SUCKER PUNCH (PG-13 for thematic material involving plenty of sexuality, profanity, violence, & combat sequences): Aptly titled when aimed at the audience - 110-minutes of attractive visuals but non-stop confusion, & dumb-dumb-dumb material.
Zack Snyder proved himself an inventive director with "300," "Watchmen," & others, but he proved one thing with this abomination: he is not script writer.
Or maybe he is. Give him credit; maybe he's just lowering his hidden talents to a sub-level, cramming it with the kind of Hollywood starlets that look as if they heralded fresh from an expensive bordello, follow the tried & tested device of being fast & loud - and thus hoping for a box office hit.
It didn't work. This waste of film details the fantasies of a heroine called - I kid you not, Baby Doll - who has endured the death of her mother, is brutalized by her stepfather, and then committed to some kind of Grand Guigol nightmare in a mental institution. Little is spent on the skimpy costumes for all the women involved, but what they lack in talent they make up for in tongue-licking, swivel-hipping, vacuous allure.
It's "Pan's Labyrinth" on the lowest level, a promising idea that fails because it arise above a bad screenplay. (Grade: D)
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