Sucker Punch (Zack Snyder, 2011): USA

Reviewed by Kyle Calbreath. Viewed at Edwards Palace Stadium 12, Camarillo, CA

More and more ladies are kicking ass and taking names than ever before. In the flick Sucker Punch they are doing more than just taking names – they are blowing the whole damn place up. All while wearing heels, mini skirts and full show make-up.

Zach Snyder’s vision is about a group of five hotties, Amber (Jamie Chung,) Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish,) Rocket (Jena Malone) and Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) trapped in an insane asylum/whore house. They plot to escape when the new girl in pig tails, Baby Doll (Emily Browning), recites to them a plan after having a premonition while providing an entrancing dirty dance for her madam (Carla Gugino) and her new playmates.

The film unravels following an array of different and extreme tasks the girls must face to obtain the four items necessary for the getaway. Led by a handler, the dream state pits the chicks against Nazi zombies, dragons and reflective robots. They kick the shit out of anything that stands in the way of their task at hand. Baby Doll, the leader, takes out her enemies with brash confidence using a charm adorned handgun in one palm and a katana sword in the other.

I’ve wanted to see this film since I saw the preview back a few months ago or so. I’m a great Zack Snyder fan ever since the modernized remake of Dawn of the Dead and the he-man epic 300.

I finally duped my friend Chris into seeing it with me in Camarillo only on the occasion that I paid. Luckily I had gift certificates because the movies today are so damn expensive. After the tickets were paid and we got a hot dog and popcorn, then two large sodas purchased (we couldn’t agree on sharing a Coke Zero so he got a large old fashioned Coke and I a large Coke Zero) the tab come to over $40 bucks! My father provided to me, for Christmas these passes that were worth $30, but they were not valid in the Santa Barbara area, hence having to see it in Camarillo.

The fight chorography is off the grid. When the ladies are raining terror upon the Nazi undead the audience is bashed with bullets when Rocket is blowing away the advancers in close-up and Blondie is hammering them with the rear of her machine gun. The camera is quick and tight shattering forth all the slams and trigger pulls most men can’t seem to muster these days in many action movies.

The soundtrack is just as intense. Rocking out classics from the likes of Queen the insane young ladies take the men by storm and take the items they need.

While the majority of the action takes place in a dream world, which means a CGI world, the action is never the less mind blowing. Snyder usually takes on stories that are about down on there luck characters in a bad situation. He captures a group of unsung heroes that are more than willing to fight it out till the bitter end. His mystic camera workings are all together gritty and down and dirty but have a heightened glamour to the shots. Just as the characters tend to have, a dream and a focus that leads to demise but ultimately a better life.

Snyder employs the idea of pure cinema through the use of extreme close-ups, increased sound and slow motion takes. When we hear the bell ring at the security gate in the asylum and when we hear the crunch of bone from knuckles to jaw bones. Slow motion like when we see Rocket take a fist to the face her teeth shifting under skin dawdling across the screen.

Costuming for the film was school girl whore house chic. Empowering and sexy, alluring and distracting are the designs. When we first meet Baby Doll she is dressed in dowdy pajamas, barefoot and ratty. In the end we see her dressed in a short pleat skirt, adorned with so much sparkle she could blind Helen Keller and chunky sky high heels. She has found her strength through the back hand she was dealt and brought it back with a kick to the balls.

To put it easily, Sucker Punch has been one of the most exciting times at a movie I’ve had in a long time. Women and girls have progressed into becoming some of Hollywood’s most capable and eye catching actions heroes. I was so drawn to the screen and the action that I wanted more.  More punches, more school girls skirts, more green screen CGI, everything. Sucker Punch is one hell of a film that will catch you up side the head when you least expect it.

 

About this entry

You’re currently reading “Sucker Punch (Zack Snyder, 2011): USA,” an entry on Student Film Reviews

Published:
04.16.11 / 10pm
Category:
Films