Review on:

Sucker Punch(2011)

Performances

Cinematography

Editing

Effects

Intangibles

andrewhawkins’s Rating

Purchase Date: May 2011

Purchase Price: $1.50

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Community Rating:

(1 reviews)

The idea here is simple. We the audience want to be entertained by what we like. We like action. We like sex. We like conflict and resolution. What could go wrong?

The style and substance of Sucker Punch is overwhelming. So much is being thrown in the viewer's face that one becomes immediately desensitized and bored by the whole affair. Right out of the gate this movie establishes that nothing is really happening here and the stage has been set for a play that never once connects with it's audience. It's hard to imagine that a movie so filled with everything including the kitchen sink could be so boring and tedious. There's no connection here. The effort made to sit through Sucker Punch is a wasted investment.

What happens? Doesn't matter. Who's in it? Scott Glenn and pretty girls. Any good action? There's a small bit on a train that gets help from a Vangelis-like bit of film score, but other than that, no.

Here's something odd about the way Sucker Punch plays out. The movie is definitely influenced by video games. There are many levels and sub-levels in the outline of the story. We start off on a stage with a set that transitions into a tragedy. The tragic play then becomes a burlesque drama which sets up four isolated action scenes that include our primary group of characters. Each sequence where our girls are running around shooting stuff and hitting things starts with a poorly remixed or covered song.

The worst bastardization of any song on this soundtrack is the horrible version of The Stooges Search And Destroy that bookends the Dragon/Fire level. Fuck that track. The poor Pixies cover and the Army Of Me mistake don't fare much better. The issue though is that when you hear the godawful White Rabbit rendition stop a couple minutes into the action, you can anticipate the end of the scene as soon as the music kicks in again. Each shitty live-action video game scene in this movie is a music video with a break in the middle to keep each song from lasting fifteen minutes.

Really though, anybody who would watch this over a double feature of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Showgirls should burn their wallet and quit their job. Sucker Punch is a neutered PG-13 trashcan full of misplaced efforts and missed opportunities. It is a polished turd.