Sucker Punch

Review by Sean Lynch

Here's an interesting Hollywood fact - if you combine all of Zack Snyder's movies and remove the slow-motion sequences, he has shot - in total - 13 minutes and 23 seconds of actual film. This may or may not be a lie...

Where you stand on the work of Sucker Punch director Zack Snyder's work usually depends largely on whether or not you are distracted by shiny objects.  He is, after all, an advanced 2000s version of Michael Bay : All style, very little substance.

Such is the case with Sucker Punch, which has some of the most visually spectacular cinematic objects (in sexy school girl outfits) seen on screen in some time. It also has the least thought out story arc and character development since Alvin & The Chipmunks : The Squeakquel.

Sucker Punch is an epic action fantasy that takes us 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?).

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 was it's ability to never shirk away from the darker moments. It was those darker moments which managed to give the movie it's life, it's tension, it's 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 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 we are left with is 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 with an unrated DVD release - but until then we can place this in the Grindhouse pile of "Movies That Should Be Better Than They Are".

2.5 out of 5

Just Go With It
Australian release: 7th April, 2011
Official Site: Sucker Punch
Cast: Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Jena Malone, Carla Gugino, Scott Glenn, Oscar Isaac
Director: Zack Snyder