Review: Sucker Punch

Written by John Sunday, 03 April 2011 16:03

Zach Snyder’s latest film Sucker Punch was released last weekend and I had the opportunity to see it.  To briefly sum up the film before I go into detail……It is visually stunning with incredible action and stunt sequences.

Ok, now before I start be warned there are spoilers in this review for those of you who haven’t seen the film yet

Still with me?

Good.

The story revolves around Baby Doll (played by Emily Browning) and her plans to escape a mental institution, for which she was sent to after accidentally killing her Sister after her Mother’s death, before she is to be lobotomized.

She does this by escaping into a dream world where she believes she is a dancer/escort in a club that she was sent to from an orphanage. At the club she is befriended by four other girls (who are also mental patients in the hospital); Rocket and her Sister Sweet Pea (Jena Malone & Abbie Cornish), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and Amber (Jamie Chung).

Baby Doll is to be presented to The High Roller at the end of the week and is brought to the dance studio run by Madame Gorski (Carla Guigno) in order to prepare. A she starts to dance, it is at this point the dream world enters another dream world. In this second dream world she encounters the wise man (played by Scott Glenn in a role that seems to have been written for David Carradine).  The wise man informs Baby Doll that in order for her to escape she needs to collect 5 items. Those items being a map, fire, a knife and a key.  The fifth and final item is a mystery and will be discovered when the time is right.  It is at this point in the film where some of the best effects and action sequences take palce.

Every time Baby Doll dnaces, another item is recovered.  Things seem to be going fine for the five girls and their plan to escape until they try to recover the knife, when upon doing so Rocket is killed along with Amber and Blondie, who under severe stress reveals the plan to Madame Gorski and Blue Jones (Oscar Issac) who is the main antagonist of the film.

All that remains is Baby Doll and Sweet Pea. The two of them go ahead with their escape plan, and it is at this point in the film that Baby Doll realizes that the fifth item needed to escape was her, and creates a diversion in order for Sweet pea to escape.

It is now at this point where we meet The High Roller (Jon Hamm), who in reality is the Dr. who has come to lobotomize Baby Doll, and realize that the whole thing was happening in her mind just as she was being lobotomized.

We learn that what happened in the fantasy world is an interpretation of what really happened in the week prior to her being lobotomized.  As she lies in a chair with her mind forever in the fantasy world, we see Sweet Pea boarding a bus being driven by Scott Glenn on her way back home to her parents.

As I said before, this film is visually stunning.  The clash of WWI/WWII/Vietnam and future technology works as well as the costumes the girls are wearing.  Who here wants to bet that Zach Snyder has been to Dragon Con and said these costumes would be great at Dragon Con?  I guarantee there will be lots of Sucker Punch girls at Dragon Con come Labor Day weekend.

Although confusing at some points, the film is worth seeing and is worth it.  I cannot wait to see what was left on the cutting room floor when the Directors Cut Blu Ray comes out.