You Will Be Unprepared

Rating: 8/10 (25 March 2011)

She has been locked away against her will, but Babydoll has not lost her will to survive. Determined to fight for her freedom, she urges four other young girls to band together and try to escape a terrible fate at the hands of their captors before the mysterious High Roller comes for Babydoll. Led by Babydoll, they must decide what they are willing to sacrifice in order to stay alive. But with the help of a Wise Man, their unbelievable journey, if they succeed, will set them free.. -- (C) Warner Bros
SUCKER PUNCH may be Zack Snyder's most mature film to date. It deals with dark subjects such as rape, physical abuse, and greed, for it being PG-13 and all, and it carries a surprisingly heavy emotional weight. Although it may seem like an exploitation flick on the outside, SUCKER PUNCH is actually about female empowerment. Snyder smartly downplays the female body as sex objects (although one might expect the opposite, considering his previous films), never giving fully close up views of any part of them, and I really appreciated that. Snyder wanted to make a film that would make young girls feel good about themselves, and he succeeds with flying colors.
The film works mostly because of the female ensemble cast, who all step up to their game (well, MOST of them do). Abbie Cornish and Jena Malone were really quite terrific in their performances. Carla Gugino was pretty fantastic as well, playing an unrecognizable role. However, lead Emily Browning doesn't have much to do but to give mournful expressions in slow motion, which is a shame considering how great of an actress she is. I really wished the screenplay would have fleshed her character out a little bit more, although in the end, the creative reasoning does make sense. Vanessa Hudgens and Jamie Chung are definitely the weakest of the bunch simply because the story doesn't focus on them much, but they get the job done. Oscar Isaac plays a memorable villain, and I'll leave it just like that.
As expected from a Snyder film, SUCKER PUNCH is a visual feast. Snyder has created a unique world, being quite the visionary he is. Seeing the film in IMAX was certainly an eye full. It's almost as if each shot in the entire film was carefully planned, which is a commendable effort. From the production design to the cinematography to the visual effects, they're all pretty much nailed down. The action sequences are mind-blowingly inventive as well. Gosh, does he make slow motion look good. And let's not forget about the totally awesome soundtrack: The renditions of classic songs are amazing. Also as expected (and hinted earlier), the script doesn't quite pack as much punch as the visuals, but it's not as bad as one might expect it to be. It's just that the plot gets repetitious at a point, although Snyder does try to change it up. Also, the pacing could have been fixed a little better, which WATCHMEN also suffered from.
I also must point out how unpredictable the film is. I honestly did not expect a lot of things coming at all. Although far from a perfect film, SUCKER PUNCH is pretty great seeing how far Snyder has come. The visuals are great, although the script isn't as good. The performances by the cast are terrific, and it's just an immensely enjoyable film overall with a great message for young girls out there.