Sucker Punch

Let me start by saying I had the pleasure of seeing this movie at the cinemas this week. It is an amazing film. Forget what you've heard that it is just a mastabatory fantasy for 16 year old boys who have one hand on their joysticks and the other on their playstation controllers, because it's actually the opposite.
The tagline for this film is that You Will Be Unprepared and I can confirm I was not prepared for a story with a surprising amount of depth. In fact there are a couple of layers to this story just like the movie itself.
Firstly, there is the direct story layer about a time in America's recent history where the easiest way to deal with unruley young girls was to institutionalize them and if they proved to be more problematic, then a lobotomy was the general 'cure'. Too bad that they were only going through a hormone imbalance.
Our story commences with the death of Baby Doll's (Aussie actress Emily Browning [Violet from Lemony Snicket's...]) mother, her stepfather discovering he'd been left out of the will, gets drunk and kills Baby Doll's younger sister while abusing her. Baby Doll tries to kill him but can't bring herself to do it, so to protect himself, he has her arrested for the death of her sister and then institutionalized. She is to be lobotomized in just five days.
This is where the story transitions to an alternate reality, ala Inception, and you don't know if she has been lobotomised, is this just a dream or have the events actually occurred.  There is only one sympathetic male character, the very Yoda-like Scott Glenn who advises Baby Doll that there is a way to 'Freedom' if she acquires five things, a map, fire, a knife, and a key, but the fifth item is a mystery.  The story is how Baby Doll, along with her other 'inmates' including fellow Australian Abbie Cornish, have to find each item and this is done while Baby Doll dances into the fantasy worlds brought to life through some amazing CGI.  The ending of this movie is completely surprising and satisfactory.
You see, the other level to this story is that it is not about male chauvinism, but in fact about female strength.  All other male characters, want to take advantage, hurt or control the women.  The most powerful message is that all women have the strength inside them to overcome anything (and anyone).  You could even go a step further and take out gender altogether.  Anyone in a position of authority will almost always want to subjugate those perceived to be weaker than themselves.  If the 'weak' apply themselves to solving the problem, anything can be overcome.
Zack Snyder has created a brand new story with more depth than most people have given it credit.
Go into this film with an open mind and you will be rewarded with something astoundingly amazing.
Oh and one more thing, stick around while the credits are playing to be rewarded with a rendition of a Bryan Ferry song, no doubt something that only came about after Zack saw Oscar Isaac's mustache for the first time!
I scored this movie 8/10.