Level 1: Zack Snyder obviously plays a lot of videogames.
From the glowing eyes of Killzone 2’s Helghasts to the stiletto-heeled action of Bayonetta, the detritus of past gaming worlds litters Sucker Punch.
It’s a visually explosive, deliriously hormonal ode to the delights of twiddling your joystick. Think Maxim meets Edge magazine.
Level 2: Detractors will tell you that Punch is a mash-up so over-mashed it’s virtually pureed.
It doesn’t exactly endear itself to being taken seriously: lingerie catalogue lovelies lollop about dreary brothels and grubby loony bins; pouting jailbait heroine Baby Doll (Emily Browning) dreams up escape fantasies like she’s just spine-jacked into an eXistenZ fleshpod.
At a time when games are maturing, Snyder drags it back to the pubescent ghetto. (Wet) dreams are made of this...
Level 3: But at least he’s got stones. Big, eff-off boulders, in fact. Sucker Punch’s audacious music-video visuals and thunderous set-pieces involving clockwork German trench fighters and Middle-earth dragons are stunners.
Boss fight: Then there’s the theme, a dissection of videogames as adolescent empowerment fantasies that’s far smarter than any blockbuster B-movie featuring chicks in crop tops deserves.
It’s no Inception, but neither is it that friggin’ owl flick.
Bonus round: Blu-ray 1-ups DVD with extra mayhem plus Picture-in- Picture intel.
