Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch is a movie that really gives nothing away from it's title. But then, what else do you call a film that treats you to clockwork Nazi zombies, dragons and bomb-laden trains full of robot guards?

Simplified, Sucker Punch shows a girl's escape to a fantasy world, when the real-world becomes too traumatic to bear any longer. Truth be told, it takes most of the film to let you understand that, as the whole thing twists along as a proper head-fuck.

Acting wise, it's a relatively mixed bag. There are some familiar faces that I really wouldn't have expected to find in a place like this, but the film relies more heavily on some astonishingly slick visuals than the actual actors to maintain any kind of engagement. To be fair, they do a stunning job with the effects, with transitions into fantasy worlds being flawlessly executed single-shots, and the sequences themselves about as luscious as they can be.

Is it just me, or does this look suspiciously like the girls have just landed in a burning Hogwarts?

Reviews elsewhere have been pretty negative for Sucker Punch, and I can see why. But for me, there's enough else going on that can more than make up for the shortcomings. The story is really unusual (a bonus in modern day film-making), but the ultimate twist (or sucker punch) just makes it so worthwhile to watch at least once.