Suckered Into Sucker Punch (2011)

Warner Bros.

I could sum up the plot simply that it’s all in the mind of a teenage girl; too bad it couldn’t have stayed there. This girl nicknamed “Baby Doll” is falsely accused of a murder and sent to an institution. That’s where she enters a fantasy world, which then goes even deeper into more “fantasies” of Baby Doll and her pals using shotguns and samurai swords to battle armies of goons.

The special effects are obviously the centerpiece of the film since a majority of it takes place in the action-packed fantasies. The girls fly around while bullets whiz past but everything just feels more like a video game than a movie, especially since they have a mission in each “fantasy” to retrieve a secret object. The best looking characters are an army of Nazi stormtroopers as they turn to dust when killed. If you’ve seen Director Zack Snyder’s other films (Watchmen and 300), then you know you should expect a lot of slow-motion stylized violence.

I’m calling it a dud. Its presented as female-empowerment with girls that kick butt but its really just a disguise for guys that have a thing for young women in schoolgirl outfits. Anime like Sailor Moon doesn’t have real flesh- so now they give you Sucker Punch to live out your fantasy of what’s supposed to be a “girl’s fantasy.”