After “Inception,” audiences have become accustomed to the concept of dreams within dreams. However, in its attempt to ape that underlying theme, “Sucker Punch” comes off more as a dream within a cliché wrapped in nonsense.
After being framed for the murder of her sister and packed off to an insane asylum, Baby Doll (Emily Browning) must undertake a series of mental quests in order to find five objects and thus free herself and other imprisoned girls.
Personally, I don’t think my mental doppelganger would be a scantily-clad hooker who battles with dragons, but who knows what dwells within the dark recesses of one’s mind.
From a visual standpoint, director Zack Snyder delivers. Each task Baby Doll carries out serves as another over-the-top battle. From fighting German soldiers from WWI to disarming bombs on bullet trains packed with evil robots, these scenes are undeniably amusing, if completely inexplicable.
Snyder clearly put all of his effort into those scenes and ignored everything else. The result is something like a music video — as soon as the guns come out and the music swells, all the elements of a complete film are cast to the wind.
In a movie like this, characterization matters little, but the cast doesn’t help. Browning and her costars seem uninterested, serving as little more than eye candy dressed up in schoolgirl outfits.
An attempt to create a movie that consists of nothing but pure action is admirable, but “Sucker Punch” constantly forces the audience to wonder what level of imaginary bullshit they’re wading through. In that way, the title is fitting: Suckered in with the promise of mindless good time, they’re instead blindsided with a movie that’s a chore to sit through.
