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Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung ... see more see more... , Oscar Isaac , Carla Gugino , Jon Hamm , Scott Glenn , Richard Cetrone , Gerard Plunkett , Malcom Scott , Ronald Selmour , A.C. Peterson , Revard Dufresne , Kelora Clingwell , Frederique De Raucourt , Monique Ganderton , Lee Tomaschefski , Eli Snyder , Cainan Wiebe , Danny Bristol , Brad Kelly , Peter Bryant , Patrick Sabongui , John R. Taylor , Chris Nowland , Christine Willes , Gina Garenkooper , Michael D. Adamthwaite , Phillip Mitchell , Ian Tracey , Sean Campbell , Louise Hradsky , Arassay Reyes , Danielle Benton , Caitlin Goguen , Maiko Miyauchi , Juliana Semenova , Paula Giroday , Allie Bertram , Vicky Lambert , Caroline Torti , Chantal Hunt , Carla Catherwood , Stephanie Sy , Kathryn Schellenberg , Geneen Gorgiev , Annie Au , Tia Haraga , Hailley Caulfield , Daniela Dib , Jeff Dimitriou , John Howard , Thomas Fornataro , Antoine Baby Harry Calaway , G! Force , Nii Nortey Engmann , Gary A. Hecker

"Sucker Punch" is an epic action fantasy that takes us into the vivid imagination of a young girl whose dream world provides the ultimate escape from her darker reality. Unrestrained by the boundaries... read more read more... of time and place, she is free to go where her mind takes her, and her incredible adventures blur the lines between what's real and what is imaginary. She has been locked away against her will, but Babydoll (Emily Browning) has not lost her will to survive. Determined to fight for her freedom, she urges four other young girls-the reluctant Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), the outspoken Rocket (Jena Malone), the street-smart Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and the fiercely loyal Amber (Jamie Chung)-to band together and try to escape a terrible fate at the hands of their captors, Blue (Oscar Isaac) and Madam Gorski (Carla Gugino), before the mysterious High Roller (Jon Hamm) comes for Babydoll. Led by Babydoll, the girls engage in fantastical warfare against everything from samurais to serpents, with a virtual arsenal at their disposal. Together, they must decide what they are willing to sacrifice in order to stay alive. But with the help of a Wise Man (Scott Glenn), their unbelievable journey-if they succeed-will set them free.. -- (C) Warner Bros

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197 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 50 min.

Directed by: Zack Snyder

Release Date: March 25, 2011

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DVD Release Date: June 28, 2011

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Flixster Reviews (13,053)

  • jmanard52
    March 25, 2011
    jmanard52
    After reading a handful of reviews in the morning I plopped down into my theater seat with about maybe a dozen other males. Yep the target audience via the trailers but I think after several viewings of this people may think twice about the ridiculously low scores, reviews, ratin... read moregs they are giving this movie.

    So for two hours I was treated or tortured by Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch. First off it is Zack Snyder, If you have seen 300, Watchmen or Legend of the Guardians you know what I mean, cue the slo-mo. Also on the bad, if the idea was to take theater speakers and break them with a classic rock soundtrack on steroids, mission successful. At moments I have to admit I felt like I was watching a two hour music video.

    But I kept watching and while I was expecting a incoherent jumble of a plot I got well a incoherent jumble of apblot that was subtle and nuanced. The reviews you are going to read are going to say this was just a Maxim eye candy fest or some other nonsense about the women being dressed skimpy and that is that.

    That is not it. The movie is about them fighting for their survival. The plot I admit if one doesn)t pay attention is hard to grasp at times but I kept watching for the little bits of this or that, that brought the movie together for me. I feel many other viewers will be overblown by the movies over the top action.

    And it is indeed over the top action at its finest. The action sequences in this movie are some of the best ive seen in a long time. There is no doubt that Snyder can film action. The movie has a very stylized look to it just like 300 and Watchmen. You can tell this is a Snyder film.

