"Sucker Punch"

    Lately, going to the movies has been a little difficult for me. I work mornings & early evenings at an organic restaurant by the name of Nana. Since my return from my amazing Bahamas vacation, the business at the restaurant has maintained a busy and steady pace. As a direct result, my hours there had increased to the point where seeing and accurately criticizing a film would have been impractical (not that I'm complaining). The week following my return from the Bahamas included filming for Food Network's Diners, Drives, & Dives (DDD) with television celebrity Chef Guy Fieri. While this will inevitably do wonders for business at the restaurant, I deeply disagree with our restaurant being included on the that particular show. Nana, is neither a diner, a drive, or a dive and I slightly resent having our fine dining establishment included on a show that highlights places like Chicago's White Palace Grill... Nevertheless, we filmed what should be a great segment to a future episode and plowed directly onto Localicious (an exclusive party featuring Chicago Restaurants that buy and feature locally grown organic produce) and Chicago Chef's Week (a week in which prix fixe menus are available at select restaurants with seasonal menus). Needless to say, we were swamped and I was exhausted for 2 consecutive weeks.
    Now getting to the most important matter, my synopsis of "Sucker Punch".

    "Sucker Punch" is a PG-13 rated action/adventure/fantasy/drama or epic fantasy from the mind of Zack Snyder. The film follows a young girl by the name of Baby Doll (Emily Browning) who is institutionalized by her abusive stepfather after the death of her mother. Once imprisoned, we are plunged into a fantastic realm of sex and heroism as she struggles to cope with her harsh reality, and the decisions she must make in order to obtain her freedom. Along the way, we are introduced to cast of characters that are menacing, memorable, and beautifully reticent.
    Make no mistake, while "Sucker Punch" seems to be aimed at teenage action fan-boys, this film manages to stir up enough emotional content to dissuade those seeking only visual titillation. The concepts driven hardest by the film are tough life questions that many of us ponder, but are rarely afforded the chance to actualize. What will it take to survive? Am I strong enough to persevere this? How far will you go to save the life of someone you hardly know? The movie poses these questions and more, and does very little to actually answer them. Through a series of journeys through Baby Doll's imagination we are exposed to myriad of environments that act as pop culture references. "Black Swan", "Kill Bill", "Inception", "Lord of the Rings" (or "The Hobbit"), "Repo: The Genetic Opera", and many more can be seen within the 109 minutes that "Sucker Punch" is.
    It can be said that the overall arching theme of many films released over the last year has been a woman's fight for survival (see "Black Swan" and "Winter's Bone"). Emily Browning's Baby Doll, fights for her life in this visually fantastic adventure that crosses the lines of three separate realms of reality. A round of applause for Zack Snyder who also co-wrote the film. Could it have been better? Most certainly. But this is not a film that was meant to answer questions. It is only a tool with which one should use to inspire conversation and provoke thought.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (maximum of 5)