Emily Browning plays Baby Doll, wrongfully imprisoned in a mental institution where a sadistic orderly, Blue Jones (Oscar Isaac), has her scheduled for a lobotomy. As it turns out, this medical facility is also facilitating more than just its patients, so Baby Doll hatches an escape plan involving a mix of fantasy and reality. Aided by four other inmates she has just one week to get away before her scheduled operation.
Ratings:
Richard: *** for visuals, * for everything else = **
Mark: *
Richard Crouse: Mark, the first thing that came to mind after watching Sucker Punch was, “What the heck was that?” The visual sensualist in me loved the look of it, but the rest of me wanted other things. Like a story. Or characters. It made my eyeballs dance, but left the rest of me bored. You?
Mark Breslin: Bored would be an improvement on how I felt. I HATED this thing. It was structured and shot like a video game. Angry Birds has more character development. And the acting? The lead, Emily Browning, had one expression throughout, a doleful countenance that made me think she had a gastrointestinal problem. Can you find anything good to say about this flick, Richard? Besides the “look”?
RC: It’s hard to find much to say about this other than commenting on the look. The soundtrack is interesting and Synder has a way with a camera, just not so much with the story. I also expected more from the action sequences. Unlike Kill Bill, another grrrl power movie with samurai swords, the action scenes here are all basically the same. Tarantino understood the value of the violence and changed it up. Synder doesn’t.
MB: Snyder is to Tarantino as Salieri is to Mozart … I will give Jena Malone credit for making me feel something and it was nice seeing Scott Glenn, even though he’s looking more like a carving board every day. But the cruelty of the movie wore me down, and the idea of a mental institution used as a front for a brothel was too ridiculous even as a fantasy within a fantasy. And what’s with Jon Hamm’s cameo at the end? Huh?
RC: I cannot imagine why Jon Hamm would take this role. It’s one of those parts that the characters talk about a great deal but when they finally show up on screen they only have three or four lines. He could have shot this on his lunch break from Mad Men. I don’t get it. I do get Abbie Cornish however. For one thing she looks like a young Nicole Kidman, and for another she, for me, was the best part of the movie.
MB: The best part of the movie for me was when it ended. By the way, one of the production credits reads “A Cruel and Unusual Production.” ‘Nuff said.
RC: Agreed. High ain’t-it-cool factor, but no heart.
