Watch the First Six Minutes of Sucker Punch Because the Rest Sucked

Warner Bros. has just released the opening scene to Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch. It's a good thing too. It's the the best six minutes of the movie.

Despite the poor reviews of the film, I made it out to catch this flick this past weekend. The trailer had made the film one of my most anticipated films of 2011 and Zack Snyder`s name only sweetened the deal. His adaptation of 300 was one of the most testosterone filled, satisfying "guy" films in a long time. Watchmen only furthered his pedigree. That was a true filmic experience. How could his first original story possibly go wrong?

I refused to let the negative word of mouth surrounding Sucker Punch deter me from seeing the film and during the first six minutes, I couldn't figure out what all the critics were talking about. It was visceral. The images had such an absorbing flow to them and set to a remix of the Eurythmics 'Sweet Dreams' I thought it was a pretty compelling opening.

Baby Doll wants you to see Sucker Punch. Will you say no?

But the movie is a let down after that. The lead character, Baby Doll (Emily Browning), is emotionally flat. After the initial opening attachment, she does little to compel us to care. About half an hour into the movie, my date turned to me and said, "All this chick has done is clean, cry and almost dance. What kind of hero is she?" Not much.

The structure of the film doesn't help. By the time we get the fantastical action seen in the trailer, we're not just in Baby Doll's imagination. We're in the imagination of her imagination. It feels like nothing is at stake. Despite taking a beating in this fantasy world, Baby Doll doesn't even show a scratch. There's no tension because it hasn't been established that anything can happen to her. And because we invest nothing in what happens to her or her fellow heroines, what should have been the emotional payoff at the end falls flat.

Maybe we just don't 'get' the film. Maybe in fifty years it'll be hailed as a masterpiece, like Blade Runner (probably not). But today this movie sucks. The plot is paper thin. The acting is wooden. The structure leaves little reason to care for the characters, which is a shame because the action scenes look really cool. But there's no real reason to pay attention. I have a feeling this movie will play better on Blu Ray, where it'll be a great opportunity for people to show off their home theater systems. When the best thing you can say about a movie is that it has nice colors and sounds cool, though, you aren't really giving it a compliment.

So take it from me, watch the trailer and the opening six minutes and nothing more. It'll save you the disappointment.