Would have been an 8 or 9 were it not for the disappointing ending. RANT ON

Rating: 9/10 (25 March 2011)

First of all I want to say that I went in wanting to like this movie. I hadn't been this excited about seeing a movie since Kick ass. Unfortunately, this movie has a certain target audience with certain expectations and it clashes with those expectations, and not in a good way.
The movie is very much like a roller coaster. You hear great things about it and you get on the ride. The first 20 minutes or so of the movie is like the ride up the hill. It's slow, and you can't wait to get to the good parts of the movie. Then you take off, and the ride is awesome. Then, towards the end it gets bumpy and then it makes a sharp U-turn leaving you with whiplash and wondering why they destroyed a nice ride at the end.
What I liked:
The imaginary worlds were wonderful, and you just can't argue with 5 skimpily clad gorgeous girls with guns. The eye candy alone is worth the price of admission.
What I didn't like:
Abbie Cornish as Sweet Pea. Her acting was horrendous. I can't remember the last time I was actually irritated by such amateurish acting. She single-handedly manages to destroy the beginning of the movie with her horrible deliveries. Luckily she doesn't talk much in the rest of the film, and she seems to become better towards the end. We go to movies to be transported into a fantasy world. Unfortunately, her acting is so poor that it painfully reminds you that you are watching a movie and violently shoves you out of your fantasy world.
The ending. How can you lobotomize the Heroine? Killing off the other girls was bad enough, but that was the last straw. So the creators want to say that Sweet Pea is the actual Heroine? She's the lamest excuse for a heroine I've seen in a long time. Putting the bad acting aside, she is not a likable character. She is always negative and resists going along with the group. The movie talks about being strong and fighting but her character does not embody that. Even in the end she lets Baby Doll fight and runs away. Some heroine. They should have just stayed with Baby Doll as the heroine and let her fight her way out in the final scene. THAT would have been awesome.
What could have been better:
Basically, the audience is led to believe that this is a kick ass action fantasy movie. They are basically paying admission to have a good time. They want to see the girls kick ass. They want to see the bad guy lose. They want to see the HEROINE WIN. The ride is fun but ends in a train wreck. No one wants to see the characters they are rooting for fail. The movie fails the audience by straying from what is expected. I understand that the creators wanted to do something different. However, this should not have been one of the things to do differently.
As good as the fighting sequences were, they could have been better. Since the fantasy worlds were so over the top, the fighting and what the girls could do physically could have been even more over the top. I can't put my finger on it, but the hallway scene from Kickass had that something extra that the fight sequences in this movie didn't.
Conclusion:
The meat of the movie was as expected and enjoyable. The beginning was like some drawn out music video and could have been shorter. You expect the heroes to encounter adversity and overcome it; NOT succumb to it. If you don't care about the plot and just want to see some gorgeous action, it might be worth the price of admission to see it on the big screen. However, be prepared to be disappointed in the end.
I am praying that the Blu-ray release of this film will have an alternate ending where Baby Doll kicks ass in her real world. Getting revenge on her step father would be even sweeter. Then I can go from a 6 to an 8 or 9.