Manny The Movie Guy /

Director Zack Snyder has taken us into his stylized Battle of Thermopylae in the hit "300," and subverted the notion of superheroes in "Watchmen." Now, the filmmaker is asking us to open our minds for his epic action opus, "Sucker Punch," a fantasy within a fantasy film that packs a mean wallop.

The film depends highly on Snyder’s flamboyant visual flair. The one-time music video and commercial director knows how to tell stories through emblazoned images. Indeed, "Sucker Punch" is part music video and part videogame that is one-hundred percent entertaining.

Music plays a major part in the movie. Babydoll’s (Emily Browning) psyche and fantasy are told through songs. The opening montage introducing the character features Browning singing "Sweet Dreams" by the Eurythmics as we see haunting images of Babydoll and her sister and their abusive stepfather (Gerard Plunkett).

The story of Babydoll (Emily Browning) is at the heart of the movie. She has been locked away in a mental institution against her will. In order to fight for her freedom, she enlists four other girls.

There’s the mother hen Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), the precarious Rocket (Jena Malone), the street-smart Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), and the tough-as-nails Amber (Jamie Chung). They must band together to escape their captors, Blue (Oscar Isaac) and Madam Gorski (Carla Gugino).

As you can expect in an ambitious ensemble fantasy film like "Sucker Punch," there’s not a whole lot of character development. Yet it works! Majority of it is due to the chemistry of the main cast, and the expansive worlds that Snyder has built from his imagination.

I also liked that Snyder and co-writer Steve Shibuya succeeded in giving equal care to both the real and fantasy worlds. The real world consists of a foreboding Vermont mental institution in the 1960s, while Babydoll’s fantasies take her and her cohorts into otherworldly places.

Inside one of her fantasy worlds, Babydoll meets her guide, the Wise Man played by Scott Glenn. He tells her that in order to fight their enemies, ranging from armies of the undead to dragons to cyborgs, they must gather a map, fire, a knife, a key, and a mysterious fifth item.

That mysterious fifth item is wholly predictable if you're familiar with this genre. The plot is really simple that Snyder and company did not need to explain each and every task. But "Sucker Punch" has a good payoff and everything comes full circle in the end.

Snyder used to describe "Sucker Punch" as "'Alice in Wonderland' with machine guns." While that phrase is still partially true, the movie also pays homage to "The Wizard of Oz," "The Matrix," and "Inception." Plus Babydoll and company do not only possess machine guns, they also carry an array of weapons.

The intricacy of the production is also admirable. Each five young rebel has their matching weapon. One of which is Babydoll’s samurai sword that has the entire storyline of the film engraved on the blade.

The cast did commendable jobs in their underdeveloped roles with the exception of Jon Hamm’s thankless highroller/doctor character. He was only on-screen for a few minutes and he barely registered. In contrast, Glenn inhabits his Wise Man role to perfection. His caliber of acting truly helped the movie.

"Sucker Punch" even tries to appease even the purist of feminists. Third wave feminists subscribe to the girl power movement which presupposes that girls can use their femininity in order to survive in the masculine world. Our heroines in the film employ their charms to fulfill their mission.

I am recommending "Sucker Punch" for its pure, visceral energy. It’s an escapist movie that triumphantly blends great visuals and memorable pop songs. Open your mind, jump into the rabbit hole, and enter Snyder’s theater of the absurd.