Hit or Miss | Sucker Punch

Hit or Miss

Reviews of the latest movies, plays, concerts and performances in and around town

The Movie

Sucker Punch, IMAX

The Players

Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Jamie Chung, Carla Gugino, Oscar Isaac, John Hamm, Scott Glen, Richard Cetrone, Gerard Plunkett and a lot of other actors/actresses playing an array of interesting roles like Lobotomy Nurse, Tommy Soldier and Bitter Clipboard Nurse.

What’s Going On?

As Babydoll, Emily Browning plays a young woman faced with a series of unfortunate events that land her in a mental institution. With her wicked stepfather and a greedy insider played by Richard Cetrone conspiring to keep her in there for good, Babydoll plans an intriguing escape plan along with Sweet Pea, Rocket, Amber and Blondie — four other unfortunate wards.

It’s Like This

During the first 15 to 20 minutes of the movie, director Zack Snyder delivered a masterpiece when it comes to movie-going experiences. The combination of cinematography, the music and lighting — not a word of dialogue — immediately sucked you into the plot (No pun intended. Really. That just came out). With that intro alone, Snyder gives movie-goers something quite original. What follows is a movie packed with action as Babydoll copes with reality by escaping into a fantastical world where she and her girl-team kick the butts of the bad guys in the form of giants, aliens, zombie soldiers and fire-breathing dragons.

See it? Or Skip It?

OK. This is a loaded question. If you’re a male — from teenage years on up — and you’re into the action hero/videogame stuff, there’s no doubt you should check it out. When I went to the Hamilton 16 IMAX in Noblesville, the crowd definitely was dominated by young men. I’m guessing about 75 percent. And the teen boys in my group came out uttering words like “awesome” in breathless tones. While the movie went over OK with the gals, there was plenty of debate about the portrayal of women as victims. And, even though the characters were heroines in the fantasy sequences, they were all dolled up with heavy makeup, sexy black clothing, high-heeled boots and sucking lollipops while firing away at the enemy. (Boy stuff). There also was plenty of debate over the blurring of the lines between reality and fantasy. Overall, Sucker Punch is a psychedelic cinematic adventure — with incredible songs like Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit (“go ask Alice”) — that make it worth the journey to the big screen.

by Shari Scales Finnell