Monday, March 28, 2011

Sucker Punch (USA/Canada; Zack Snyder, 2011)


   Oh boy, what a mess. Granted, it is a beautiful one, but a mess nonetheless. While Snyder's comic-like visual style clearly demonstrates talent and creativity, the script that it is bringing to life clearly does not. Co-written by Snyder, it is a clear indicator that some talents should remain focused on story-telling rather than story-creating, the film's loose and random structure being largely responsible for making it hard to take seriously as the uninspired dialogue doesn't help the already-limited cast to appear any more convincing than the rest of the premise; which, in turn, mistakes complicated for intelligent, and not even that complicated at that. When Baby Doll (Emily Browning) gets sent to an insane asylum to await an upcoming lobotomy, she mentally escapes to a parallel world transforming the hospitlal into a brothel. When she recruits some of the girls/patients to help her escape, the missions to acquire the items needed are turned into elaborate action sequences taking place in a ever-changing fantasy world with characteristics that range from medieval castles to WWI planes. As someone I know appropriately observed, this is like teenage videogame geek's wet dream, except this time disappointment comes before waking up. It's a shame because I usually enjoy Snyder's pictures (even Watchmen), just now realizing he should stick to directing other people's imaginations. While Sucker Punch is easily entertaining, the limbo-like feeling of the action in question, no matter how stylized and polished it may be, leaves one constantly questioning the intended heaviness of the themes explored, making one wonder when exactly will I begin to care.

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