Review of Sucker Punch (2011) by Adam F — 11 Mar 2013

Visually "Sucker Punch" is very impressive but the story is incoherent and it all gets dull after a while. If you're a 13-year old boy though, this is a dream come true. There's giant demonic samurai with gatling guns, hot babes with swords and pistols, dragons, orcs, mechas, steam-powered robotic zombies, armies of killer robots and a ton of explosion. There's a lot of style in the movie and the special effects look great. The fight scenes are very well shot (a bit frenetic at times but you'll always be able to tell what's going on) and they're pretty creative so if you ever wanted to know what "Lord of the Rings" would have been like if you switched out wizards for sexy ladies with a lot of ammunition, there you go.

When it comes to the story though, there's a lot that feels like it's missing. The movie has its own brand of logic, with the action fantasy settings representing heists made by the characters in their quest to escape and aren't made to be taken literally but there are still problems within them. One of the fantasies for example does not end well and not only does one of the characters end up in very bad shape but the item that are looking to grab slips through their fingers. That's only in the fantasy though, in the brothel setting this failure isn't reflected and you'll be confused as to what's just happened. It's unclear if this was intentional or a mistake but there are also other elements of the fantasies don't really work. Scott Glenn's character for example often gives advice that feels shoehorned in because it doesn't apply to the situation the ladies are facing. "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything" might as well be "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" if you're hearing it right before you go face a dragon, it doesn't mean anything! Because the rules of these fantasies aren't clearly defined there is also a lack of tension that develops as the heroines defeat legions of minions in what seems to be effortless action scenes. On their own they would be incredibly thrilling but one after another you start wondering what the point of it all is.

The characters often act illogically (writing down their awesome plan where it would be easy for someone to find, acting like comic-book villains (especially in the case of the evil stepfather and "Blue") and you can tell that the actors are giving their all so the performances are fine in the context of the material they're given but sometimes it feels like the director/writer knows something that no one else does, including the performers. There are inconsistencies in the time period that the movie is set in, with modern-day headphones sitting next to old 50's cars and modern pop songs being played on old music machines. It's all quite disorienting and if the plot had been stronger it wouldn't have mattered much but when the film wraps up you get frustrated wondering what you have been watching for nearly two hours.

The movie feels like a bunch of video-game cutscenes strung together with a weak plot. There are spectacular action and cool special effects, the movie is well shot (there a very nice scene where the camera enters and exits mirrors while circling the characters that's pretty impressive) but in the end it really doesn't feel like it means anything. If you just want to see hot ladies in skirts jumping around kicking butt, sure you can have some fun but in the end "Sucker Punch" feels like an empty movie with some memorable moments. (Extended Cut on Blu-ray, March 7, 2013).