Blu-ray Review: Sucker Punch (2011)

To his detractors, Zack Snyder's output typifies style over substance: he sure knows how to shoot a pretty movie, but depth seems to be beyond his remit. 300 and Watchmen are, first and foremost, overwhelmingly exact visual recreations of their graphic novel sources. Sucker Punch is Snyder's first original screenplay (he receives story and co-writing credit), so this time he does not have an earlier work to imitate, but it has done nothing to silence his critics; even, for some, representing the nadir of his filmography to date.

You can see why it's a divisive film. Originality isn't an area of concern - it's quite unlike anything else you could think of - but the story and direction are certainly an acquired taste. Opening with what is effectively a music video montage, the first of many in the film, setting up our protagonist's plight: she's a 20-year-old orphan girl incarcerated in a mental asylum, and is only ever known to us as Baby Doll. She mentally escapes her predicament by fleeing into her imagination, where the asylum becomes a burlesque club, Baby Doll and her fellow female inmates the dancers. There are even further flights of fancy when she dances for the customers, as she dreams/hallucinates missions in which they have to recover key items that will help in their ultimate escape.

As is to be expected from Snyder, it's all highly stylised, and his penchant for slow motion and speed 'ramping' is indulged time and again. What makes it seem a somewhat hollow exercise is that there is never any particular contextual justification for the attention-grabbing flourishes. In particular, the outlandish fantasy worlds that Baby Doll dreams up when she dances have no connection whatsoever to anything in her experience; they feel manifestly more like a check list of what Snyder thinks would be cool. (Giant minigun-wielding robot samurais? Check! Steam powered Nazi zombies? Check!) Add to that a cast of young actresses who are rarely anything more than scantily clad and you have what errs dangerously close to a misogynist geek-out.

And yet, it avoids falling into the precipice thanks to appreciable conviction from the cast - rarely is there such a female-centric action movie - and a sincere attempt to tell a unique story. It's engrossing to an extent simply to try to predict where the film is heading, and the final act intensifies the drama substantially, albeit robbed of a certain emotional heft. Compare this to Christopher Nolan's Inception and you find two vastly different results from similar starting point, that being the delving into the subconscious world of dreams. Interestingly, those two creative forces are teaming up to bring us Superman next. Can such opposing sensibilities mesh into something coherent? You can be sure of one thing: it will look nice.



Release Information
Country: UK / Region: Free / Version: Rental / Discs: 1 / Distributor: Warner Bros.

Presentation
Given Snyder's emphasis on visuals, the Blu-ray is slightly disappointing. It's technically sound - there's no apparent smoothening of grain, and the encode handles the ever-present darkness with ease - but there's little 'pop', with subdued colours (an aesthetic choice, granted) and surprisingly soft detail. Nevertheless, it seems faithful to the source. The soundtrack is ferocious, with a dynamic range that might be a little too much - the dreams are sonic barrages, while the quieter bits in between sometimes have dialogue that's just too quiet.

Extras
This review disc is the rental version, which lacks the main special features offered in the retail release, those being Maximum Movie Mode and an extended cut of the film. Here you only get four motion comics and a very brief (sub-3-minute) look at the soundtrack.



Summary
Sucker Punch is not a film to watch unprepared, but those who know what to expect (and like the sound of it) may be reasonably entertained. Anyone else probably need not apply.