    Many reviews will talk about the comic book feel the bad dialogue etc. For Snyder this is his first film based on his own material and it shows. The acting when they talk is not the best, but to me the actors seemed more like chess pieces being moved around the board to the end. I did not really need much talk. The movie did a good job of telling itself to me.

    Sitting here trying to put this into words, if 300 was about good looking men destroying the enemy, well Sucker Punch is all about good looking women laying it all on the line for their survival and kicking ass along the way.
  • MidnightMadwoman
    May 26, 2012
    MidnightMadwoman
    *bang! bang! bang!* Oh god, what the hell went wrong here? This movie suuuucked. Really hard. I found that I am especially wrathful toward movies I thought I would really like, which is what this was supposed to be, damnit! How is it that a movie about a girl who retreats into a... read moren ass-kicking fantasy world to escape the grim reality of her life in the mental hospital be this crummy? Here's what annoyed me: all of the characters were in one-dimensional, cartoonish and in no way endearing, the good guy/bad guy line was drawn really hard according to gender, the biggest action set pieces were unconnected to the plot and so unbelievable that they were barely any fun to watch and the movie is infuriatingly, hypocritically antifeminist. The girls in this film are only allowed to express themselves - define themselves, actually - through thier sexuality. Not even real, healthy sexuality, but through a cartoonish perverted sad male fantasy version. Mental patients become strippers/ prostitutes and there therapy consists of sexualized writhing for an audience. And the sickest little joke of the bunch is that, as important as the dances are to the characters, as much as their movements articulates the cores of thier beings, you never even get to see them onscreen. Ttthbbtthtbthtbpthpp.

    I don't understand how they can make a movie where, in a scene where schoolgirls murder a baby dragon for a gemstone, the grieving and enraged mother dragon is the bad guy. The real story is buried in three layers of self-delusion and illusion, and the ending doesn't even make any sense. We already saw what didn't happen, so what the hell did? I wish I had watched Heavenly Creatures instead of this. Sucker Punch is crummy.
  • itsjustme2004
    February 12, 2012
    itsjustme2004
    Haaaaaaated it!!! Seriously? Was there a point to this movie?
  • paulkoh110
    January 16, 2012
    paulkoh110
    Trash! How can you strip dance to a land of dragons and robots...it just doesn't work like that!! The acting is lame and the only appeal was Snyder's slow mo hd camera shots. I would probably screen this at a loud party where this film is playing in the corner of the room. Its ho... read morenestly garbage and coming from the director of Watchmen and Dawn of The Dead just makes this film more a tragedy thinking about it.
  • mmckellop
    January 7, 2012
    mmckellop
    One of the more uncomfortable feelings a film goer can experience is suddenly becoming aware that you've been thrown into the deep waters of a director's sexual fetishes. The feeling can be lessened if you share a filmmaker's predilections like Michael Bay's fascination with vaca... read morent asexual sexpots or David Lynch's damaged porcelain angels but it is nevertheless odd to realize that what you're seeing isn't a director's vision of the innate heroism of a Peterbilt semi, but rather the intimate details of what gets a complete stranger off. To varying degrees all filmmakers infuse their productions with their own sensibilities but with the auteurs, those filmmakers whose unique style is evident from mere frames of their work, the individual's sexual preferences come through loud and clear. In the case of Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch, those preferences are so disturbing and obvious, they take the viewer completely out of the film.

    The film follows a young woman called Baby Doll (Emily Browning) who is interned at gothic mental asylum by her abusive step-father after accidentally killing her young sister. Once Baby is banished, she begins to imagine her surroundings as brothel/nightclub casino where she is also an unwilling captive and within that fantasy, a superhero tasked with retrieving four objects that will allow her along her fellow sex slaves (Jena Malone, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung) freedom in all realities. She is opposed by the drab mental institution supervisor/dapper pimp Blue (Oscar Issac) and psychiatrist/madame Vera Gorski (Carla Gugino). Sucker Punch's Inception style plot reads more complexly than it plays out. If you've played Silent Hill or American McGee's Alice its structure will be immediately familiar to you. Snyder, who also co-wrote the film, knows his audience well enough to play to their interests as well as his own.

