Sucker Punch (2011)

When I first heard about this movie I thought it sounded pretty interesting. A movie with dragons, zombie nazis, samurai, robots, helicopter, beautiful women and action sounded very good. After watching about 10 seconds of the trailer I stopped watching it as I knew I just had to see this movie. I went to see it as soon as it came out. Question is whether this film is just as fantastic as it sounds?

The movie revolves around Baby Doll (Emily Browning), who is brought to an insane asylum by her stepfather. Baby Doll does not want to stay there and devises a plan, together with some other girls, to escape. The plan is to collect a number of objects (a map, a key, fire and a knife), which will allow them to leave the place. It almost sounds like an episode of Dora the Explorer and unfortunately that’s what Sucker Punch is. An episode of Dora the Explorer made for adults.

The story is way too simple and the sole purpose for its existence is to make sure there is a way to get into the action scenes. Those scenes take place in Baby Doll’s fantasy, each time she closes her eyes and starts to dance.
Although these scenes are very spectacular to watch, but because you never get the feeling that the characters are in any real danger it makes everything feel like a game. There is a scene where Baby Doll is thrown by this giant samurai, but after landing there isn’t a single scratch on her. It makes each action scene feel empty even though there are a lot of things happening.

Visually the movie has the typical shots you would expect from Zack Snyder, which are speedramps (quick transition between slow motion and a higher speed) and spectacular action. Unfortunately the number of action scenes are very limited, especially compared to the length of the movie (109 minutes). When I was watching it I kept asking myself, several times, how long I still had to watch it.
Something which annoyed me as well was that it’s very clear that the movie isn’t as extreme as it could be because of its rating (PG-13). There is no blood and almost no cursing, which is strange for this type of film.

If I would have watched this when I was around 16 I probably would think that this is one of the best movies ever made, but now it just felt like a visually stunning, mature version of Dora. The story was just too simple and the only emotion it managed to stir in me was one of boredom.

Score: 4

5 thoughts on “Sucker Punch (2011)

  1. Thankfully I havent been to see this, mainly because it really doesnt appeal to me (mainly thanks to the trailer). As you say, technically it sounds amazing with dragons, zombie nazis, samurai, robots, helicopter, beautiful women and action. But as soon as I saw the trailer/plot, it was enough for me to turn my nose up at it.

    Hopefully Zack Snyder will do a better job with the new Superman movie that he is due to direct.

    • I was a big fan of 300, so was looking forward to seeing more of his work, but was left disappointed. I will also watch the animated owl movie he did to see if that’s any good. As for the Superman movie…I’m not a big comic book fan, so I really don’t care that much about it. I’m sure I will watch it but I won’t be rushing to the cinema for it.

  2. Yep I enjoyed 300 and Dawn of the Dead remake, but Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (which I believe is the owl movie your talking about) really doesnt interest me, so I feel Snyder is a bit of a mixed for me.

  3. Pingback: My Filmyear: 2011 « My Filmviews

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