Sucker Punch

In Sucker Punch, Babydoll (Browning) has been locked away against her will but has not lost her will to survive. Determined to fight for her freedom, she urges four other young girls—the reluctant Sweet Pea (Cornish), the outspoken Rocket (Malone), the street-smart Blondie (Hudgens), and the fiercely loyal Amber (Chung)—to band together and try to escape a terrible fate at the hands of their captors, Blue (Isaac) and Madam Gorski (Gugino), before the mysterious High Roller (Hamm) comes for Babydoll. Led by Babydoll, the girls engage in fantastical warfare against everything from samurais to serpents, with a virtual arsenal at their disposal. Together, they must decide what they are willing to sacrifice in order to stay alive. But with the help of a Wise Man (Glenn), their unbelievable journey—if they succeed—will set them free. (Gary Reber)

The Blu-ray Disc™ Combo contains the theatrical version (01:49:45) and the extended version (02:07:30). Special features include four Sucker Punch Animated Shorts prequel stories (HD 11:24), the featurette Behind The Soundtrack (HD 02:41), up-front previews, BD-Live functionality, and a digital copy of the film.

The 1080p AVC picture is very stylized, to create a surreal world infused with fantasy. This world, at times, is foreboding and darkly cast with gloomy greens, browns, and blacks. Contrast to the gloom and doom are scenes that blossom with richly hued color and fleshtones that appear natural. Contrast is generally well balanced during either characterization. Shadow delineation is, at times, revealing and other times masked in the gloom. Resolution is excellent, with revealing fine detail evident throughout. Textures are richly characterized, as are the human characterizations. Dimensional depth is excellent and set against imaginative production design. The imagery, while extremely varied, is consistently clear without degradation due to artifacts. This is a powerful and unusually stylized and edgy visual experience whose imagery is absolutely engaging and reference quality. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack delivers a sonic punch with sound design elements that perfectly enhance the unusual imagery and action. There is a lot of directionalized sounds and effects that spur around the soundfield, such as Samurai sword-wielding demons, warring weaponry, a dragon, and other effects that move with the on-screen action. The surrounds are active throughout the action sequences but virtually absent during interior institutional scenes, which tend to focus frontal. The music score is largely hip rock and synthesized and sounds intentionally unnatural, if not distorted, relative to an acoustic presentation. Still, the edgy quality perfectly supports the unusual characterizations. The .1 LFE channel often extends to the deeper regions but generally sustains strong bass in the 30 Hz to 40 Hz range. Dialogue is nicely integrated spatially and intelligible throughout. Overall, this is a dynamically holosonic® experience that rocks with intensity. (Gary Reber)