    The broader pop culture referencing in the film, the Brazil sampling samurai gun fight and the Lord of the Rings style medieval castle siege work well. They're modular scenes that mostly eschew the skeevy sexual politics of the rest of the film and showcase Snyder's talent as a filmmaker who can craft compelling images, if not satisfying. The film looks amazing and more expensive than a film with twice its budget. Sucker Punch occasionally falters when Snyder leans too heavily on his music cues or lets a slo-mo shot extend longer than it needs to but the film is never less than engaging. And Snyder makes an excellent case for himself as a musical director in a scene added in the extended cut of the film where Issac and Gugino cover the hell out of Roxy Music's "Love is the Drug." In the realm of Baby Doll's fantasies, the film has an exhilaration and scope that found little competition in 2011's oddly reserved action films. But the film falls apart outside of the hyper-reality of imagination.

    Browning, who is an unstoppable force of nature in her 21st century alt-culture mega mix vision sequences, is a depressed, crushingly unempowered non-entity who finds herself and her fellow dream time Amazons are the victims of causal menacing and sexual abuse. Malone's character is nearly raped early in the film and its inferred that the women of brothel are made to perform fetishistic "scenes" to the amusement of their grotesque Johns before and after servicing them. And the this life of unremitting misery and brutality is supposed to be the escape fantasy of the main character. Now, one could explain away this bleak fantasy as the concoction of a mind warped by the guilt that comes from killing a family member but that's crap. That would be some elaborate and titillating self hatred for an emotionally scarred 20-year-old to have.

    The truth of the matter is that these images of skimpily attired subjugation come wholly from Snyder's pop scarred psyche. This is made undeniable in the director's cut of the film which adds something like 18 minutes to the film's running time and little to its substance save for an extended ending for Baby Doll. In the scene, Baby finally encounters the High Roller (Jon Hamm), a John of great influence and wealth who's come to Blue's casino to claim her virginity, a corollary to the surgeon who's coming to asylum to lobotomize her. But when the fateful moment comes, Baby Doll, beaten and emotionally broken by the hilarious supporting character slaughterhouse that is the beginning of the third act, is carefully laid out in front of the suprisingly handsome and gentle John. It turns out the well heeled Roller doesn't want to take Baby by force, he wants her to willingly submit to his advances after which he will "free" her. Amazingly, she consents, giving into the handsome stranger in a way that reads as more of a final act of victimization rather than "total victory" that the film claims it is. Snyder takes pains to ensure that the horror of this visual metaphor isn't lost on anyone. I can see why this scene was deleted from the theatrical cut of the film. The monstrous implications of it make it undeniable what Snyder's intentions are; to use and abuse beautiful women until their completely corrupted and broken which is when they can be disposed of as cavalierly as possible.

    Sucker Punch is interesting film and a successful one in that it's designed to excite and titillate those in the 18-34 demographic who have an abiding love for cult cinema, anime and video games but it's a failure as a female action film in that it objectifies and destroys its heroine, who is ultimately a failure with a glee and precision that crosses over into the obscene. Snyder portrays women in a way that at first seems empowering but on closer examination betrays a deep misogyny. In Snyder's worldview women can be powerful and actively sexual but only after their power is forcefully taken from them and all the impressive CGI and narrative shell games in the world can't hide that kernel of contempt.
  • Deano78
    December 20, 2011
    Deano78
    A good all out OTT comic book action blaster. The visual style and SFX are incredibly good, during the surreal "dances". By creating a fantasy world to set out the aims of their objectives to break out of a brutal orphanage, a group of girls become a deadly team taking on anyone ... read moreand everyone to complete their goal. While the main story might be fairly plain, the action scenes and fantasy dream world are very entertaining. Well worth checking out!
  • jamers2011
    December 13, 2011
    jamers2011
    Surprisingly awesome! I originally had no desire to see this film, but I'm glad I did. Stunning action sequences, beautiful cinematography, perfect soundtrack....Sucker Punch is the most fun I have had at the theater in a while.

