Zack Snyder made a couple of cool movies like the Dawn of the Dead remake, 300, and Watchmen, and so I was pretty excited about seeing his first movie based on his original story. It looked awesome: sexy girls, crazy visuals, over the top action, and highly stylized world. I saw it in the theater. I was never bored watching it, but I was never enthralled by anything either. When it was over, I was indifferent. I believe my initial feeling when I left the theater was “Meh”.
I didn’t like it, but I didn’t hate it. This is the cinematic equivalent of being black out drunk in on a crazy night in Vegas… lots of pretty girls, flashing lights, loud noises, crazy fights, and you have no idea what the fuck is going on. I know there’s a plot. It’s just not a good one and it gets lost in the chaos. The story follows Babydoll (Emily Browning) who gets committed to a mental institution by her evil stepfather. She’s scheduled to be lobotomized (never a good thing), and she escapes into fantasies, which parallel her real-life escape plan. Of course it gets needlessly complicated, and you aren’t sure what’s real and what’s imaginary and you don’t really care either.
This is one of the movies that you have to watch more than once. Not because it’s that good, but because it’s that confusing. It is so convoluted and chaotic that repeat viewings are required to comprehend what’s going on. There are a lot of cool visuals and elaborate sequences. It looks unique, and it blends a few different genres that should clash, but end up meshing well. The problem is that the story sucks. All in all, it is entertaining. But it’s not essential to own or even to watch. People think you’re weird if you’ve never seen Star Wars, but no one will ever bash you if you go your whole life without seeing this flick.
Critically Rated at 9/17
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