Review - Sucker Punch

Imagination can be a weapon. For Baby Doll it’s her only weapon. Being thrown in an insane asylum by her evil stepfather, and having that evil stepfather pay extra to get her lobotomized, which is set to happen five days after her admittance, is the load she has to bear. Baby Doll, however, creates multiple worlds through her imagination that feature giant samurais, steam powered soldiers, dragons, robots, a guide, and crazy weaponry as far as the eye can see. Her escape, mentally, she hopes, can help lead to her and her newfound friends’ escape physically.

This is the plot of Sucker Punch. Don’t worry, it’s not nearly as confusing as it may seem once one figures out the multiple levels of imagined worlds. The action is fantastic, the visual aspects of the film are stunning, and the soundtrack is totally kick ass. The opening sequence has a creepy version of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams” setting the mood. The first fight scene, where Baby Doll is alone, features Bjork’s “Army of Me” (which I totally rocked out to in the theater), and the first war scene that features everyone, and a big steampunk war machine with a bunny painted on it, has Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” playing as accompaniment. The latter is an obvious homage to Alice in Wonderland since much of Sucker Punch deals with similar concepts, i.e imagination and a journey.

The action scenes in Sucker Punch are, to put it bluntly, really freaking awesome. Vanessa Hudgens, as Blondie, manages to get even hotter by being a complete badass. In terms of Hudgens’ former relationship, she’s the winner. Zack Efron did a tutti fruity movie about seeing his dead little brother. Vanessa Hudgens hit a steam powered soldier in the face with an ax. Yes, we have a winner! She sure as heck isn’t singing in a High School Musical anymore.

There were a few interesting twists at the end of Sucker Punch that I didn’t see coming, although the final piece of the puzzle was obvious to me because it was exactly the same as one of my favorite cult movies from the 80s. I didn’t, however, predict HOW that final piece of the puzzle would be used.

The lone downfall of the film is the way it, at times, holds your hand. Although I’ve admitted I didn’t see everything coming, during the first 20 minutes you can really tell you’re being led in regards to what was going to be important later in the film. I would have preferred the connections to be less glaringly obvious. I had a similar feeling at the very end of the film when there’s an unnecessary voiceover telling us exactly what the film meant. We aren’t given very much credit as viewers. Let us get the point on our own!

That being said, overall, Sucker Punch is the kind of movie that makes me want to go to the movies. The visual aspects of it require the big screen, it provides a ton of fun, and it has the kind of story that measures up with the visuals.

Enjoyability: 4.5 out of 5