    I loved the concept. The reality vs. action scenes... read more were unique and kept me interested the whole time. The cinematography was absolutely stunning; it's definitely one of the best things about the film. The action/fighting scenes were unbelievable! The first major action sequence is as thrilling as the average movie climax. Just when you think the action can't get any more intense, the next scene arrives and delivers again. The thing I liked about the action was that none of the scenes were alike. So many films contain battle sequences that are basically identical, but Sucker Punch contains multiple scenes, all intense for different reasons.

    Overall, the acting is only okay, as I expected, but there were a few performances that really surprised me. Jena Malone gives a great great performance as Rocket. She steals every scene she's in...too bad she had very little substance to work with. Abbie Cornish also gives a good performance. In the beginning I wasn't impressed, but towards the second half of the film she really delivers. Oscar Isaac though gives the best performance as the villian, Blue.

    I completely disagree with the critics on this one, I'm not quite sure what they were looking for when they were watching this. This film is recieving alot of criticism that it doesn't deserve. Personally, I found the film to be intriging, intense, and completely original. I loved it! Check this film out, I recommend it to everyone.
  • SirPant
    October 31, 2011
    SirPant
    sucker punch
    n
    1. a sudden surprise punch, esp from behind
    2. a sudden unexpected defeat or setback

    Well, Sucker Punch the film was certainly a surprise. I didn't really know what to expect, as I had no idea what the story was about, only that a group of girls shoot stuf... read moref up and kick bottom. It was much better than that though, and much better then I'd heard it was as I've heard nothing but bad things about it. It was quite ambitious of Zack Snyder, a director who I'm warming to quite a lot, he did really well but didn't quite tick all the boxes. I liked the story, the escape into one world and then into another but it also felt a bit cheap, what with all the scantily clad girls running about amid the undertones of sexual abuse. That didn't sit too well for me even though it did feel like a modern exploitation film, although I'm not sure if that was its intention. I just wish Snyder would concentrate on his adult audience a little more and his 13 year old boy audience a little less. I was still pretty impressed and entertained, it just could have been a whole lot better considering the original idea.
  • theunknownhobo
    October 11, 2011
    theunknownhobo
    I suppose this is going to be another one of the those movies that very few people liked that I absolutely loved, and there seem to be more and more of those kind of movies kicking out on my screen lately. I thought the acting was good, the dialogue haunting and the rest of the m... read moreovie, well then there is the rest of the movie. Some of the best visual displays of cinematic glory I can recall in recent years, a killer soundtrack, deep, deep rooted imagination and that most sumptuous of magnets to keep your eyes glued to the screen and your ears pricked and ready - utter confusion. Whatever you want to say about Sucker Punch, you cannot say its ever been done before. I value originality and imagination above most other components of a movie like this and Sucker Punch DEFINES originality.
  • tolkienfan101
    September 27, 2011
    tolkienfan101
    Zack Snyder has hit some great marks with films like the Dawn of the Dead remake and Watchmen. His latest major effects-heavy film Sucker Punch is what I would define as visually stunning, creatively enthralling, enjoyably clichéd and lacking a story to flesh out its bare-bones p... read morelotline. The effects are just outstanding, and something far outstretching what I had expected (and I had expected a lot in the first place, having gone to see it in IMAX). The imagination behind this film is apparent in every frame of action to its genuinely creepy atmosphere. The soundtrack and original score are fantastic, supplying every scene with the music or ambience needed to achieve the desired mood. However, these positive notes are somewhat halted by generally cliché acting and the bare screenplay. As opposed to Antione Fuqua's film Brooklyn's Finest, where the great acting and great directing are enough to hold the film, but it doesn't go far enough, Sucker Punch has great cinematography, very imaginative direction, but the dialogue and acting were not enough to supply me with a completely fulfilling film. Oscar Isaac (Blue), Jena Malone (Rocket) and Carla Gugino (Madam Gorski) were actually very competent actors and periodically throughout the film gave some really great scene performances. And even though Scott Glenn's character Wiseman is enjoyable in a comically "shaman-esque" sort of way, the acting by the majority of the cast was just too flat to be believable. This in due to two things, the screenplay and the choice of actresses, which I believe were more the pursuit of beautiful women than talented actresses. They weren't horrible, but they weren't anything special either. The screenplay was bare. Meaning, it was a run-of-the-mill action "fight for freedom" action film put together in a bizarre and creative fashion, but that is all the screenplay boiled down to be, there wasn't much in the way of character development (vast or subtle) and the story really doesn't move beyond the stasis and as the film ends at another opposing stasis, there wasn't enough given in the film to really execute that shift. A bare bones plot with no elaborated story to flesh out the characters or the world in which the film takes place. I left the theater entertained, greatly impressed by the visuals and the concept, but overall the film met my expectations.

