It Should've Just Been a Video Game

Rating: 7/10 (15 August 2011)

Zack Snyder has never given me reason to doubt him. He's created some of the coolest movies in recent years and, with SUCKER PUNCH, he's finally gotten around to creating a wholly original (though obviously heavily influenced) film. It's a fast-paced, sexy action collage with a paper-thin plot tying it all together. After the accidental murder of her younger sister, a young girl (known only as Baby Doll) is committed to a mental asylum by her corrupt father in an attempt to keep her silent as he steals her inheritance. The father forms a deal with a shady orderly to organize a lobotomy in mere days that will ensure Baby Doll is no longer a threat. In the asylum, Baby Doll begins to imagine the place as an elaborate brothel run by the abusive Blue Jones. Baby Doll falls in with a group of orphans and runaways (Sweet Pea, Rocket, Amber, & Blondie) and formulates a plan to escape using her hypnotic dance to distract while her friends gather the supplies they need. Baby Doll dives into fantastic imaginary worlds where she and her team battle evil forces in a desperate attempt to escape their imprisonment.
It really is a strange story, with fantasy worlds inside fantasy worlds. Unfortunately, the story itself is the movie's weak point. Snyder has proved in the past that he's an incredible visual storyteller with a unique style and he proves it yet again here with amazing fantasy sequences where Baby Doll and her team are thrown into incredible sequences battling a fire-breathing dragon, steam-powered zombie Nazis, and more. The action in this film is spectacular with vivid worlds and adrenaline-soaked battles and plenty of Snyder's beloved slow-motion. When I watch this movie, I can't help but feel like I should be holding a controller. This movie is more of a feature-length video game than a proper narrative film. In a way, it's even divided into individual stages, each with its own objective and the brothel scenes playing out like narrative cut scenes. The fantasy/action sequences are boosted with some killer music setting the mood, including star Emily Browning's haunting vocals in a version of the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and a wicked cover of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit". The soundtrack in this movie is definitely one of the best this year.
Well, action's not necessarily enough to carry a film on it's own so SUCKER PUNCH has the added bonus of mind-blowing sex appeal. Emily Browning is gorgeous as a the blond Baby Doll, often sporting a school girl outfit in her fantasies as she's taking on stone samurai or slicing through a horde of orcs. Whenever she's on screen, she's impossible to take your eyes off of. Her team is rounded out by the beautiful Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Jamie Chung, and Vanessa Hudgens (all grown up from her Disney Channel days, apparently). Carla Gugino has a supporting role sporting a Polish accent as Dr. Gorski, the voice of compassion in an otherwise dreary life for these girls. Oscar Isaac is the film villain, Blue Jones. I've never heard of Isaac before now but he does well as the volatile...pimp? I suppose you could call him that. Regardless, he makes a cool villain for the piece. There's plenty of awesome characters here, but they don't matter as much here as the gunfights and swordplay. It's a shame, too. I wanted Syder's first original piece to stand out as much as his previous films, but the fact that he sacrificed an intriguing story and strong characters for women in skimpy outfits flying mechs and firing huge guns turned a lot of people (both critics and audiences) off. Wait, women in skimpy outfits...massive guns...what was the problem again?