Sucker Punch – Movie Review

movie reviewI must honestly say that I tried to avoid this movie as long as possible. Hearing and reading no good things about it. Yes yes, better make an own opinion. I know I know. Well, now a friend got the Bluray of it and forced me to watch it! Yes!

Storywise it’s about a girl who gets delivered into a mental hospital for women of sorts. There she falls into a fantasy world. (I guess to suppress the depression of being, falsely accused, delivered into a place like this) Now in that fantasy world she AGAIN manages to find a way to fall into another sphere of fantasy world. (She does it Inception style I think) There she has to find different artefacts to get out of this prison like mental hospital place. So she and 4 other inmates fight through 4 setups, worlds… imaginary places – I don’t know… to get these artefacts. All this happens in a wonderfully shot modern fashion. Zack Snyder style.

We know that from 300, Watchmen (which I love), Legend of the Guardians. He IS very good with his photography and style. No doubt about that. I’m also a big fan of his ‘Dawn Of The Dead’ version. That’s a very down to earth movie compared to his latest CGI heavy products. I would love to see more of that to be honest. Zack Snyder however is a master in putting together CG and live action footage. Sucker Punch is a perfect example for this. So visually it is ‘something’… but!

You would think that the CG and all the fantasy that did go into the creative part of the movie would leave an impression. Especially for digital artists like me. But I must say that all the visual amazingness in this movie is so damn forgettable. Yeah, absolutely! It looks cool for the time it appears on screen. But afterwards? Does it hold up to scenes like the battle for Minas Tirith in Return Of The King? No! Does it hold up to the last 10 minutes of ‘Sunshine’? No way! Or any scene in Jurassic Park with the T-Rex! No. And I could go on forever… – but do you want to know why this CGI monster called ‘Sucker Punch’ doesn’t work? Why these, actually awesome, scenes are so forgettable? Well…

You need well built characters! Characters you actually care for! Characters in real danger! So the main reason why it all doesn’t really work is missing consistency. There is absolutely no gravity in these dream fight scenes. By gravity I mean a connection… or reason. It is as if pretty much everything after minute 15 is a totally random set of happenings. It’s a 2 hour movie. The characters have absolutely no impact. They’re just there and do something. You don’t really care for them. Because they were never really introducted. So there is almost no gravity to these characters. Just some sexy girls kicking ass. (I admit that doesn’t actually sound bad) But it’s boring after an hour. And it’s another one left to sit through. How do they always say… CG should always be used to complement the story. Now this movie feels as if the story was written for the CG. And the story falls apart quickly.

One last thing. I never saw that ‘Baby Doll’ girl dance. And it’s obviously one of the key elements of the story. That dance is supposed to be enchanting, sexy and somehow the ultimate thing and really amazing. At least from the looks of the people seeing it in the movie. BUT WE NEVER SEE IT OURSELVES. WHY?

Ultimately it is a fun movie for a first time watch. It has some cool action and the CG, for the most part, looks really well executed. If you don’t care for things to make sense… then that’s the movie for you.

6.3/10

Sucker Punch on IMDb

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