by Ashley Penrod, Media Editor
Close your eyes. Open your mind. Engage in a spectacular fantasy adventure when Sucker Punch arrives onto Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and Digital Download June 28th.
What happens when you put five incredibly hot (and scantily clad) women against Steam-Powered-Mechanical-Zombie-Nazis, Dragons, Monsters, Robots, and Stone Samurai Warriors? You get Sucker Punch, the newest spectacle from Director Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen). This new visual endeavor starts off as a slow-going intro to a psychedelic music video (enter: Jefferson Airplane’s ‘White Rabbit’, just in case the audience wasn’t aware that they should be on a hard-and-fast acid trip), crescendos into a dystopian first-person-shooter (ala Bioshock), and ends with a half-hour attempt to tie fantasy and reality together in a satisfactory ending. But, weak storyline and questionable/predictable plot twists aside, this movie is absolutely worth a watch for the badass CGI and wardrobe, alone.
BabyDoll (Emily Browning – Phantom of the Opera, The Uninvited) is a doe-eyed blonde beauty who, after being institutionalized by her money-hungry stepfather for control of her deceased mother’s will, retreats into a candy-coated world of violent and survivalist fantasy, all decked out in glitter and schoolgirl outfits. In this world of make-believe, Baby Doll is fighting for her life alongside her fellow patients (an all-female ensemble, each actress a treat for the eyes, even without heavy dialogue) in various scenarios. Each of these war-games scenarios are played out in Baby Doll’s mind as she is dancing for the enjoyment of burlesque patrons. The dancing is applauded by her ‘captors’ (the heads of the institution-disguised-burlesque), and she is spotlighted as a main act, attracting the attention of the “high roller”, who offers to ‘purchase’ her in five days. So, within these five days, Baby Doll is informed by her Mr. Myagi-esque internal mentor (played in each scenario by Scott Glenn) that she has a small window of opportunity to recruit the help of the other girls to escape the club and regain her life. All that is required for her to obtain her freedom are five things the girls will need to escape the asylum/burlesque club: a map, fire, a key, a knife, and a fifth mystery object, which she will discover towards the end of her journey to freedom. Baby Doll’s first ‘dance’ shows her meeting her mentor, and being forced into battle with three gigantic, stone/robotic Samurai warriors. Snyder uses heavy Matrix-inspired slow-animation for a majority of this fight scene, and Baby Doll proceeds to defeat her three enemies. The ‘dance’ ends. Going into detail about each of the fight scenes and action-fantasy scenarios during Baby Doll’s dances would ruin the fun in seeing the film, so we’ll just say that Zombie Nazis and Metallic Androids are some of the many visual treats throughout the movie. Even when Baby Doll is retreating from world-to-world in her mind, the visuals are consistent, and remain stunning, in true Zach Snyder fashion.
The soundtrack is more than just a little noteworthy, as it is a strong plot-driver behind pretty much every scene. Trippy, chopped-and-screwed remixes of popular songs like “Sweet Dreams (are made of this)”, “I Want it All”, and “We Will Rock You”, make each scene as audibly forceful as they are visually over-the-top. Although the music was genuinely awesome, and a lot of audience-members will likely leave wanting to add a copy of the soundtrack to their iTunes library ASAP, it did feel a little heavy at times, and seemed to be used more as a scene-driver than for background effect. Score and soundtrack are key players in every film, but if it completely dominates a scene, the movie becomes more of a music video, and all hope of a storyline is somewhat lost. But this may have been intentional, as the fantasy scenes are definitely works of the imagination, and couldn’t exactly be confused for real-life, dramatic situations. Regardless of intention, the songs fit perfectly with the scenes, and work to hype up the audience alongside the intense visuals.
Emily Browning really brings the Baby Doll character to life, her performance standing out as both believable and powerful. She didn’t have a lot of dialogue (honestly, none of the characters really talked up a storm – the movie was definitely driven by visuals), but her shy yet dominating lost-girl-in-the-woods portrayal of her character was impressive. Jena Malone (Saved!, The Messenger) as Rocket is also a surprisingly tender and likeable character, and her emotions expressed as the little sister torn between loyalty and freedom seem genuine and her scenes really forward the storyline. Holding seniority among the bunch is Sweetpea, played by Australian actress Abbie Cornish (Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, Robot Chicken). Acting as the highly-overprotective sister to Rocket, her scenes are generally intermingled with Baby Doll’s, but both actresses bring their A-game (although I really could have done without Sweetpea’s uber-hokey ending lines pre-credits) The rest of the ladies can, unfortunately, kind of be lumped together as less-than-memorable. Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical 1-2-3, The Suite Life of Zach and Cody) branches away from her usual sugary-sweet persona to play the seductive and street smart Blondie. And, ya gotta admit, its always fun to see tween-beloved Disney Princesses pop out in corsets, playing smoking-hot strippers. Jamie Chung (Grey’s Anatomy, Sorority Row) is Amber, the favorite burlesque-girl of the mayor, who frequents the club to see Amber and watch her sister-dancers perform.
