Review: Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch is the latest creation from Zack Snyder, the man behind such films as Dawn of the Dead, 300 and Watchmen.

A haunting cover of Annie Lennox's Sweet Dreams acts as the backdrop to a well paced, sinister opening that sends shivers down the spine. The audience sees Baby Doll (Emily Browning) in her home environment of abuse and torment. This is quite a striking opening and shows plenty of promise. Unfortunately, what follows after loses the run of itself and everything gets quite loose.

Upon arrival at the Lennox House for the Mentally Insane, which is quite a nice reference, Baby Doll is on course to undergo a lobotomy. It is at this point that a number of storylines emerge. The clinic becomes a brothel where Baby Doll must learn the art of survival. Here she meets and befriends Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Rocket (Jenna Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and Amber (Jamie Chung).

In order to survive, the girls must dance. Red blooded males everywhere will be rubbing their hands together with glee at such a promise. But the audience never witnesses the dance itself; an unfortunate occurrence as Baby Doll dances so well that people become mesmerised. Said audience members can take comfort in the fashion that the dancers adorn themselves with.  

After being ordered to dance by Dr Vera Gorski (Carla Gugino), Baby Doll enters a fantasy world. Here she learns what she needs to escape. She also learns that there are barriers and faces off against three hulking samurai. The fantasy world is where Snyder excels. His past experience shows and it is possible to see influences from 300 and Watchmen. Visually, Sucker Punch enters an impressive world with plenty of diversity. Scenes range from wartorn battlefields against steam powered soldiers to castles where dragons must be fought. Naturally, plenty of slow motion scenes are present.

There is a crossover between the two worlds. The items that must be acquired are represented in both worlds, although may take different forms. Similar to The Matrix and Inception, incidents occuring in the real world have an effect on the fantasy world. Not much can be given away but it is a nice touch.

The soundtrack throughout is spot-on and fits each scene well. The fantasy world is brilliantly portrayed and lives up to Snyder's reputation. There were two promising films on offer within Sucker Punch. It is just unfortunate that the two worlds were slammed together and didn't quite mesh. Sucker Punch isn't a bad film but after the daunting opening that showed so much promise, everything falls a little short.