An artist uses lies to tell the truth...

Rating: 10/10 (9 April 2011)

...as one of the characters from 'V for Vendetta' puts it. Sucker Punch certainly uses lies, trickery and deceit - it manipulates you while giving you everything you need in advance.
A young woman is sent to an asylum by her step father who wants her out of the way. Scheduled for a lobotomy that will keep her secrets locked away forever she dreams of escape. She as well as a few of the inmates plan their escape - collecting items that they will need along the way. But there is one problem, how do you survive until you can make your escape? Where can you run? When there are bars on the windows and the doors are locked, when the guards are sadists and the system is against you there is still a way out. The mind, where anything is possible and everything is probable.
Zack Snyder takes us on a journey through not only an escape from brutal injustice but also the inner workings of the mind. When she is locked away and her stepfather pays for her to be lobotomised illegally, she retreats into her mind. Into another world which makes more sense, one which she can fight her way out of! What follows is a battle of the minds. While in the real world she may be involved in any number of unpleasant things in her mind she is fighting an epic battle between good and evil. And so with the energy drawn from her fantasy she pushed ever closer to her freedom.
The fight scenes are some of the best I have yet seen in any movie. What bothers me about most movie fight scenes where the camera is flying around more than the actors is that you lose your perception of where you (the camera) are in space. For a split second you feel like you should be on the roof or on the wall instead of in your seat. This is never a problem here, while you spin around the scene you always know where you and the camera are, like a gymnast knows where the mat is you always know where your heroes and villains are allowing you to anticipate where the next kick, punch or shot is coming from.
This movie doesn't seek to tax you with suspense, nor should it. When there is a death you see it coming from a mile off. But that is not what this movie is about. It's what's happening inside rather than outside that matters - she is fighting robots inside a train on another planet, in a brothel, in an asylum. Need I say more! All in all this is great movie! This is not by its nature an accessible movie, concepts in it are dark, disturbing and for anyone who has no knowledge of the workings of the mind, both healthy and not, it may be utterly boring. And while I will admit, being a guy, having girls in skimpy clothing does help to keep ones attention, this movie would be utterly fantastic without it. This movie would also be fantastic without the fight scenes also but it goes a hell of a long way towards shaping the world on screen.
"You are given all the weapons you need. Now fight!" 9.5/10 (Upgraded to 10 because halves aren't used here)