Snyder's First Attempt at Writing Falls Short

Rating: 1/10 (18 November 2011)

When I first saw the trailer for the film I have to say I was cautiously optimistic and having seen other Zack Snyder (Watchmen and 300 were both passable) I was intrigued. With Snyder I knew he was going to jam in as much special effects and slow motion fight scenes as possible,but as with his other films I expected to see an interesting story to go along with it. Unfortunately I was horrible disappointed.
This is Snyders first attempt to direct something he actually wrote himself and not something that came from a graphic novel or book, and it certainly shows. The basic story follows a girl as she is institutionalized by her cruel father and then befriends the other young women in the hospital. Together they escape their harsh reality through fantasy, while they work to free themselves. When you look at it through it's premise alone it's not bad. Abused children escaping into fantasy has been done before many times with success. Pans Labyrinth or Where the Wild Things Are. But unfortunately in Sucker Punch the imagination world isn't really all that imaginative. The world the girls fight in seems to be taken directly from popular culture: girls in cosplay outfits, nazi zombies, orcs, and dragons. It looks more like Comic-Con then an actual movie.
Snyder also attempts to make this fantasy world into a video-game something Scott Pilgrim did in a similar fashion. But while Pilgrim was fun and quirky, the video game style seems out of place in this darker more morbid environment. Even the action scenes, which while awesome for the first hour, get repetitive quickly especially after the second "level" of their escape plan. You really don't get any sense that the girls are in any danger in the fantasy realm and the action is so ridiculous it takes you completely out of the movie.
Finally the ending, which might be one of the worst twists I've ever seen. I don't want to give it away if you haven't seen the film but if you aren't scratching your head wondering what just happened, you'll probably be laughing at how terrible it is. I'm honestly tired of people trying to tell those who didn't enjoy Sucker Punch that they don't like it because they don't "understand it". People are making this out to be a complex film when it's no better than any of the Transformers films. I understand the ending and just because it might not be what I was expecting doesn't mean it was good or clever. I sat through the whole film hoping that perhaps the ending would someway redeem the time and money I spent, but it only made things worse.
Normally I would only recommend this kind of movie to those who enjoy the mindless action drama but I can't even do that because the action was so cheesy! I can't really recommend this film to anyone.