Story, sexy, and action promises broken

Rating: Null/10 (24 August 2011)

"A special effect is a tool; a means of telling a story. A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing." – George Lucas.
I'll let that soak in for a quick second. Friday night marked the start of a great Belgian beer festival near a new (to me) Regal theater. I had a few awesome beers with my wife and then, feeling pretty good, we went to see the movie. Unfortunately for us there was also a crack-head seeing the movie and he was feeling pretty good (read: chatty) too.
Back to Mr. Lucas. While he has proved his own point with episodes one through three, I generally disagree. I love movies like District B:13 and Day After Tomorrow. They are characterized by a lack of plot and lots of great action/visual effects. It's craft beer for the eyeballs. Sucker Punch's trailer promised viewers two things: boobies and action with the possibility of some of the decent storytelling that Zack Snyder has exhibited in the past. It was the story of a girl in a mental hospital that reverts into this war-like inner world in order to deal with that is going on around her. Escape from a crazy nazi-fueled dream. I am behind this film in a big way.
What I failed to notice from the trailer was the mental world in-between the crazy house and the crazy nazi world. The time where she imagines herself trapped in a cabaret/brothel makes up a good 80% of the film. This world is not filled with action or much sexy. It's just a lot of overly dramatic girls making broad statements about freedom, self, and how everything is impossible or not. The crack-head vocally approved whenever something touched his drugged up soul. "I lost everyone I loved. And then they locked me away. With no where to hide from the pain," Baby Doll says. "Mmm, yes. That's right," the crack-head says. Story and sexy fail.
Visually the portions of the film set in the nazi world were beautiful, but very sterile. I never thought I'd complain about something being too stylized, but Hollywood has a way of pushing the envelope. These scenes also made up about 12 minutes total from the film. Action promise fail.
This film had such potential. It was disturbingly honest about what most movie watchers want to see. I would applaud Snyder for his bait- and-switch, but I think he just failed at making the sexy action film he really wanted. And just to ruin your day a little more: the next Superman is also the next film in Snyder's downward trajectory.
At least it spoke to the crack-head.