Adolescent stinker

Rating: 5/10 (7 April 2011)

I enjoyed 300: I loved the look of it. I enjoyed Watchmen: I loved the look of it. I loved the look of The Owls of Ga'Hoole. So, on the basis of my enjoyment of Zack Snyder's back catalogue, I have been looking forward to Sucker Punch for months, although I have been getting a little worried at some of the negative comment I have been hearing. In fact, given that the only solidly positive comment I have encountered comes from someone who strikes me as having some fairly serious mental health issues, I might have been seriously concerned had I not been firmly of the opinion that I should always form my own opinions, uninfluenced by others.
So now I've seen it. Before I comment, let me try to synopsise the plot. On the death of her mother, 20-year-old Baby Doll's stepfather kills her sister (possibly after sexually assaulting her) frames Baby Doll and has her committed to an asylum, where we learn she is scheduled for a lobotomy in 5 days, courtesy of a seedy orderly forging head psychiatrists Carla Gugino's signature. Fortunately, the asylum also runs on another level of reality, where it is a brothel. And whenever Baby Doll dances in the brothel, she and some of the other girls are transported into yet other alternate realities, where they carry out video game-type tasks to collect artefacts which they will need in order to escape from the asylum.
Let me say that there is much here which is eye-catching. Let me then go on to say that this is a dreadful, rambling mess. It makes no sense, nothing which needs explaining ever gets explained, it is full of things (starting with the initial set-up) which simply defy credibility and, worst of all, it is hatefully misogynistic. I have seen that Snyder says that it actually is about empowering women. Not in the version I saw, I'm afraid. I saw women leaping about in fishnets carrying out adolescent fantasy sex-object video game activities on the third fantasy level, but on the first and second levels, they are consistently victims - in fact (and please excuse the spoiler) Baby Doll ends up lobotomised and the man responsible in the first place gets away with it.
Snyder must take the blame. It is his story and he co-wrote the screenplay, which comes across as the work of a 14-year-old with ADD who has skipped his Ritalin, and who has only ever read comic books. The script is awful, truly awful (in the first 5 minutes we are brought to an establishment, the sign for which indicates that it is an "Asylum For The Mentally Insane" - excuse me, but did I miss the other types of Insane?).
If you absolutely must see this, wait for it to come out on DVD - it will end up in the bargain bins very quickly. It stinks.