Maybe at one point trailers were representative of films. Suckerpunchtries to be a psychological thriller under the stealthly, ticket-selling veil of an action movie. Spoilers: It doesn’t really do well on either front. The crutch of the storyline is the interaction between multiple realities, only one of which is real, the rest existing in Baby-doll’s head. Yes, this does sound like Inception, no it doesn’t work out well.

Suckerpunch tells the story of an unnamed and abused orphan dubbed ‘Baby-doll’ (Emily Browning). Having been sent to a mental asylum by her horrible, misogynistic step-father in an effort to swindle away property she is then condemned to lobotomy. Whilst waiting for this most delightful medical procedure Baby-doll is forced to visualise everything in a distorted world where dancing is really, really important. It doesn’t make sense. Baby-doll receives most of her tuition from the cleverly named ‘Wide-man’ (Scott Glenn). The acting is thoroughly unconvincing; with the characters interactions being almost totally devoid of feeling and reality; with the exception of Jon Hamm (Yes, Don Draper). The writing was equally horrible, littered with corny lines with the side characters receiving almost no development or story interaction beyond Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish) who receives prominence later on, and even then it is only minor.

The action sequences were thoroughly uninspiring and just like everything else Zack Snyder does. They were short, and considering that was the film presents itself as – disappointing. The film was also ridiculously non-risqué with PG outfits and nothing at stake because no one dies. The soundtrack was one of the few saving graces of this film, with some classic songs and a number of covers. In summation, the film was bland, the plot not thoroughly thought out and the adverts misleading.

1/5