Sucker Punch: Blurring the lines

By now, most of the hype around “Sucker Punch” has subsided. The juries lean more towards the negative. But one thing is for sure, regardless of the put-downs, “Sucker Punch” may well be on its way to carve out a cult following for itself like its predecessors that critics never gave a second thought to, reminiscent of a Scarface-like rise. So, what makes “Sucker Punch” stand out yet panned down?
The primary reason behind the movie's over the top theme is of course Zack Snyder. Boasting the likes of “Dawn of the Dead”, “300” and “Watchmen” under his belt, nothing short of gritty, dark and surreal can be expected of the man. On that end, “Sucker Punch” delivers. Emily Browning essays the role of the lead character, Baby Doll. The story starts on a rainy night when viewers are introduced to Baby Doll as she frantically picks the fragments of her shattered life. After the death of her mother, Baby Doll finds herself at the receiving end of her stepfather's indecent advances and abuse. Framed for her own sister's murder, Baby Doll is sent away to a mental asylum, where a secret lobotomy is being planned.
Unable to comprehend her own predicament, she befriends four other inmates whom she convinces to escape with her. Here, the lines between reality and fantasy begin to blur. Baby Doll, unable to deal with the harsh realities of life, immerses herself in a fantasy world, where she meets characters like 'the wise man', fights dragons, samurais and zombies, all in the pursuit of four objects that will grant her and her friends freedom from the asylum. Of course, in her mind, she sees the asylum as something else and shifts between reality and fantasy so frequently that at times even the viewers are confused whether all this is really happening.
This epic action fantasy has some elements of “Shutter Island,” except its much darker and far more provocative, inciting an almost Freudian conception to the proceedings. The four female leads transcend the boundaries of being solely eye-candies, making a statement about female empowerment, all the while being scantily clad.
The dream sequences in the movie are brilliant and surreal, like an abstract holographic painting. The sets are designed to near perfection, add to that a demure, yet incandescent, Browning who immediately owns the screen, and you get a recipe for a great movie. But, as mentioned earlier, the movie is way over the top most of the time. Going back and forth between this world and the realm beyond time and space, repeatedly and at a fast pace, leaves the viewers baffled. And, if “Inception” has taught us anything, unresolved confusion is not necessarily a good thing. In this respect, “Sucker Punch” actually reserves a literal sucker punch on its gate receipts. Critics, as mentioned earlier, have gone to some length to discredit it as Zack Snyder's 'Alice in Wonderland with machine guns', calling “Sucker Punch” a 'beautiful disaster'.
Furthermore, the movie does seem like an overly long video game, than an actual movie. The addition of the seemingly long conquest -- though integral to the movie -- takes off some of the shine, reducing the bold, warrior women to objects of immature desire.
However, regardless of the drawbacks, the movie is visually stunning and a little concentration over a two-hour period can be quite rewarding. If you haven't seen the movie yet, this is the right time, right after the hype has subsided, so it can be enjoyed with an open mind.