** stars
There are only a few movie titles that define how you feel after you've seen the movie itself. Sucker Punch is just that, a sucker punch to the gut after withstanding a long and strenuous fight. Zack Snyder's idea for Sucker Punch is electric: four women who are trapped in an insane asylum try to escape through their imagination in a fantasy world. Because after all, what else do you have in solitary confinement other than your own world?
What makes Sucker Punch a failure is in its execution, too much style and not enough substance. Snyder did such an amazing job with Watchmen (although it's impossible to repeat the success of its source material) because his style matched perfectly with the novel's substance. 300 was also successful because it was an entirely new direction of graphic novel filmmaking. Legends of the Guardian: The Owls of Ga'Hoole succeeded solely because of Snyder's vision and not much else. Here with Sucker Punch, it's as though he was trying to make the holy grail of trash movies. Instead, it just looks like trash.
It's too bad, because I was really looking forward to this one. Why not have a movie with four women kicking ass? Women deserved to feel empowered when they go to the movies just as much as men do. The mistake this movie makes is what ultimately happens to these characters. The third act of this film will make women feel powerless and men feel like scum.
The story revolves around Baby Doll, a young woman who is sent to the creepiest insane asylum known to man by her abusive stepfather. She meets four other young and abused women, all who seem to have access to infinite amounts of makeup. In what Baby Doll believes to be the doom of her existence, she decides to escape to an alternative reality where defeating bizarre creatures and extinct soldiers is the key to finding the ticket to freedom.
The transitions in-between the two-worlds are made possible by Baby Doll's ability to dance in front of the entire staff and inmates, all of which are in total awe of her talent. When she dances, we are taken to another world. The fantasy world is filled with stupendous visual effects, but without a reasoning behind the characters' motives in this fantasy world, we are forced to accept this world the same way the four girls do: escapist entertainment.
Which would be fine, if the dialogue wasn't so painful to listen to. The acting is stiff and forced, and it's unfortunate to see such talents like Carla Gugino and John Hamm reduced to nothing but odd and out-of-place cameos. I would have enjoyed Sucker Punch a little more if it chose to take itself a little less seriously when it came to the fate of these characters. Once the movie starts to pick up steam, it comes to a crashing halt created by unnecessary melodrama.
What makes Sucker Punch a failure is in its execution, too much style and not enough substance. Snyder did such an amazing job with Watchmen (although it's impossible to repeat the success of its source material) because his style matched perfectly with the novel's substance. 300 was also successful because it was an entirely new direction of graphic novel filmmaking. Legends of the Guardian: The Owls of Ga'Hoole succeeded solely because of Snyder's vision and not much else. Here with Sucker Punch, it's as though he was trying to make the holy grail of trash movies. Instead, it just looks like trash.
It's too bad, because I was really looking forward to this one. Why not have a movie with four women kicking ass? Women deserved to feel empowered when they go to the movies just as much as men do. The mistake this movie makes is what ultimately happens to these characters. The third act of this film will make women feel powerless and men feel like scum.
The story revolves around Baby Doll, a young woman who is sent to the creepiest insane asylum known to man by her abusive stepfather. She meets four other young and abused women, all who seem to have access to infinite amounts of makeup. In what Baby Doll believes to be the doom of her existence, she decides to escape to an alternative reality where defeating bizarre creatures and extinct soldiers is the key to finding the ticket to freedom.
The transitions in-between the two-worlds are made possible by Baby Doll's ability to dance in front of the entire staff and inmates, all of which are in total awe of her talent. When she dances, we are taken to another world. The fantasy world is filled with stupendous visual effects, but without a reasoning behind the characters' motives in this fantasy world, we are forced to accept this world the same way the four girls do: escapist entertainment.
Which would be fine, if the dialogue wasn't so painful to listen to. The acting is stiff and forced, and it's unfortunate to see such talents like Carla Gugino and John Hamm reduced to nothing but odd and out-of-place cameos. I would have enjoyed Sucker Punch a little more if it chose to take itself a little less seriously when it came to the fate of these characters. Once the movie starts to pick up steam, it comes to a crashing halt created by unnecessary melodrama.
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