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It’s telling that the main character in the movie “Sucker Punch” is being threatened with a lobotomy, because the film would only be a success for those who have already undergone that procedure. “Sucker Punch” is filled with fantastic imagery, but the story and characters are no deeper than what you’d find in a mindless videogame. If you’ve already had your lobotomy, then you won’t worry about any of this and simply sit there and drool over the pretty pictures.
As for the rest of us, well, it will be a bit harder to enjoy the film.
“Sucker Punch” starts off very quickly, with our heroine, Baby Doll (Emily Browning) being framed for murder and sent off to an insane asylum where her evil stepfather has arranged to have her lobotomized in five days. Baby Doll escapes this horror by retreating into her mind, where she fantasizes that she’s a dancer, forced to perform at a bordello with four other captives. The movie is rated PG-13, so it’s not a strip club, per se, but you get the idea. Baby Doll and her new friends (Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens and Jamie Chung) make plans to break out, but their search for the items that will help them escape drop them into bizarre fantasy worlds where they are set upon by everything from Nazis zombies to dragons and even a giant samurai.
These fight sequences are a feast for the eyes, and should certainly appeal to adolescent boys eager to watch a quintet of scantily-clad women running through what is essentially some cool video game cut scenes. It’s as if Fredericks of Hollywood provided the costumes for a cheesy B-movie fantasy flick, and while that ensures that young men will be interested in seeing the film, it doesn’t do anything for those of us who demand a coherent story to go along with our visual excess.
The story is confusing, and none of the actors do anything more than running around and looking pretty. To be fair, that’s probably why they were cast, so I shouldn’t slam them for bad performances if they weren’t asked to act in the first place. Instead, I’ll blame the director, Zach Snyder, who seems to have devoted all of his energy to the film’s special effects at the expense of his actors.
“Sucker Punch” is based on an original story by Snyder, and that appears to be the film’s fatal flaw. Snyder is an amazing director, as audiences and fanboys found out with “Dawn of the Dead,” “300” and the unfairly maligned “Watchmen” movies. I adore that he has such a strong visual style this early in his career and that he’s obviously willing to take dangerous artistic risks. Even when he fails, there are still moments of genius to be found in his films—such as the opening silent sequence in this movie. That being said, “Sucker Punch” is still a failure, and not worth your ticket-buying dollars unless you’re a sucker for overwhelming visual images.
Movie reviews by Sean, “The Movie Guy,” can be found bi-weekly in “The Port Arthur News” and weekly on KFDM-TV and KBOI-TV. Sean welcomes your comments via email at smcbride@kboi2.com.
Movie Guy
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“Sucker Punch” starts off very quickly, with our heroine, Baby Doll (Emily Browning) being framed for murder and sent off to an insane asylum where her evil stepfather has arranged to have her lobotomized in five days. Baby Doll escapes this horror by retreating into her mind.
Discussion
Snyder’s new movie only good for lobotomized “Suckers”
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