Sucker Punch Film Review (2011)

1 hr. 58 mins.

Starring: Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Jena Malone, Carla Gugino, Jon Hamm, Oscar Isaac, Scott Glenn

Directed by: Zack Snyder

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Critic's Rating: * 1/2 stars (out of 4 stars)

Writer-director Zack Snyder ("300", "Watchmen") assembles an incoherent and sluggish fetish fable about the sleazy goings-on within an insane asylum bursting at the seams with periled hot busty chicks, wild fantasies, graphic violence, gothic CGI punctuation and solitary confinement that invites a claustrophobic meltdown. The fleshy sci-fi fantasy Sucker Punch wants to deliver a perversely spry, over-the-top epic actioner that enjoys wallowing in its own confrontational juices. Unfortunately, Snyder's overt preoccupation with clumping together suggestive themes of provocative platitudes ranging from rape-style gratification to the nightmarish compounds of lobotomy experimentation never really gels as the renegade-oriented cinema he is presenting at large. Clearly, Sucker Punch is woefully disjointed in its attempt at shock value sludge.

Although challenging in its off-kilter slimy skin, Sucker Punch jabs and jolts at its empty-minded outrageousness but never really delivers anything that is considerably daring or daunting because it really has nothing to say beyond the drab dramatics. Snyder (and co-writer Steve Shibuya) strain for some unconventional creepiness but fail to instill any ominous imagination or biting tension within this piercing piece of provocative piffle. No doubt that Sucker Punch is sensationalistic and to some this flick may even be viewed as an underground guilty pleasure to behold. Still, the icky factor to Snyder's numbing narrative feels cold and inconsequential. The arbitrary sentiment of loose-minded girls and gunplay is needlessly exaggerated and overwrought. In theory, the bleak Sucker Punch is about as appetizing as swallowing down a bucket of tacks while sporting a strep throat.

When the film's curvaceous heroine Babydoll (Emily Browning) and her sister (Frederique De Raucort) are hit with the tragedy of their mother's passing they are left exposed and must fend off the raping tendencies of their twisted stepfather (Gerard Plunkett). While meaning to arm herself against the predatory stepfather, Babydoll ends up accidentally killing her little sister who was violated by the paternal pervert. For this murderous mishap Babydoll is shipped off to the creepy Lennox House for the Mentally Insane in rural Vermont.

Upon her arrival, Babydoll realizes that her duration inside this haunting hellhole is her confined reality. Eventually, she meets up with fellow trapped chicks in sisters Sweet Pea and Rocket (Abbie Cornish and Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens, "Beastly") and Amber (Jamie Chung). Together, these badass gals band tight and use their dream sequences as an escapist tool to deal with their miserable existence. Imagining the possibilities as being "woman warriors" through their mental capacities frees them temporarily from the anxiety and filthiness that exists within the squalid mental institution. Conveniently, they kick butt and take names set against specific rock tunes that describe their avenging demeanor.

Babydoll and her cohorts encounter all kinds of bizarre personalities in their quest for freedom-German zombies, robots, samurai warriors, zeppelins, etc. Their virtual world of illusion is colorful and calculating to say the least. It doesn't help that the girls are aided by a questionable Polish therapist/music enthusiast Dr. Gorski (Carla Gugino) that encourages them to do sexy dance moves and gyrations while in their trance-like state of mind. Soon the crazed cuties are finding themselves being situated in an aroused atmosphere where their "sex kitten" routines are overseen by the institution's orderly Blue (Occar Isaac), their suggested "handler" of sorts.

The question remains: is Babydoll and her honeybun hangers-on really sex slaves in some mind-bending barbaric brothel?

Easily dubbed as a cockeyed comic book caper or misguided melodrama with a fratboy attitude Sucker Punch is filtered with hollow and hellish illusions of horny grandeur. The movie does not want to come clean with its honest intentions in the sheer mode of well-toned hotties kicking ass in the name of raging sex appeal. Mindless and rancid, Snyder's ode to female liberation through flagrant hallucinatory hysteria feels like a dirty-minded sophomoric gimmick.

Shamefully, Sucker Punch misses the mark to take advantage of its exploitative giddiness. The pretentiousness exists because the movie flirts with the overblown notion of female empowerment but to the contrary it embraces some mighty ugly symbolism about young curvy women at the disposal of some antiquated notion about flexible and naughty frivolous sexuality. The "girl power" here is the blatant tawdriness and trashiness of this titillating tale. The hormonal imagery of Babydoll and her clad-dressed cutie pies as Bad Girls for Hire is schlocky and dismissive.

Additionally, the dialogue is utterly laughable and the performances are worth wincing at in embarrassment. The film's set pieces are notoriously cheesy and blurry. Inexplicably, cameos by Jon Hamm, Scott Glenn (as "The Wise Man") and Carla Gugino are wasteful and unnecessary. The overall story looks as it was conceived over a salami sandwich while watching poor parodies of Shutter Island combined with Girl Interrupted. The film's annoying soundtrack conjures up musical ditties as obvious as Annie Lennox's Sweet Dreams to a rendition of White Rabbit which forcibly adds to the tedium at play.

Yeah, the film's title Sucker Punch is aptly applied for anyone expecting an approving rowdy escapist T & A session but one may have to settle for a kick in the groin as well.