Adam Collins posted on March 27, 2011 00:00
Baby Doll. Sweet Pea. Rocket. Blondie. Amber. Which one does not fit in with the others? These are the names of the five main characters in Zack Snyder’s latest film, Sucker Punch, which marks Snyder’s first original film and screenplay. He rose to fame with a re-make of Dawn of the Dead and two graphic novel adaptations, including 300. This also marks his first original screenplay. I was a little apprehensive to see this, but I thought that after the under-performing Watchmen, Snyder would be a little more careful. I also thought that Warner Bros. would be a bit more cautious with bloated budgets. Unfortunately, I would be wrong. With a budget of reportedly $85 million, I think that Snyder and Warner Bros. will be licking their wounds from this flick.
Sucker Punch opens with the death of the mother of the character later named Baby Doll. After the irony of killing her sister while trying to save her, Baby Doll is committed to an asylum run by a guy named Blue. This is where the movie starts to lose its way by taking itself way too seriously. Baby Doll meets the other characters mentioned above as well as Dr. Vera Gorski, played by the always attractive Carla Cugino. At this point, the movie becomes a dream within a dream within the mind of Baby Doll. That was an awesome premise last year when it was called Inception.
Baby Doll escapes the “reality” of her prison by going to her “happy place.” Here, she meets Scott Glenn who is doing his best impression of David Carradine in Kill Bill. Wise Man (Glenn) tells Baby Doll that she can obtain freedom after finding four objects; then, a fifth object will be apparent. So, she fights three massive samurai warriors. Baby Doll, then re-enters reality and enlists the help of her new found friends to find the said objects. Together, they fight a steampunk World War I German army. Then, they battle a Lord of the Rings orc army and dragons. Finally, they battle I, Robot on an Unstoppable train that is bound to destroy a city.
Each battle was well crafted, and visually stunning, thanks to Snyder. Each battle was also scored with heavy music. But it didn’t bother me and it fit the film appropriately. Like his last two films, Sucker Punch had more than its fair share of slow-mo scenes. Over half of the scenes, including all battles, have some slow-mo in it. Does it heighten anything? Not really. If you played this movie at a regular speed, you could easily save yourself ten to fifteen minutes.
For a cast of unknown young actresses with an average age of twenty-five, they weren’t that bad. None of them has really done anything of any real signifigance. Oddly, the worst acting award for this film goes to Carla Cugino and her horrible Russian accent. Sadly, it was on the same level as Nic Cage’s accent in Con Air.
Sucker Punch succeeds in its visual display. Where it fails? Pretty much everywhere else. There is not much going on between each battle, except the looming arrival of the mysterious High Roller. In the end, Mad Men's Jon Hamm shows up for some weird reason and then the movie ends. It did not have the satisfying ending like Inception. Instead of the ambiguous ending to Nolan’s masterpiece, Snyder’s Sucker Punch just leaves you going, “Huh?”
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