More than just chicks with guns kicking butt.

Rating: 8/10 (9 October 2012)

At it's most basic level Sucker Punch is a great fun popcorn flick, more like an extended trailer for an action video game than a movie. Visually stimulating though somewhat exhausting at times, it's a mash up of various genres and styles and is certainly not for everyone but delve a little further and there's a lot more going on than chicks with guns kicking butt. Buried way below the spectacle is a much deeper story which has been explored in an unusual but very effective way, if only it wasn't so open for misinterpretation.
Unfortunately the main themes of the story are overshadowed by heavy handed style and over-the-top action pieces that will distract all but the most willing to see past the pop culture facade, which is a pity because it's a much more thought provoking and well constructed film than it has been given credit for. Snyder's 'rock video' approach kind of trivializes the subject matter of mind and spirit triumphing over circumstance pushing it back to the point of obscurity.
It would be fascinating to give the bare bones of this script to a director like David Fincher, who has had a lot more success at delving into the dark side of human psyche and serving it up to audiences in a palatable way from rock videos such as Aerosmith's Janies Got a Gun to films like The Fight Club and Zodiac and see what results.
Although the action / fantasy sequences were executed amazingly well and are great fun to watch, I found they did drag on a bit longer than necessary (how many robot Nazis do we really need to see being decapitated?) and they assaulted the senses so much that it was difficult to get back into 'plot mode' after each one but despite this I personally really enjoyed Sucker Punch.
Snyder is certainly carving out his own niche in film history and I'm enjoying the ride so far and am certainly looking forward to his take on Superman.