Sucker Punch - Blu-Ray

Film: After a commercially rather disappointing attempt to bring his visual aesthetic to a children's film with the 3D animated The Legend of the Watchmen, 300 and Watchmen director Zack Snyder now turns his attention back to a slightly older audience with Sucker Punch. The result is a visually stunning fantasy action epic that offers so much fodder for the eyes that there's sadly little left for the brain.

Young Babydoll (Emily Browning) is committed to a mental institution by her violent stepfather after the death of her mother. Trapped in a cruel reality, babydoll tries to break out of her despair with the help of her imagination. In her imagination, the asylum becomes a nightclub where she, along with the plucky Rocket (Jena Malone), her skeptical sister Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), the cunning Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), and the daring Amber (Jamie Chung), are forced by their guardian Blue (Oscar Isaac) to dance for the male patrons and be of service to them in horizontal ways as well. But Babydoll's dancing skills have a very special effect: while the men fall into a kind of trance, mesmerized by her movements, she manages to drift off into another reality where, with the help of a wise man (Scott Glenn) and the other girls, she is able to gather the tools that could help them Allen their way to freedom. But the closer they get to their goal, the more dangerous the mission becomes. Especially since, after all, this is all in Babydoll's imagination - or maybe in reality?

Like Inception most recently, the action in Sucker Punch takes place on different planes of the imagination. But unlike Christopher Nolan's blockbuster, Snyder's film can't necessarily be described as intellect-stimulating head cinema. Here, there is no need to question things closely or even to try to understand them logically. Rather, the viewer should do exactly what the doctors want to do with Babydoll: simply turn off the brain. Because the action-fantasy film doesn't stand up to even the slightest questioning of logic. And that might result in Sucker Punch leaving the impression that you've just been allowed/had to experience the fetish fantasies of a filmmaker stuck in puberty. But that negative impression doesn't really do the film justice.

Whoever appreciates Snyder's very special visual aesthetics will again be spoiled to the best in Sucker Punch. Visually, the fantasy flick is beyond reproach. Snyder again uses deliberately exaggerated, artificial-looking special effects and slow-motion action sequences to entertain the viewer in the best possible way. And he seems to want to put on screen with all his might everything that fascinates him: there are zombie soldiers, dragons, robots, explosions, airships and cities on distant planets. And then, of course, there are the heroines, not exactly ugly, at least in the eye of the male viewer, who fight for their right to freedom and against male oppression in the skimpiest of outfits.

influences from manga, video games, and fantasy films blend here into a whole that doesn't always seem homogeneous, but is held together by Snyder's obvious passion for the project and the engaging mix of mesmerizing imagery and a soundtrack that's at least partly great. Sucker Punch is a project that Snyder clearly shot primarily for himself. He contributed the idea for the story as well as a large portion of the script. He also served as an executive producer in addition to his directing duties, which allowed him to bring as much of his original vision to the screen as possible. The passion is definitely evident in the film, but not only in a positive way.

because what to some is the picture-perfect (wet) dream of every nerd, to others might seem like a mindless slog of material by an extreme narcissist. No matter how you slice it, Sucker Punch can neither be lightly damned nor unconcernedly praised. For as great as the action is staged, as worth seeing as the special effects and Snyder's typical visual language (which many critics and moviegoers have been bothered by since 300) combine, dramaturgically the whole thing can only convince to a limited extent. The dialogues are inconsequential and the characters hardly fleshed out. Lead actress Emily Browning definitely expresses Babydoll's desperation in her face, but unfortunately this one facial expression remains throughout the film. Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical) and Jamie Chung (Beautiful to Death) are nothing more than pretty staffage. And the otherwise always convincing Carla Gugino (Sin City, Watchmen) has to give her one-dimensional character a terribly artificial accent as well. Only Abbie Cornish (Candy - Journey of the Angels, A Good Year) is allowed to show something like acting quality, but this threatens to get completely lost in the rush of images.

My personal tip: don't expect highbrow cinema. Sit back in your armchair and let the force of the images take effect on you without thinking much about the story and its logic. If you liked Snyder's previous films, you'll enjoy Sucker Punch and get 109 minutes (or 127 minutes) of what the Americans like to call eye candy. But if you just can't help thinking about what's happening on screen, this Sucker Punch (which roughly translates as unexpected punch) might completely knock you down intellectually!

The Extended Cut: A full 17 minutes more of footage is on offer in the longer film version, which thankfully also comes in a German dubbed version on the second Blu-ray. In addition to a re-inserted musical number and several extended action sequences, which also includes an entertaining orc battle, especially the character of the mysterious High Roller (Jon Hamm) appears in the longer version in a slightly different light, as here scenes with explicit sexual undertones, which were removed for the theatrical version, have been re-inserted. This gives the ending in particular a new intensity and also a certain logic, which is very good for the film overall. If you already didn't like the theatrical version, you won't really like the longer version either. But those who enjoyed the shorter version will definitely find this extended cut to be a definite step up.

Picture + Sound: Technically, the Blu-ray is on a very high level. The picture has a very artificial feel to it from a color standpoint, though this is intentional. Due to the high level of detail in the overall very clean picture, some of the computer effects become less effective than has been the case in the cinema, but overall the Blu-Ray offers a very high viewing pleasure. The same goes for the sound, which is especially in the numerous action sequences thanks to very well-mixed surround effects properly crackling. Very good! (Note: Some buyers have complained about crackling noises in the extended cut. Vendor Warner plans to look into the matter and possibly offer replacements. As of Aug. 2011)

Extras: In terms of bonus material, the double disc does disappoint a bit. On the first disc, on which the theatrical version can be seen, there are only some short animated prequel stories (altogether approx. 11 min.) and a feature about the soundtrack (approx. 2 min.) to see. On the second disc you can watch the extended cut in maximum movie mode. Here director Zack Snyder appears again and again, talks about the shooting or shows concept drawings or behind-the-scenes material. There are always some interesting things to see here, but Making of material that can be viewed independently of the film would have been a bit better.

Conclusion: Sucker Punch is not an intellectual tour de force, but it is a feast for the eyes. At the content and the production, the spirits divide, but who had fun at the fantasy actioner in the cinema, comes on the Blu-Ray fully at his expense. Because here the film presents itself in a 17 minutes longer and much better version in very good technical implementation. Only the bonus material of this double disc is not convincing. But the bottom line is still a: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp