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Sucker Punch (2011)

01 April 2011

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Close your eyes. Open your mind. You will be unprepared.

“Sucker Punch” is an epic action fantasy that takes us into the vivid imagination of a young girl whose dream world provides the ultimate escape from her darker reality. Unrestrained by the boundaries of time and place, she is free to go where her mind takes her, and her incredible adventures blur the lines between what’s real and what is imaginary.

She has been locked away against her will, but Babydoll (Emily Browning) has not lost her will to survive. Determined to fight for her freedom, she urges four other young girls—the outspoken Rocket (Jena Malone), the street-smart Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), the fiercely loyal Amber (Jamie Chung) and the reluctant Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish)—to band together and try to escape their terrible fate at the hands of their captors, Blue (Oscar Isaac), Madam Gorski (Carla Gugino) and the High Roller (Jon Hamm).

Led by Babydoll, the girls engage in fantastical warfare against everything from samurais to serpents, with a virtual arsenal at their disposal. Together, they must decide what they are willing to sacrifice in order to stay alive. But with the help of a Wise Man (Scott Glenn), their unbelievable journey—if they succeed—will set them free.

Born from the creative vision of filmmaker Zack Snyder (“Watchmen,” “300”), “Sucker Punch” features an ensemble cast of young stars, including Emily Browning (“The Uninvited”), Abbie Cornish (“Bright Star”), Jena Malone (“Into the Wild”), Vanessa Hudgens (the “High School Musical” films) and Jamie Chung (“Sorority Row”). The film’s main cast also includes Oscar Isaac (“Robin Hood”) and Carla Gugino (“Watchmen”), with Jon Hamm (“The Town,” TV’s “Mad Men”) and Scott Glenn (“The Bourne Ultimatum”).

Zack Snyder directed “Sucker Punch” from a screenplay he wrote with Steve Shibuya, based on Snyder’s story. Snyder and Deborah Snyder produced, with Thomas Tull, Wesley Coller, Jon Jashni, Chris deFaria, Jim Rowe and William Fay serving as executive producers.
The behind-the-scenes creative team includes Academy Award®-winning production designer Rick Carter (“Avatar”) and “Watchmen” and “300” veterans director of photography Larry Fong, editor William Hoy and costume designer Michael Wilkinson. The music is by Tyler Bates and Marius DeVries.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Legendary Pictures, a Cruel and Unusual Production of a Zack Snyder film, “Sucker Punch.” Opening nationwide March 25, 2011, the film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
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our review
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"An action packed fantasy thriller, coupled with an excellent soundtrack that has you gripped from beginning to end."

After managing to go the last few months without even seeing a trailer for the movie Sucker Punch I recently got the privilege of reviewing the recently released Blu-Ray edition of the Zack Snyder directed action/adventure/thriller movie.

Now as I hadn’t seen any trailers for the film and had only heard of the film through word of mouth I had no idea what to expect from my first viewing. The only thing I had to go on for the movie was the front cover of the Blu-Ray case, and my first reactions to this were not good to say the least, but don’t let that put you off as the film is actually quite good. Like they say never judge a book (or film in this case) by its cover.

The film itself is incredibly dark and intense from the get go. Within the first five minutes I was hooked, the opening scene of the movie is both gripping and intense, which is quite a feat considering there is hardly a word spoken during the dramatic opening, which only adds to the intensity of it as you wonder what’s about to happen.

The film’s plot sees a young girl put into a mental institution after the dramatic climax of the film’s opening scene, where she discovers that in five days she will receive a lobotomy even though she doesn’t require one (I’m not going to give too much away I promise). It’s after this that the whole fantasy action packed plan for survival begins as the lead character Babydoll enters into a fantasy world in order to help her escape the mental institution along with four other girls she acquires along her journey.

In the fantasy world the mental institution becomes a type of brothel where the girls must dance and do other favours for the male customers, and it is here that Babydoll begins her plan for escape. The film is very well done when acting out their plan as we are introduced to the war themed fight scenes that represent their plan and Babydoll’s dance in the fantasy world. As the film and the plan come to an end there is a slight twist in what happens that I didn’t really see coming but others may have.

