Sucker Punch Review

Wow, it's been awhile, possibly-fictitious readers. How have you been? Let's get right back into the thick of things with a train-of-thought review of Zack Snyder's new film, the ambiguously titled "Sucker Punch".

Sucker Punch is a fantasy/action/drama about a young woman whose mother dies, leaving her and her younger sister at the mercy of their surly step-dad, a priest with rather unconventional taste (wink wink, nudge nudge). Anyway, after getting tired of old 'Daddy', the lead character Baby Doll (Emily Browning), gives her step-dad the old what for involving his own handgun. Sadly, she's not the best of shots and only ends up busting a light and enraging her stepdad even more. Being a particularly crafty and evil stepdad, he calls the men in white, bribes an orderly and has the Baby Doll set up for a lobotomy in 5 days. Inside the insane asylum, we witness the fantasy world Baby Doll creates as part of guided therapy from the resident psychiatrist, played beautifully by Carla Gugino, who instructs the girls to create a world in which they are in control as a way of facing down their fears. In this world, Baby Doll is a dancer with four other girls at a brothel and she will lose her virginity in five days to a mysterious "High Roller". And then from this world, further fanasy worlds emerge as the girls 'quest' to find the items related to their eventual escape. The story is not perfect, there are plenty of plot holes, but it's nice to finally see a big budget movie that doesn't feelit has to pander to the bottom line. This is a very complex tale that you will have to analyse and view multiple times before you truly understand it. Even then, a lot is left open to interpretation. In a world where even Christopher Nolan feels the need to explain everything in painful detail (I'm looking at you Inception), this is a welcome change.

The acting is for the most part strong, Emil Browning and Carla Gugino definitely steal the show, but our own Abbie Cornish is brilliant as the sour and cynical Sweat Pea, Donnie Darko's Jena Malone gives a strong performance as Sweat Pea's feisty younger sister Rocket, and even Vanessa Hudgens surprises in the somewhat underused Blondie. The five girls hold their own very well against the older actors, which is a welcome sight as it's their story after all. Or is it? But I digress.

The movie is driven by a fantastic avante-garde, alt-rock grunge soundtrack, mainly remixes of older songs, including a killer version of Sweet Dreams and Bjork's Army of Me. These songs underpin not only the high action fantasy scenes, but some of the more powerful dramatic scenes. Emily Browning's haunting rendition of Sweet Dreams over the introductory scene is undeniably powerful. Speaking of powerful, the sound effects will rock your core. I'm not one to be bothered by loud noises, but even my ears were ringing after seeing this bad boy at the cinemas.

To sum up, well, this is a hard one to sum up. On one level, this is a brilliant drama and morality tale, at another it's a ballad of female enpowerment, ad at a whole other level it's a teenage wet dream of loud music, loud action, flashy special effects, video game references, hot chicks and giant samurai robots with chain guns. This movie is not going to appeal to everyone, you have to be willing to open your mind and absorb everything, but Zack Snyder should be heartily commended for not being afraid to make a film that so adamantly ignores the any conventions of so called modern blockbusters. This film is the modern equivalent of the musicals of old, except characters burst into wild action scenes instead of heartfelt songs. This is the future of rock operas, an erotic, psychotic, fantastic, mind-bending, surreal world where everything you see is false and everything you know is a lie. Zack Snyder, you remain the man.