Review: Sucker Punch

Emily Browning is Baby Doll, who fails in an attempt to stop her sister being raped by her stepfather, shooting her sister accidentally instead. Her stepfather throws her into an insane asylum, wherein five days a doctor (Jon Hamm, in a pointless cameo) will perform a lobotomy on her. Whilst in the asylum, she seems to envision herself as a performer in a strange Moulin Rouge-esque dance establishment run by the cruel Blue Jones (Oscar Isaac), who in reality, is just an asylum orderly. The asylum’s head shrink Vera Gorski (Carla Gugino) is envisaged as a veteran dance teacher whose looks are now fading. The dance routines, of course, represent therapy sessions. However, there is a third level of reality going on here. When Baby Doll dances, we don’t see it, instead we see Baby Doll’s dance routines interpreted through the form of videogame-like battles, as she and the others take on hordes of samurai, Orcs, dragons, you name it. And there is a quest. In order to escape the asylum within five days, Baby Doll must collect five items: A map, fire, a knife, a key, and an as yet unknown item that will become apparent in due course. In addition to Baby Doll, there is spunky Rocket (Jena Malone), her somewhat aloof sister Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), the poorly named Blondie (played by brunette Vanessa Hudgens!), and Amber (Jamie Chung), all of whom adorn fetish-style outfits. Scott Glenn plays their somewhat mystic spirit guide, who adopts several personas throughout the film to fit each of the fantasy situations.

 

This imaginative, highly-stylised 2011 film comes from the mind of director/co-writer Zack Snyder (“300”, “Watchmen”, and the unnecessary remake of “Dawn of the Dead”), and is somewhere in between Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” films and “Sailor Moon”, with a dash of “Girl, Interrupted” to boot. I kinda wish it lent far more heavily on the Tarantino side of things, to be honest, because if ever a film required exploitation sleaze, it’s this one (Look at all those schoolgirl fetish outfits. The whole thing cries out to be a HK Cat III film, for sure!). I kept thinking that the Graphic Novel must be so much kinkier, only to learn that this is original material from Snyder and co-writer Steve Shibuya. Doesn’t Snyder like naked chicks and lots of sex? It felt like a pervert’s vision interpreted by a prude, or a boy on the verge of puberty, who hasn’t quite experienced it yet. Having said that, what we do get is still fun in a “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” meets “Girl, Interrupted: The Graphic Novel” (No, it doesn’t exist. I just made it up) kinda way. Unfortunately, I’m one of precious few who saw and enjoyed “Sky Captain”, so perhaps I’m not the best indicator of a film’s entertainment value. I mostly liked it, even though I wished it was trashier and sexier, but overall I kinda dug this film’s groove. I think the critics got it wrong on this one, though you might well agree with them and think I’m out of my mind.

I gotta say, for something that seems so dopey and fluffy on the surface (and it definitely is), Snyder’s actually trying for something deep here. What he’s attempted here is a female empowerment film where the story takes place on three planes of existence; 1) The real, cold, and depressing world where Browning needs to avoid a lobotomy 2) The presumed fantasy world where the mental institution is re-envisaged as a fancy dance hall/bordello, and 3) The fantasy Browning and her fellow inmates concoct where they’re like the heroes in a video game fulfilling battle quests to pick up essential items they need to escape plane 1, and in a sense, plane 2 as well. In its own way, this is really interesting and clever stuff, and for the most part I was down for the ride. However, a moment’s reflection shows that planes 2 and 3 aren’t really convincing coming from the imaginations of the characters, but likely more the fantasies of Snyder himself. What woman would envisage themself as a PG-13 version of a bordello worker? And whilst I know there are plenty of female gamers out there, the quests shown in the film are often of the WW2 skirmish variety, and other favourites of teen boys, not really girls (It reminds me of a lot of those robot and machinery-obsessed Manga and anime that young boys seem to go for). So whilst I enjoyed this film for being so bizarre and ambitious (in a way), the fact remains that the film isn’t as good as it could’ve been. For instance, I would’ve made the second plane of existence a lot less hyper-real, which would also enhance the third plane, which is the definite fantasy level.

Interesting casting in the supporting roles, with Scott Glenn essentially playing the role of David Carradine in “The Silver Flute”/”Circle of Iron”, and a special mention going to Carla Gugino as the most beautifully voluptuous dance teacher of all-time. Bravo on that one, Mr. Snyder. Jenna Malone is the best of the younger set in a spunky part, whilst Browning is better than I had expected, but fellow Aussie Cornish is actually pretty terrible. She looks bored, and looks nothing like her supposed sister Malone. Her American accent is also a lot worse than Browning’s. The adorable Jamie Chung and Vanessa Hudgens don’t get nearly as much to do, as character development isn’t the film’s strong suit. The film is dense and superficial at the same time.

A big plus is the excellent camerawork by Larry Fong, even managing to stay coherent in the sometimes hand-held action scenes, whilst also maintaining a beautiful (if filtered) aesthetic.

So it’s certainly not as naughty or violent as I would’ve liked, and Snyder hasn’t quite thought it out enough. I also think the constant music montages slow the pace down a little too much, so that the energy comes and goes. The fact that I’m not a fan of the music (mostly alternative/indie stuff that sounds an awful lot like Bjork to me), doesn’t help. But on a superficial action movie and bizarro spectacle level, it’s highly watchable. I mean, this is one weird, perplexing, and fucked-up film, and Snyder is an amazing visual stylist at the very least. It’s certainly not lacking in imagination (or music montages, of which there are a few too many), and since I’m a glass half-full kinda guy, I’ll recommend it. Gamers will get more out of it than most, however, as I liked it (cool CGI dragon, for instance), but I wanted to love it, and I didn’t. It is underrated, however, and I bet it was a big hit in Japan.

 

Rating: B-