Carla Gugino (Entourage, Californication) offers a compassionate and genuine performance in her dual roles as Madam Vera Gorski, the mother hen of the burlesque girls, and Dr. Vera Gorski, the head psychiatrist at the asylum who oversees Baby Doll’s therapy. Scott Glenn takes on the role of Baby Doll’s mentor throughout escapes into her alternative reality. He seems to channel David Carridine’s aloof-yet-wise performance in Kill Bill, playing up his various roles as a Wise Man, spiritual mentor, and battle commander, maintaining emotional distance from the girls, while still guiding them to success. Guatemalan actor Oscar Issac (Body of Lies, Robin Hood) is Blue Jones, the creepy asylum orderly and burlesque-owner, who is all-too-easily bribed by Baby Doll’s stepfather to assure that he will never have to deal with her being released or escaping from the hospital. He excels at playing up the pimp-daddy angle of the burlesque-owner, and ending the film with an impressive emotional breakdown when acting as the corrupt orderly.
Special Features:
- Maximum Movie Mode: Explore the Fantasy World: This option streamlines the whole concept of “special features” and integrates them into the movie itself (if you watched Kevin Smith’s Cop Out on Blu-ray then you will be familiar with this concept). Instead of watching all of the features after you enjoy the film, Maximum Movie Mode incorporates commentaries, storyboards, interactive galleries, and alternate takes into the movie experience thanks to Picture-In-Picture.
- Sucker Punch: Animated Shorts: A series of four motion comics makes up the first half of the Sucker Punch special features. These animated shorts give the viewer a brief back story into each of the villains that BabyDoll and her sister warriors must defeat (in the fantasy world of BabyDoll’s mind) to regain their freedom, revealing the legend and lore behind the fantasy worlds. The animation style is very comic-book-esque, and the lack of detail among the character figures adds to the overall feel of dread that entices the viewer into emotion throughout the corresponding movie scenes (these scenes from the film are spliced into the animated shorts briefly towards the end). The shorts not only go into detail about the key antagonists in the fantasy-world battle scenes, but also etches out a quick history of the scene’s setting and characters. The narrator goes about these descriptions in an Aesop-like telling of a tale, wrapping each short up with a subtle life-relevant message.
- Sucker Punch: Behind The Soundtrack: Director Zack Snyder and Music Arranger/Composers Tyler Bates and Marius De Vries discuss the relevance of the film’s psychedelic choice in score, and how each song independently set a mood, particularly surrounding the scenes that take place in BabyDoll’s mind. It was interesting to discover that each of the female cast members took a part in the recording of the soundtrack, particularly Emily Browning, who performed as a solo vocalist for two of the songs from the film. The soundtrack is absolutely a driving force behind each scene in the movie, and the eclectic and alternative nature of the tracks really sets the tone for the duration of the film. Without the soundtrack, the movie would not have been half as entertaining, nor the battle scenes as powerful, but without the visuals of the movie, the soundtrack definitely holds its own as an album I would recommend to any fan of music, regardless of genre. The remixes and stylistic flow of each of the tracks makes for a lot of fun listens, especially in the car (which is where I, personally, keep my copy!).
- Theatrical and Extended Cut (17 extra minutes of footage) of Sucker Punch on Blu-ray
- DVD Copy of Sucker Punch Theatrical Release
- Digital Copy of Sucker Punch
- 1080p Video
- DTS-HD English 5.1 Audio
Overall:
In general, this was just a freaking awesome movie. I was into it from beginning up to the very end, and wasn’t distracted at any point by anything shiny (save for the glitter and bling all over the screen in every scene…..maybe that is why it successfully held attention? Hmm.) The CG, visual effects, and cinematography are, of course, similar to other Snyder films (i.e 300, Watchmen), hence Sucker Punch was packed with the pretty colors, crisp imagery, and sleek fight sequences we have come to expect from him. The CGI comes across beautifully on Blu-ray and anyone who has a High Definition TV will definitely appreciate the gorgeous colors and graphics presented in the film. The addition of an all-female-starring-cast gave ample opportunity to add even more to the fantastic visuals, with colorful costuming and incredible, light-catching makeup. I won’t lie, when I left the movie, I spent the drive home contemplating where I could find the eyeshadow and most of the burlesque outfits that added candy-colored gloss to the scenes throughout Baby Doll’s reality #2. The plot is very thin, admittedly, and there isn’t a lot of detail or backstory given to any of the characters, even the main players. But it is coherent enough that the audience understands what they are watching, and how the events are sequencing – but, yes, the emphasis was very obviously on making a pretty movie with pretty girls fighting intense/crazy (but pretty!) battles. If you go into Sucker Punch expecting a deep and prominent storyline, unpredictable twists, and incredibly multi-dimensional characters, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. The trailers didn’t lead viewers on by eluding to a drama-fest. Rather, it was advertised for exactly what it is: a truly awesome noir fairy tale packed with as much entertainment as two hours can give.
ComicsOnline gives Sucker Punch 3.5 Items you will need to escape out of 5.
ComicsOnline gives Sucker Punch 3.5 Items you will need to escape out of 5.
Get your copy of Sucker Punch on Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Combo Pack at Amazon.
Continue your Sucker Punch experience after the movie is over:
Create your own Sucker Punch custom videos by combining clips, audio, effects and transitions. Then save your creations to the Gallery and share with friends! http://www.suckerpunchvideocreator.com/
Check out ComicsOnline.com for more movie reviews and for everything geek pop culture!
