“Sucker Punch” is a beautiful mess of a movie. Director Zack Snyder has worked on such comic book adaptations as “Watchmen” and “300,” so when previews began popping up showing scantily clad women slaying dragons, battling Gatling gun-toting samurai and just being all around badasses, fanboys everywhere prepared their wallets. But when the dust finally settles and the credits roll, the flaws of the movie begin to nag their caffeine-addled consciousnesses.
The main problem of the movie is apparent even in the trailer. The problem of how to connect all these fantastic, beautifully animated set pieces is something that Snyder seems to gloss over. The plot revolves around Baby Doll (Emily Browning) living in an insane asylum / brothel after accidentally killing her sister.
This immediately puts the story on a shaky surface. When the audience is unsure if the events in the movie are actually taking place, they are kept from fully immersing themselves in the plot.
What made “300” work so well was that although the plot was fantastic, the characters themselves were still grounded in reality. When Baby Doll begins to dance for the male clientele who come into the asylum, she is transported to an incredible fantasy world that isn’t bound by the same rationale as the real world. Baby Doll is suddenly given the ability to swordfight huge samurai and jump incredible distances, in the shared illusion that she and the clientele share. This gives her allies the opportunity to steal items from the caretakers in order to escape the asylum.
What both damns and saves “Sucker Punch” is its ambivalence about taking itself seriously. There are instances in the movie when the audience will laugh out loud not because of the dialogue or cleverness, but because the events are so ridiculous. The “Kill Bill”-inspired David Carradine character of Wise Man offers a strong comic relief that breaks up the melodrama. Every time the girls are about to embark on another dangerous mission to steal a map from a WWI-inspired trench battle or slay a dragon, the character gives a final word of wisdom that is unbelievably cheesy and hilarious. If “Sucker Punch” had embraced its absurdity throughout and invited the audience to laugh with the movie, it would have been a more enjoyable experience. But the inane flat acting of most of the major characters makes the dialogue sequences nearly unbearable to trudge through. Browning’s acting is dull and mechanical, and Vanessa Hudgens’ first serious role flops with gusto. Nearly every other character is entirely forgettable. Oscar Isaac as Blue Shoes, however is a bright spot in an otherwise dull cast, and pulls off the Machiavellian bad guy wonderfully.
Past the glitzy, glimmering CGI graphics and beautifully choreographed fight scenes, “Sucker Punch” is a hollow viewing experience and leaves the viewer wanting more over-the-top action without the gag-inducing melodrama.
Movie: Sucker Punch
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Release Date: March 25
Grade: C-
