Movie Review: ‘Sucker Punch’

With director Zack Snyder’s creative spark, any story can be brought to life on the silver screen. But, as audiences saw in “Watchmen,” sometimes his imagination should be reigned in to accommodate the mainstream moviegoer. “Sucker Punch” was no exception to this trend.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate Snyder’s attempt to present stories in an alternative form and I understand that fans of Snyder’s work expect his trademarked cinematic oddities, and will likely go see “Sucker Punch” no matter what I say about it. For those people, it is an exciting movie and will not let you down in terms of meeting your action quota.

“Sucker Punch” takes the audience deep into the depths of the mind of a troubled and possibly insane young girl called Baby Doll. After the untimely death of her family, she is sent to an insane asylum, where she relies on a fabricated life to escape from her reality. She begins to plot an escape plan with her fellow inmates, and reaches out to her fantasy world to obtain several objects to aid this plan. Without giving up too much more about the plot, I would suffice it to say that the conclusion to “Sucker Punch” leaves much to be desired that could have easily been clarified.

That being said, the film is also incredibly visually appealing. “Sucker Punch” will hopefully remind Hollywood that movies do not need to be 3D to look stunning. The fantasy worlds imagined by Baby Doll take the audience into beautifully violent scenarios like a Nazi zombie-infested World War II battle and an ancient castle with a dragon protecting it. I only wish that these scenes took up more of the plot of the movie.

Another wish that I have for “Sucker Punch” is that it could have further incorporated the fantasy scenes into Baby Doll’s real-life experiences, taking a cue from “Alice in Wonderland.” The two movies share several parallels, but “Alice in Wonderland” fully explores the fantasy world that “Sucker Punch” only delves into the surface of.

The tagline for “Sucker Punch” is “you will be unprepared,” but I would caution audiences to know exactly what they are getting into before they buy a movie ticket.

As a twenty-something male moviegoer who appreciates a good video game, I appreciated the beautiful girls, battle scenes and violence, and alternative story of “Sucker Punch.” But, I understand that the film is not for everyone. I can imagine that it has very little appeal to female, older, younger, conventional, or academic audiences – or any demographic people like me don’t fit into. Take Snyder’s earlier work “300” for example – while it was a decent movie, it would have appealed to a very limited audience save for Gerard Butler’s abs.

So, if you don’t exactly fit my demographic, and you’re thinking of going to see “Sucker Punch,” you may want to read some other reviews before hitting the theater. Some audiences may have a great time watching an intriguing thriller while other audiences spend the movie trying to figure out the plot holes that the film leaves unaddressed.

Grade: B-

Posted by Ryan Del Campo on Apr 2 2011. Filed under Features, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.