Sucker Punch doesn't deliver the 'punch' of a typical Zack Snyder film

Rating: Null/10 (29 July 2011)

The story of a teenage girl who gets institutionalized by her abusive stepfather and retreats into an alternate universe.. a fantasy world.. to cope with the recent events in her life and upon doing so envisions a plan that will help her and some of the other girls escape the mental institution didn't exactly get me too interested in the film; nor did the trailer. My mindset on the film also started to sway rather negatively upon the films release when all I heard was negative feedback.
However, I try not to listen to the critics and just see the film myself to properly assess the material. I decided to await the movie's DVD release and finally sat down to watch it recently. I hoped for only the best because I'm a big Zack Snyder fan. He is responsible for writing and directing some of the most visually striking and masterfully crafted film adaptations, i.e.: 300, Watchmen and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. I began to worry, though, when I found the stylized action sequences in this film to be dull.
To me, everything just felt like it was so quickly thrown together. The CGI was very messy, as if it were rushed, only the close-ups seemed to pay particular attention to detail, and the writing was, for lack of a nicer term, horrid. There was little story or character development, just harsh, dark scenes set in reality with glimpses of a corrupt and action-packed parallel universe. The casting was also very off as only Jena Malone managed to deliver a good and believable performance, but I guess not much is to be expected from a film starring Vanessa Hudgens.
Aside from Jena Malone, the only other thing I truly enjoyed about the film was the fact that it was a showcase for some magnificent cinematography. For me it felt like that was Snyder's main focus, rather than to tell the story, was just to please his audience visually. And yes, my eyes were entertained, but as a movie lover who also needs to have all the other elements in a film (good writing, casting and a decent storyline), I was not so pleased.