Reviews Film / Sucker Punch

I was left wanting more...

...but not necessarily in a good way.

First off: I had a good time watching this film, mostly. It was entertaining in many ways, frankly gorgeous to look at, with great fight sequences (again, mostly) and a frigging beautiful sound track. Even as I found nits to pick with the film I still enjoyed it, which is what matters to me.

What also matters to me, however, is story, and as others before me have pointed out this film was a tad lacking in that department. I had no real quibbles with the general plot itself, and I believe that handled better it could have made for an extremely interesting tale, but the problem is that this kind of story, a psychological battle for self-healing and freedom, really needed to be driven just as much by the characters as the special effects and situations, and unfortunately we get far more of the latter two than the former.

Now, credit where it's due, I did actually care about some of the characters and what was going to happen to them; but to this I plead bias. The very concept of a lobotomy terrifies me, and I wouldn't wish it on even a fictional character. So yes, I wanted Baby Doll to escape from the asylum, but more from the desire that she avoid such a horrible fate rather than any serious attachment to her. As for the other girls, only Rocket and Sweet Pea lived up to the advertising blurb that had gotten me so excited; Amber and Blondie, given so little to do as they were, made practically no impression on me other than that, oh yeah, there was occasionally someone flying a vehicle or firing a gun or sobbing hysterically.

And the sad fact of the matter is that this could have been remedied if the film hadn't been such an extensive tribute to CGI and battle underwear. Several battles could easily have been trimmed to make room for more characterization and still have been brilliant to watch without becoming tedious, as I hate to say they did. One scene on the futuristic train stands out in particular, simply because it went on for way, way too long. So long, in fact, that I was quite literally begging for it to finish, and not least because it was making me feel queasy due to the way it was shot.

I repeat, I enjoyed the film. I'm glad I saw it. But while I'm by no means disappointed, all the while I wanted more (or sometimes less) than what Sucker Punch ultimately gave me.