Sucker Punch
Starring: Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Oscar Isaac
Director: Zack Snyder
Rating: 1/5
Every now and again, the big film studios let a director they like go crazy, just to keep them sweet. Warner Brothers let Chris Nolan make Inception to keep him happy. Now director Zack Snyder’s been let off the leash as well.
After the huge success of the comic book adaptations 300 and Watchmen, Snyder was given the free will to do whatever he wanted next. He then set out to create a film he’s fantasised about making since he was a teenager. And boy does it show.
Sucker Punch tells us the story of ‘Baby Doll’ (Browning), a young girl who, after the death of her mother has been sent to a mental institution by her abusive stepfather after an unfortunate accident.
While she’s there, she hides away in an alternative reality and teams up with a group of other girls at the institute to help her escape.
They must, along with a mysterious stranger, fight through fantasy worlds to get the five items they will need to be free.
Sucker Punch promises so much, yet delivers on absolutely none of it. All the hyper kinetic and crazy action? Just a dull mix of leather-clad girls shooting a group of generic enemies time and time again with all the pizzazz of a stick of celery.
The films main selling point, the OTT worlds that Baby Doll and her cohorts travel too are just confusing. No explanation is ever given as to why they exist, or even why they contain dragons, zeppelins and steam-powered soldiers.
These worlds aren’t fantastical flights of fancy. Instead it just feels like a list of things that a typical 14 year old boy might think are cool, all crammed into a scene just because they can be.
Worst of all is the completely inexplicable shift from the main setting being from the hospital to a brothel. Without warning, wards become stages and all sense of a thread is lost.
This all wouldn’t be too awful if the film knew it was silly and played along with it. But no, Sucker Punch as absolutely po-faced throughout, never once thinking it could be anything but gritty and dark.
What also passes for characters in Zack Snyder’s fantasy world is incredible too. The girls just pout and offer absolutely nothing on screen. The only exception is Jena Malone’s Rocket, who actually brings some energy. For about three seconds and a couple of cheeky grins though.
It also doesn’t help when they’re constantly dressed in lingerie or other revealing outfits. For a seedy club, go right ahead, but surely a corset isn’t ideal for fighting robots? For a film that claims to all about girl power, it just feels exploitative, a sea of skin exposing shots and fishnet stockings.
Sucker Punch is lumbering, bloated mess that waddles incoherently from fantasy to melodrama and back. Any glimpses of creativity or even dumb excitement are smothered out nearly immediately.
Empty characters, dull action, a rubbish script, a cringe-worthy acting, and a truly awful soundtrack make Sucker Punch just painful.
Sucker Punch is out now.
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith
Tagged in Zack Snyder