Review #602 - Sucker Punch (2011)
THE SCOOP
Director: Zack Snyder
Cast: Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung
Plot: A young girl is institutionalized by her wicked stepfather. Retreating to an alternative reality as a coping strategy, she envisions a plan which will help her escape from the facility.
Plot: A young girl is institutionalized by her wicked stepfather. Retreating to an alternative reality as a coping strategy, she envisions a plan which will help her escape from the facility.
Genre: Action/Fantasy/Thriller
Awards: -
Runtime: 109min
Rating: PG for thematic material involving sexuality, violence and combat sequences, and for language.
TRAILER:
OST:
IN RETROSPECT
Zack
Snyder, who is popular for his ultraviolent, over-stylized films such as 300 (2007)
and Watchmen (2009), delivers a new motion picture that marks
a return to his roots as a badass filmmaker this side of Tarantino. But a quick look at the consumer rating for Sucker
Punch is likely to leave fanboys considerably disappointed.
After
all, a PG-rated Snyder film is as puzzling as it is ironic. Please ignore the anomaly that is his last
film, a family-friendly animated outing called Legend of the Guardians:
The Owls of Ga’Hoole (2010), which is Snyder taking a breather rather
than letting out aggressive steam.
Sucker
Punch, with its
all-babes cast, targets male youths who are also video gaming geeks. The story, which is so minimalistic that it
lives up to the first four letters of the film’s title, tells of a teenage girl
called Baby Doll (Emily Browning) who is sent to a mental institution by her
immoral stepfather.
There
she envisions a plan to escape the facility while retreating into the reality
of her mind, which by the way is every geek’s wet dream. With the help of four other hot babes in the
institution, Baby Doll attempts to free herself from her physical prison with
guidance and clues from her mental mentor, the Wise Man (Scott Glenn).
Opting
for all style does not always guarantee substance. Weak characterizations plague Sucker
Punch, whose lead cast are nothing more than eye candy, and their
motivations not well-developed. Viewers are unlikely to care whether they live
or die, or about the sacrifices they have made for each other, because their
characters are as paper-thin as the skimpy outfits they wear. The acting, however, is surprisingly decent
for a film whose emphasis is overwhelmingly on the spectacle of sight and
sound, of which it has too much in abundance.
The action
is stylized and invigorating, at least in the four or five 7-10 minute
interludes that break the narrative structure into several progressive parts. Very much a MMORPG blown up onto the big
screen during these interludes, Sucker Punch borrows heavily
from elements of popular culture such as The Matrix (1999) and Kill
Bill (2003) to even games like Metal Slug in the
mid-nineties. Not since Tank
Girl (1995), a brainless, zany, sci-fi action comedy that pits one
girl (and her tank) against an evil mega-corporation has a film been so reliant
on girl firepower to light up the screen.
Loud,
brash, and I daresay at times entertaining, Sucker Punch is
unfortunately soft on violence and sex, which apart from the non-existent plot,
is the other main issue here. Where is
the blood and gore? Where is the nudity?
There is not even a hint of lesbianism,
or any other forms of frank sexuality. Not
that these are necessary, but a Snyder film is still a Snyder film.
He may
have returned to his signature filmmaking style that characterized 300 and Watchmen,
but not in the hardcore fashion that we have expected him to deliver…and one
more thing, please pack a pair of earplugs to go with your popcorn, unless you
want to get your eardrums sucker punched.
GRADE: C-
Comments