Now Playing: Sucker Punch (2011)

Once upon a time, Zach Snyder made a movie called 300 and got really popular with the movie studios and made a lot of fans. This basically gave him free reign to make any kind of movies he wanted for a long time, and his latest is Sucker Punch. It follows an orphan as she is put into an insane asylum and dreams of one day escaping. She meets several other girls and gains their trust, and they all work together to try to escape.

This movie has been getting a ton of bad reviews, so the question here is whether or not you should pay your hard earned dollars to see it. Hit the jump and I'll give you the pros and cons so you can decide.


As I've already mentioned, the story is pretty simplistic. There's a bunch of girls, and they're trying to escape. The weird thing is that every time they go to get one of the things they need to escape, like a lighter so they can make a fire, the main girl Baby Doll has hallucinations about what they're doing. These are all the crazy over-the-top scenes you've seen in the trailers. I guess these dream worlds are due to her insanity. The problem is that the start of the movie sets it up as if she's being framed, so I'm still not sure if she was supposed to be really insane, but I guess she must have been if the delusions are any evidence.

Our team of heroines ready for action

That was my main problem with the movie, that the story was disjointed due to the alternate reality we keep going into. The other girls are in these dreams, but we have to realize they aren't really the same girls she knows in the real world. It's not like they're also having the dreams. So we keep popping in and out of these unconnected dreams, seeing some action, and then coming back to the real world to find out that someone stole a lighter for example. Baby Doll is always instrumental in doing they actual stealing in the dreams, but in reality it's one of the other girls just pick-pocketing someone.

Of course I must admit that the dream worlds are pretty fantastic. The effects and graphics are great and stunning and just never stop. The only problem is that they just seem TOO busy. Like one of my friends said, it felt like it was trying too hard to be "cool". Like the names of the girls for example: Baby Doll, Rocket, Blondie, Sweet Pea and Amber. Take note, Blondie is the only brunette of the group, Sweet Pea is the tough as nails girl, and Rocket is... well she has nothing to do with rockets that I noticed. The weird names actually really reminded me of House.

As for the action scenes, it's pretty clear they just made a list of popular things and forced action scenes around them. Nazi zombies? Check. But we can do better than that! How about Clockwork Nazi steampunk zombies! Now we're talking. And throw in a flying steampunk mech while you're at it. One scene down, 3 more to go. We just need cyborgs, dragons, machine guns and those orcs from Lord of the Rings. Don't forget the giant Gatling Gun wielding samurai golem! I could go on and on with this.

Basically this movie just panders to the lowest common denominator. It's like watching an episode of Dragon Ball Z but filled with hot girls. I know that it sounds crazy that I'm complaining about this, but honestly, after seeing this movie, the single best word to describe it would be "stupid". Straight forward, this is a stupid movie. The characters have no personality AT ALL, the action is straight up meaningless as the things that happen in it literally have no bearing on reality. This movie was clearly made just to sell tickets and steal your money.

The problem is that this is such a special effects money shot, seeing it on the big screen is probably the only way to even bother watching it. I'd say save your money and don't bother with it, but if you MUST see it, save it for a cheap matinee and SERIOUSLY lower your expectations, maybe then you'll get your money's worth. Also, maybe see it drunk, that could help too.