Watch Sucker Punch

Making the original film debut of director/film writer Zach Snyder, Sucker Punch is best considered a cult favorite, but still enjoyed a moderate success in the worldwide box office. It was nominated for Best Special Effects at the 2011 Scream Awards, a Taurus Award, and was pre-nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Called by Snyder himself "Alice in Wonderland with machine guns," the blurring of the line between reality and fantasy is a central theme to Sucker Punch. The story's main character is a girl nicknamed "Babydoll," who begins the film in a scene depicting an abusive relationship between her, her sister and her widowed stepfather. An altercation between them leads to the murder of her sister, and the story begins when he has her taken to an insane asylum (and subsequently being accused of the crime her stepfather committed). Upon arriving at the asylum, Babydoll notices several objects that she would need to escape one day, and then enters a fantasy world in which the hospital and all of its employees and patients become staff in a female brothel. At some point, as a new addition to the "brothel," Babydoll is tasked with learning how to dance provocatively in order to entertain the customers who may want to see her. When she does this, she enters yet another imaginary world within that which she has already created. Whenever Babydoll dances in the film, the world she enters is that of a violent, over-the-top future fantasy world. She becomes a powerful warrior who fights grotesque and often dauntingly large or powerful enemies along with her fellow women in the brothel/asylum as her teammates. The film switches between both the brothel and the fantasy "action" world as Babydoll and her new friends fight to obtain all the items she took note of before entering her alternate realities. The plan: for all of them to escape. Sucker Punch offers a mind-twisting journey with impressive visual and special effects to differentiate between each of the three "worlds" of Babydoll's point of view. The worlds and characters all mingle with each other, often metaphorically, to convey the plot of the movie. As imagined, this could be confusing to the viewer, and they may miss the point of the film's message. But for those who enjoy some impressive visuals and action films with psychological undertones, and a twist ending that will live up to its name, Sucker Punch will deliver.