In the "theater of life", the only thing that can bind the true freedom - freedom in all the meanings of the concept - is yourself. You are the sole master of your destiny and you alone pull the threads of your own existence. And the key to the realization of this truth and the key to achieving complete freedom lies in unimaginative imagination that is not subject to taming and obedience. This is the main idea behind the "Sucker Punch" which represents a bright visual metaphor of what our mind can do to cope with the horrors of reality.
The film tells of the young baby daughter who, after her mother's death, was sent to a psychiatric clinic by her evil, inherited father, who accidentally kills her younger sister. Facing the outbursts of the corrupt and evil jailer Blue (Oscar Isaac), as well as the horror of her upcoming lobotomy, Baby Doole discovers her unique ability to dance hypnotically and at the same time retreat to her fantasies. There she meets a mysterious man called The Wise, who reveals that in order to get out of the clinic he has to collect five magical objects. Together with four more girls - Rocket (Jenna Malone), Bloody (Vanessa Hudgens), Amber (Jamie Chung) and Sweetie Pi (Abby Cornish) - Baby Dol is on an incredible journey through many fantastic worlds, each of which hides its dangers. Each of them must decide to risk in the name of their freedom. Honestly, at this stage it is extremely difficult for me to give some assessment of the film, as well as to judge purely subjectively and unprofessively whether I like it. This is one of those occasions when I have to watch the film twice before I form my final opinion, as I break between the elementary dramaturgical basis and its exceptional visual expression. The film starts very loudly. The starting scene and the title release are great. They are not as deep and meaningful as those in my favorite Watchmen, but they are similar in style (every one screams Snyder) and they pay tribute to one or two classic works. Unfortunately, this depth and this feeling is not kept through the rest of the film, and at least dramatically, things are getting worse. Quite strange, "Sucker Punch" is one of the few films built entirely on an original idea, but all the time I'm hunted by the sense of being based on a series of comics, books or television episodes. The reason for this is the structure of the film, which is divided by the different visual style of each of Baby Leo's adventures and girls in their attempts to gather items to help them escape. Each subject has its own specificity, which is reflected in the individual fantasy. Given this structure, I can not help thinking that Snyder's idea would be far more successful in a comic book version. Moreover, in this medium it can be assumed that the dramatic basis is not perfect.
The other option is a video game. Many people will compare the movie with a game and definitely have some sense - the fantastic worlds and frenetic fights are just like the "Playstation" (with each level becoming more and more complex and harder) - but the truth is he is far away closer to the videos than to the games. Music is of great importance. It serves as a peculiar backbone that connects individual moments - and in other Snyder films (like the already mentioned "Watchmen"), it plays an important role, but it is more like Tarantino, as there is a dramatic justification, as through the music (and dance), the main character is transferred to her fantasies. The bad thing is the other analogy with videos - just audio-visual beauties without any particular content. The majority of the characters (not to mention everyone, including Baby Dol) are presented schematically, and we do not learn anything about them or their motivation. So, stepping on the edge of doubt, I can tell you that if you approach the film with expectations for a quality film full of deep images and ideas in the watchmen style, you will definitely be disappointed. I'm not saying he really misses ideas, there are, they are just a little elementary and philosophically referred. But if you go only for the visual feast, you will not regret it. There is something to see. Dragons, giant samurai, mechanized dead Nazis, high-tech robots, orcs, sexy ladies and action tones.