Sucker Punch backhanded me into a hypnotic daze. This movie, produced beautifully by Deborah and Zack Snyder and released March 25, was completely different than what I was expecting. With an amazing cast, and even better special effects, I was surprisingly satisfied when I excited the theater.
The thrilling fantasy-adventure film opens with the death of Baby Doll’s (Emily Browning) mother. Soon after, the scene is set on a dark, stormy night in 1955. Baby Doll’s abusive stepfather (Gerard Plunkett) attempts to take advantage of Baby. After a suspenseful struggle to fend him off, Baby Doll is locked in a bedroom. Through the key hole, we watch in sheer horror as the stepfather slinks into Baby’s little sister’s room. The first epic battle between good and evil then ensues to save the little girl. Alas, when Baby Doll frees herself from the room, she finds her sister’s body lying limp before her.
This is the part that will really knock you out.
Her stepfather, who framed Baby Doll for the murder of her younger sister, brings her to an insane asylum. He then bribes the orderly to forge the main therapist’s signature on paperwork instructing that Baby Doll be given a lobotomy. To cope with reality, she imagines she is a new dancer in a secret brothel run by the infamous Blue (Oscar Isaac). She is to be sold to the high roller, who is in reality the doctor performing the lobotomy, in three days. She knows she must escape before the high roller comes for her, and she recruits a team of tough-as-nails girls to help. Baby Doll, along with Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Rocket (Jena Malone), and Amber (Jamie Chung) must gather five items in order to gain their freedom from their reality and from Baby Doll’s fantasy land.
The acting in this movie was incredible! I truly hated the bad guys, and I found myself clenching my seat and cheering Baby Doll on. I thought Plunkett portrayed his evil roll extremely well. Hudgens plays a roll far more sophisticated than that of her Disney Channel parts. And very well, may I add. Special effects mixed into the emotional parts of the movie smoothly and interestingly. The plot confused me though, and I wound up asking my friends what was happening every few minutes. Overall, I commend both Snyders on their magnificent production. The raw excitement was enough to dropkick me into fascination.
I was, in the end, extremely pleased with the entire affair. I was shocked, excited, thrilled, and fascinated by this movie. I highly recommend you see this PG-13 production. The ending is truly a sucker punch to the gut.