A negative aspect of the film does however come from the fight scenes, as after awhile they become slightly repetitive and a little bit predictable. But overall the film is excellently shot and puts you in mind of a video game, especially during the fight scenes. This coupled up with an excellent soundtrack that features songs from the likes of Bjork, Queen, Skunk Anansie and the lead actress Emily Browning singing The Eurythmics classic “Sweet Dreams” really brings the film together, and to be honest I think the soundtrack is what made the film.

Credit where credit’s due has to go to Vanessa Hudgens who after playing the whiny Gabrielle in the High School Musical franchise finally breaks away from the wholesome image of Disney for this gritty role, and she’s actually quite good.

I was a little bit disappointed however by the extras on the Blu-Ray as I didn’t find them that interesting and there was an incredible lack of deleted scenes, as I’m sure there must have been plenty of scenes cut from this movie just like every other movie ever made, and who really needs four different versions of the same film in one case?

Overall the film was entertaining and keeps you gripped from the very beginning, you may stray slightly during some of the fight scenes but overall the film does what it sets out to do, and that’s entertain.
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DVD cover
  • Release Date
  • 08 August 2011
  • Technical Features / Extras
  • Format: PAL
  • Language English
  • Subtitles: English. Italian. Swedish. Norwegian. Icelandic. Finnish. Danish
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 2.40:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 12
DVD Review
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"An action packed fantasy thriller, coupled with an excellent soundtrack that has you gripped from beginning to end."

After managing to go the last few months without even seeing a trailer for the movie Sucker Punch I recently got the privilege of reviewing the recently released Blu-Ray edition of the Zack Snyder directed action/adventure/thriller movie.

Now as I hadn’t seen any trailers for the film and had only heard of the film through word of mouth I had no idea what to expect from my first viewing. The only thing I had to go on for the movie was the front cover of the Blu-Ray case, and my first reactions to this were no good to say the least, but don’t let that put you off as the film is actually quite good. Like they say never judge a book (or film in this case) by its cover.

The film itself is incredibly dark and intense from the get go. Within the first five minutes I was hooked, the opening scene of the movie is both gripping and intense, which is quite a feat considering there is hardly a word spoken during the dramatic opening, which only adds to the intensity of it as you wonder what’s about to happen.

The film’s plot sees a young girl put into a mental institution after the dramatic climax of the film’s opening scene, where she discovers that in five days she will receive a lobotomy even though she doesn’t require one (I’m not going to give too much away I promise). It’s after this that the whole fantasy action packed plan for survival begins as the lead character Babydoll enters into a fantasy world in order to help her escape the mental institution along with four other girls she acquires along her journey.

In the fantasy world the mental institution becomes a type of brothel where the girls must dance and do other favours for the male customers, and it is here that Babydoll begins her plan for escape. The film is very well done when acting out their plan as we are introduced to the war themed fight scenes that represent their plan and Babydoll’s dance in the fantasy world. As the film and the plan come to an end there is a slight twist in what happens that I didn’t really see coming but others may have.

A negative aspect of the film does however come from the fight scenes, as after awhile they become slightly repetitive and a little bit predictable. But overall the film is excellently shot and puts you in mind of a video game, especially during the fight scenes. This coupled up with an excellent soundtrack that features songs from the likes of Bjork, Queen, Skunk Anansie and the lead actress Emily Browning singing The Eurythmics classic “Sweet Dreams” really brings the film together, and to be honest I think the soundtrack is what made the film.

Credit where credit’s due has to go to Vanessa Hudgens who after playing the whiny Gabrielle in the High School Musical franchise finally breaks away from the wholesome image of Disney for this gritty role, and she’s actually quite good.

I was a little bit disappointed however by the extras on the Blu-Ray as I didn’t find them that interesting and there was an incredible lack of deleted scenes, as I’m sure there must have been plenty of scenes cut from this movie just like every other movie ever made, and who really needs four different versions of the same film in one case?

Overall the film was entertaining and keeps you gripped from the very beginning, you may stray slightly during some of the fight scenes but overall the film does what it set out to do, and that’s entertain.