Sucker Punch

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Review by Sean Lynch

Where you stand on the work of The Man Of Steel and Sucker Punch director Zack Snyder's work depends largely on whether or not you are distracted by shiny objects. He is, after all, an advanced version of Michael Bay : All style, very little substance.

But boy, what style!

Sucker Punch has some of the most visually spectacular cinematic objects (in sexy school girl outfits) seen on the silver screen in some time.

It's an epic action fantasy that takes audiences into the vivid imagination of a young girl whose dream world provides the ultimate escape from her darker reality (an insane asylum with some pretty nasty treatments... or is it a brothel?). Oh yeah, there is some pretty sweet eye candy too!

Unrestrained by the boundaries of time and place, she is free to go where her mind takes her, but her incredible adventures blur the lines between what’s real and what is imaginary…with potentially tragic consequences.

There is more than enough on offer here to make a truly unique and exciting film, however Snyder seems to get lost within his action and CGI driven worlds - sequences which would be so much more interesting if he had spent anytime at all making the audience feel like there was something at stake for it's protagonist.

Rumours suggest that Snyder was forced to heavily edit the "adult" content from the film in order to reach the right age rating - but doing so strips away everything that potentially makes Sucker Punch... Sucker Punch.

What made Snyder's Watchmen so new and exciting a few years back was its ability to never shirk away from the darker moments. It was those darker moments which managed to give the movie its life, its tension, its brutal guts. Had Sucker Punch done the same, I would quite happily throw this up as a contender for one of the coolest movies of 2011.

Sadly, this is more Legend of the Guardians than it is Watchmen.

Without that character development (towards the end of the film we finally hear some dialogue and the story picks up the pace a bit) all audiences are left with are a series of very cool music videos and an $80M Snyder audition tape to secure him the deal for the new Superman franchise.

I'm not kidding - he covers pretty much every possible genre within this film (for no real reason other than to show what he can do on a budget).

Sucker Punch may redeem itself slightly with the unrated DVD release - but until then we can place this in the Grindhouse pile of "Movies That Should Be Better Than They Are".

DVD Special Features

As is always the case with Zack Snyder, he knows how to impress the Blu Ray market. There are some great things on offer here. Check out this monster list of coolness...

• Motion Comics

• "Feudal Warriros"

• "The Trenches"

• "Dragon"

• "Distant Planet"

• Sucker Punch: Behind the Soundtrack

The soundtrack is truly excellent, as it was with Watchmen, so music fans should really check that last featurette out - it's excellent.

Conclusion: Movie 60% Extras: 65%