Until now Snyder’s directorial reputation has preceded him, as a man who can successfully adapt graphic novels with a particular cinematic style not unlike that of Tim Burton, and with the intention of making his own mark in the film industry. With the chilling opening of Sucker Punch, Emily Browning’s cover of Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics effectively dramatizes the first few scenes in which she (Babydoll) is framed for the murder of her sister. This is the first among many energetic covers from the soundtrack; soon to follow is a Queen mash-up of “I Want It All” and “We Will Rock You”, which is not only an amusing accompaniment to the Mayor’s entrance to the asylum Babydoll is sent to, but is pure evidence that this film has attitude written all over it.
The film works on two levels of fantasy; as Babydoll enters the asylum named the Lennox House for the Mentally Insane in the 1960’s, she first imagines it as a burlesque brothel, where the girls must learn a unique routine to perform to the men who come to visit, in hope of survival. The second level appears as Babydoll begins her dance, an action packed fantasy world with zombie German soldiers and dragons, a fantastic choice of antagonists, which parallels the narrative of reality, where she must find five key objects to escape the asylum before she is lobotomised in just a few days. The visuals are impressive, but some audiences may feel that Snyder’s influence of mixing live action with CGI is too powerful. The aesthetics of the film have been made priority, and the narrative definitely suffers because of this.
The underlying motifs and themes of female empowerment and male domination keep the first level of fantasy fairly gripping, but it is in their efforts to complete the quests that enjoyment can begin to diminish. The slow motion that viewers may be familiar with from films such as The Matrix can literally slow the film and pace of the action down, not necessarily in a positive way. Despite Snyder being well known for this technique, it seemed unnecessary in many action sequences which lacked tension, but on the other hand did add to the feel of the film as being similar to another graphic novel, particularly the scene involving the dragon, a ‘boss’ that very much reminded me of the fighting sequences in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.
The costumes are far from innocent, no doubt the generous amount of thigh shown by all five girls; Babydoll, Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and Amber (Jamie Chung) will be more than enough for male audiences. However, viewers will have to look past the school girl outfit and leotards, if possible, to witness that Sucker Punch can be a work of genius. Japanese influences of anime and manga are certain, particularly with the girls’ hair, costumes and use of expression, specifically Babydoll’s eyes which are a focus piece throughout the film - we are either zooming into her pupil or she is staring innocently at us. The darkness of reality in the asylum is stressed by the low lighting and dull colours which cinematographer Larry Fong, who also worked on 300 and Watchmen with Snyder, has contrasted well with Babydoll’s use of imagination to create a vivid and vibrant environment compared to that of her prison. The dialogue however, is full of meaningless one liners that confirms that these women may be physically involved throughout, but the emotion seems a little forced.
Abbie Cornish gives a strong performance and shows a growing development in her career, as well as Emily Browning, who had a much more delicate and maternal role in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) and Vanessa Hudgens who is best known for her role as Gabriella in all three High School Musical films. They are all a joy to watch with guns in hand, despite some female viewers thinking that they look too unrealistic for looking too ‘perfect’ in many close up shots. Thus, all these elements can make the film on a whole feel rather artificial, as well as some of the vocabulary used for the historical context of the time, and Snyder’s style is so overwhelming that it’s near on impossible to connect with any of the characters. This suggests that perhaps the male viewers would be better off playing a video game instead, because despite being psychologically thrilling, the action feels like it ends within seconds and poses the question, has anything really been left to the imagination? That goes for Snyder, too.