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Critic Reviews

Andrea Gronvall
December 6, 2011
Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader

Gun-toting hotties combat assorted villains and their robot henchmen in this tawdry, repellent action fantasy. Full Review

William Goss
June 29, 2011
William Goss, Film.com

Snyder likes to think that his Russian nesting doll of a concept is enough to excuse its hollow center. Full Review

Bruce Diones
April 11, 2011
Bruce Diones, New Yorker

The movie spins out of control, until it collapses in a heap, senseless. Full Review

James Berardinelli
March 27, 2011
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

This movie isn't bad in the way some incompetently made movies are bad; this is bad because there's much skill evident in a pointless endeavor. Full Review

Liam Lacey
March 25, 2011
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

A series of extravagant computer-generated adventure scenarios linked by grim mental hospital plot, Sucker Punch represents a particularly ambitious exercise in tedium. Full Review

Mark Jenkins
March 25, 2011
Mark Jenkins, Washington Post

Director Zack Snyder and his production crew clearly had great fun envisioning this swords-and-corsets fantasy. Few others are likely to approach their level of enjoyment. Full Review

Tom Charity
March 25, 2011
Tom Charity, CNN.com

The suckers here are the poor mugs who leave their dollars at the door. And for what? A seedy, desaturated, overstimulated simulation of a real movie. Schlock treatment for comatose gamers, and a bomb... Full Review

Richard Corliss
March 25, 2011
Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine

The movie is like an arrested adolescent's Google search run amok. Full Review

Tom Long
March 25, 2011
Tom Long, Detroit News

If the goal was sensory overload and audience stupefaction, he has succeeded indeed. Snyder apparently is offering lobotomies to all. Step right up. Full Review

Glenn Kenny
March 25, 2011
Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies

So thoroughly labored, and panders so relentlessly to adolescent attitudes and fantasies, and is so thoroughly and stridently humorless, that it kind of sucks out your soul while you're watching it. Full Review

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    • Blue: Did you lose your fight,huh?
    • Babydoll: No, I just found it.
    • Sweet Pea: This can't be. We did everything right.
    • Babydoll: A map, a fire, a knife, a key, one thing more, one thing more. It's me.
    • Sweet Pea: She wasn't impressed! All that gyrating and moaning... the dance should be more than just titillation, mine's personal it says who I am. What the heck does yours say?
    • Babydoll: It says I'm gonna escape from here and I'm gonna be free.
    • Sweet Pea: Well, send me a postcard from paradise.
    • Rocket: Everybody gets a dance, a routine. We practice it, we practice it, we practice it and the men come and watch us perform and if they like what they see, Well that's why we dance.
    • Wise Man: If you don't stand for something. You'll fall for anything.
    • Sweet Pea: Who honors those we love for the very life we live. Who sends monsters to kill us and at the same time sings that we'll ever die. Who teaches us what's real and how to laugh at lies. Who decides why we live and what we'll die to defend. Who chains us and who holds the key that can set us free it's you. You have all the weapons you need. Now fight.
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