes gear. She mentally transports herself to other worlds/settings. When this happens the film springs into life, and becomes an utter joy to watch. The best part of this film is the second dance sequence where Babydoll and her friends are transported to steampunk version of World War 2. The girls have to fight through trenches filled with steampunk Nazis that look like a cross between mad max and Wolfenstein. This set piece is really well shot and edited. Zack Snyder knows how to frame and execute excellent, choreographed action sequences. There are also many great nods and tributes to fantasy cinema in this film.
This makes the film all the more Infuriating. There are moments of cinematic magic filled with breathtaking set pieces, that are engaging and a joy to behold. When the film is focused On these moments it works brilliantly. However there are long periods of this film, especially the first half that are dull and fall flat. This is an original film which I'm always happy to see Hollywood produce. The execution however let this film down. Some of Snyder's choices left me scratching my head, the music in this film is terrible save for the one original song, it's all made up of pre-existing rock music that clashes tonally with the film. Plus another issue I had with the film, was the poorly thought-out juxtaposition between the grey dull hospital scenes and the colourful fantasy world, and leaves little to the imagination as to where the film is heading.
There's a lot of fun to be had with Sucker Punch. I went into it with no expectations, and I was pleasantly surprised by the film. It has excellent action set pieces, and the film shines when it's focused on these sequences. Unfortunately it doesn't out-weigh the dull and poorly executed first act, and the ill-conceived tonal shifts. Despite the films flaws there is a fun time to be had with this film, which in time has cult classic written all over it.