Welcome to the asylum

Rating: 7/10 (17 September 2014)

In the opening sequence we see a girl attempting to save her little sister from her abusive stepfather; unfortunately she is too late and he has already killed her; he then has her committed to a sinister asylum. The director, Blue, tells her she must be ready to please High Roller in a few days the asylum appears to double as a brothel with the female inmates expected to satisfy rich 'visitors'. As part of their therapy the girls must dance; when our protagonist, who has been dubbed Babydoll, starts to perform she finds herself transported to a fantasy world where she meets a man who tells her she will need five things to gain her freedom; a map, fire, a knife, a key and another item only she will know he also gives her a variety of weapons that she will need to defeat three twelve foot demonic samurai! Once they are dispatched she finds herself back in the asylum; apparently her dance was amazing. She then tells the girls of her plans to escape and together they work to get the items; each time the try to get one Babydoll distracts people with her dance; during which times she is transported to a different fantasy world where she and the other girls battle a variety of dangers and any failures have consequences in the real world assuming anything we see after her arrival at the asylum is real.
I probably wouldn't have watched this if my favourite reviewer hadn't been very negative about it; I was curious to see why! Perhaps because of this it proved better than my expectations; the story is dark; much darker than I expected. The fantasy scenes feature some fairly obvious CGI and music video aesthetics but that just emphasised that what we are seeing is fantasy rather than the reality of the film. The action is stylishly, rather than realistically, choreographed and looks great. One of the main complaints about the film is the fact that the girls are sexualised, even though they don't do anything sexual; this isn't too unfair and I'm sure some, but not all, viewers will feel uncomfortable with it others will love the sight of Emily Browning dispatching foes with a katana while wearing in a skimpy sailor fuku! Those expecting a happy ending with everybody escaping will be in for quite a shock as there are casualties and then the film delivers its final Sucker Punch which will leave the viewer wondering what if anything we've seen is real. The cast do a fine job; in particular Emily Browning is good as protagonist Babydoll and Oscar Isaac is delightfully creepy as the sleazy Blue. Overall I enjoyed this far more than I expected and would recommend watching it, although despite its '12' Certificate I'm not sure it is suitable for younger viewers.