The story embedded within Sucker Punch has its clever moments and the fantasy-within-a-fantasy set-up allows for plenty of creativity, but that extra layer of escapism sends the theatrics and the cohesiveness off on a tangent of no return.
Director Zack Snyder has always excelled from a visual standpoint and here his eye for unique creatures, costumes, and vistas makes Sucker Punch a visceral treat - at least until the cartoony action of little girls fighting giant samurai demons bursts the bubble of believability.
The film begins with a string of non-stop slow-motion sequences that results in a surprisingly polished introduction to young Baby Doll's (Emily Browning) predicament.
When her mother dies and leaves her estate to her two daughters rather than their scheming stepfather, Baby Doll's attempt to save her younger sister from the abusive man ends in tragedy.
Sent to the grimy grey Lennox House for mentally insane girls, Baby Doll has a mere five days before she is scheduled to be lobotomized thanks to the underhanded dealings of her stepfather and a crooked orderly.
Unable to cope with the tortuous horrors of reality, she substitutes her true surroundings with that of a nightclub run by Blue Jones (Oscar Isaac) and Madame Gorski (Carla Gugino).
Here the girls lead only slightly more dignified lives offering their dancing talents to the "prestigious" guests of the establishment.
Knowing her time is running short, Baby Doll formulates a plan to flee her prison with the aid of fellow dancers Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), and Amber (Jamie Chung).
Retreating further into her mind to acquire the items necessary for escape, Baby Doll and her gang of resolute heroines must wage a desperate war for liberation against gargantuan samurai, mechanized soldiers, massive dragons, and ultimately their real-life captors.
With 300 and Watchmen, Snyder has proven his propensity for knowing what's "cool," but here he seems to have let adolescent fantasies and video game spectacle conquer the plot.
While the abundance of slow-motion moments may add to the extravaganza, the confusing clash of time periods, genres, and pop culture concoctions combine with the over-the-top action sequences to betray a general silliness in the whole fantasy world.
In order to acquire a map, Baby Doll and her cohorts must bulldoze their way through WWII trenches filled with steam-powered Nazi zombies while fighter planes and dirigibles swarm the skies above.
At their disposal are machine guns, grenades, samurai swords, axes, and of course martial arts combat.
And that's just the first mission.
"Overboard" is an understatement and when later skirmishes find the camera rotating around the action more times than you can possibly roll your eyes at the excessive melee maneuverings, it's evident that someone has an overactive imagination.
If Dorothy and Alice woke up in Wonderland which turned out to actually be the Matrix, there probably wouldn't be as many nonsensical medleys of mayhem as found in Sucker Punch.
The major pitfall behind Baby Doll's escape from her already skewed perception of reality lies in its lack of cohesiveness with the rest of her surroundings and their unexplained origins.
Why would a young girl's escapist fantasy involve schoolgirl outfits, steampunk zombies, and fire-breathing dragons? Sucker Punch may claim to be Baby Doll's dream world, but it's clearly Zack Snyder's fantasy.
- Joel Massie
Director Zack Snyder has always excelled from a visual standpoint and here his eye for unique creatures, costumes, and vistas makes Sucker Punch a visceral treat - at least until the cartoony action of little girls fighting giant samurai demons bursts the bubble of believability.
The film begins with a string of non-stop slow-motion sequences that results in a surprisingly polished introduction to young Baby Doll's (Emily Browning) predicament.
When her mother dies and leaves her estate to her two daughters rather than their scheming stepfather, Baby Doll's attempt to save her younger sister from the abusive man ends in tragedy.
Sent to the grimy grey Lennox House for mentally insane girls, Baby Doll has a mere five days before she is scheduled to be lobotomized thanks to the underhanded dealings of her stepfather and a crooked orderly.
Unable to cope with the tortuous horrors of reality, she substitutes her true surroundings with that of a nightclub run by Blue Jones (Oscar Isaac) and Madame Gorski (Carla Gugino).
Here the girls lead only slightly more dignified lives offering their dancing talents to the "prestigious" guests of the establishment.
Knowing her time is running short, Baby Doll formulates a plan to flee her prison with the aid of fellow dancers Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), and Amber (Jamie Chung).
Retreating further into her mind to acquire the items necessary for escape, Baby Doll and her gang of resolute heroines must wage a desperate war for liberation against gargantuan samurai, mechanized soldiers, massive dragons, and ultimately their real-life captors.
With 300 and Watchmen, Snyder has proven his propensity for knowing what's "cool," but here he seems to have let adolescent fantasies and video game spectacle conquer the plot.
While the abundance of slow-motion moments may add to the extravaganza, the confusing clash of time periods, genres, and pop culture concoctions combine with the over-the-top action sequences to betray a general silliness in the whole fantasy world.
In order to acquire a map, Baby Doll and her cohorts must bulldoze their way through WWII trenches filled with steam-powered Nazi zombies while fighter planes and dirigibles swarm the skies above.
At their disposal are machine guns, grenades, samurai swords, axes, and of course martial arts combat.
And that's just the first mission.
"Overboard" is an understatement and when later skirmishes find the camera rotating around the action more times than you can possibly roll your eyes at the excessive melee maneuverings, it's evident that someone has an overactive imagination.
If Dorothy and Alice woke up in Wonderland which turned out to actually be the Matrix, there probably wouldn't be as many nonsensical medleys of mayhem as found in Sucker Punch.
The major pitfall behind Baby Doll's escape from her already skewed perception of reality lies in its lack of cohesiveness with the rest of her surroundings and their unexplained origins.
Why would a young girl's escapist fantasy involve schoolgirl outfits, steampunk zombies, and fire-breathing dragons? Sucker Punch may claim to be Baby Doll's dream world, but it's clearly Zack Snyder's fantasy.
- Joel Massie
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