Filed under: Reviews
From the guy who scored a hit with the remake of 'Dawn of the Dead' and '300,' but struck out with 'Watchmen' and last year's 'Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole,' director Zack Snyder brings us 'Sucker Punch.' A film filled with emptiness and a hodgepodge of other films, it's like watching an unofficial sequel to 'Showgirls' with some 'Kill Bill' and 'Battle L.A.' thrown into the mix. Avoid at all costs.
Featuring a cast of young starlets (Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish, Jamie Chung and Jena Malone), the film is nothing more than a long music video aimed at pleasing teenage boys who are tired of seeing these faces on Maxim magazine and needed some movements to go with the visuals.
Starting with newcomer Emily Browning, we meet her character Baby Doll, whose mother has just died and she has to defend her little sister against their stepfather, who feels angry for having been left out of the will and is out to torment them. When an accident causes the death of her sister, Baby Doll is taken away to a mental institution, where she meets the other patients, Sweet Pea (played by Cornish) and her sister Rocket (played by Malone), Amber (played by Chung) and Blondie ('High School Musical''s Vanessa Hudgens).
Without an explanation, the audience is led to believe -- because the girls are dressed in lingerie -- that the facility is a front for a nightclub, where the owner named Blue (played by Oscar Isaac) and his madam (played by Carla Gugino) train the girls to dance for clients or face the doctor (played by Jon Hamm), who only comes in for lobotomies.
While Sweet Pea is initially reluctant to befriend Baby Doll, the others take a shine to her, and when told to dance or face dire consequences, Baby Doll imagines life outside the compounds. This is where Snyder elects to put the girls, while in dream sequences, in scantily clad combat uniforms as they fight in ancient China against samurais, on the fields during World War I against zombie soldiers and other places they face dragons and orcs that seem to come or are borrowed from the set of 'Lord of the Rings.'
The whole point of Baby Doll's dances is for the others to gather the components they need to free themselves from the facility. Whether Baby Doll and the others make it out alive depends on how alluring her dances/dreams are to distract the guards before getting caught.
Considering that Snyder added some elements to what Frank Miller created with '300,' 'Sucker' serves as Snyder's first writing credit on his own. There are others screenwriters credited to this, but Snyder is the main guy on this, and after seeing this 'video,' it would be best for him to stick with just directing and not wear many hats on the set.
There is no story here. No reason is given why the other girls are there, and each battle scene is played out with no emotional effect. The quick cuts get old and tired very fast. It's not even campy enough to be funny.
No fault goes to the young stars, who are looking to make a name for themselves, but pity Carla Gugino, who worked with Snyder on 'Watchmen,' veteran actor Scott Glenn and Jon Hamm. Their talents are totally wasted here.
One would be better served seeing the clips provided online and not spend any money on this.