Sucker Punch

What an odd career Zack Synder has had so far. He started off with his ace remake of Dawn Of The Dead, went a bit OTT with the unintentionally homo-erotic 300, had a decent stab at Watchmen and then surprised everyone by making a cartoon about owls. Now comes Sucker Punch. I never know whether it’s a compliment or not to a director when you can tell who has lensed the film just on the style alone (I don’t believe they would want to be pigeon-holed) but in his latest Synder appears to want to even out-Synder himself. Hugely reliant on special effects, a soundtrack that will make your ears bleed and some stupendous action scenes, this film is Mr Zack all over. What’s it about though? It’s a bit tricky to explain, but when a young girl (Emily Browning) is incorrectly sent to mental asylum she retreats to an alternative universe to help cope with her situation. In this universe, herself (and a collection of other hotties from the asylum) fight a varying number of people and beasties in order to eventually “escape” from the asylum, whilst wearing as short a skirts as possible. Sounds like serious trash, right? Well, basically it is. In effect, this is a teenage boy’s wet dream of a film. Totty in skimpy clothing firing huge guns. However, it’s had quite a number of people up in arms though with accusations of misogyny. Personally, I don’t think this is the case (though I’m not naive enough to think good looking girls in hot clothing won’t help the box office). Check out something like Gamer or The Killer Inside Me for real examples of women getting treated horrifically. In this they wear sexy clothes and get leered on a bit by men. Doesn’t the same thing happen in something like Moulin Rouge? Even without the hoo-ha, this still isn’t all that memorable a film. In fact it’s quite difficult to classify it as a film at all as it mostly resembles a computer game. However what it is (and it certainly doesn’t claim to be anything else) and what it does, it does do well, especially the varied and impressive action sequences. There isn’t much to write home on the acting front though and Browning, despite being the lead, is actually the weakest of the actresses on show. However, Oscar Isaac has some fun as the sleazy “owner” of the girls. The film’s title has confused a few people but Synder himself has said it refers to a twist at the end, hinted at the beginning (and to be fair to him it isn’t bad). Overall then? Blimey.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict

A cerebral film that has a group of scantily glad girls taking on a load of Nazi zombies at one point? Only in the world of Zack Synder. Rating: 6/10.