Starring: Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Carla Gugino and Scott Glenn
Category: Action-Fantasy
Update: I decided to split this review into two because I still get asked about what this movie is about. This is the review of the movie itself while the explanation of the movie is here.
When the movie was about to end, I thought that is was an exciting action movie driven by this hard-to-follow story of a girl's fantasy of escaping from an asylum. I didn't think much about it even with the kicker at the end. It was after a few days later when I watched it again then I realized what the story structure was. It was different and imaginative but ultimately it's downfall. People who saw it didn't get it. I didn't the first time but looking back, the directors must have thought it was literal as it was right there in front of us. We just got distracted with all the visual candy.
Basically, it's the story of a young woman who was put in an asylum by her father and her attempt to escape. Her mother had died and left everything to her and her younger sister. The father, who seemed to have been molesting her for some time, decides to take his rage out on the younger sister. The young woman got hold of a gun and in the attempt to shoot her father, accidentally shoots her younger sister. His father puts her in the asylum to shut her up and pays off the head orderly to have her lobotomized so that she can't tell her side of the story. Don't worry I haven't given much away. All the above happens in the first 5 minutes.
The remainder of the movie is a bit more messier. The movie takes a sudden left turn and suddenly everybody is not whom they were a few minutes ago. We never know her real name but young woman is called Baby-doll for the rest of the movie. She is now in a brothel where she discovers that she enters another dream world when she begins to dance. In this world, she is given a list of items needed to escape and goes about collecting these items with her new friends. This is where it got really confusing. In the dream sequences, she goes about looking for the items and gets them. At the end of the dream sequences, she gets the items from the dream for 'real'.
If you just watched this movie and turned off your brain and focused on the actions sequence, you would have walked away with a good action movie. Each sequence is a sight to behold and has themes influencing it, ranging from Manga, to Fantasy (complete with Lords of the Rings-like orcs), to Steam-punk to Futuristic / Sci-Fi, all mashed together. For fans, it was really interesting to spot which things were influenced by what genre. Very lush and detailed, a lot of thought went into the design and look. So much so that no one would stop to question why is there a World War II bomber in a world of dragons and orcs. There is a good book on the art of the movie
available.
The movie is also about the other girls in the asylum / brothel and their motivation for escape. Central to this is the relationship of Rocket and SweetPea who are sisters. Rocket has a dream of escaping while SweetPea, although older, has basically accepted her fate and looks out for here sister. The other girls don't make much of a dramatic impact although this is because they don't have enough screen time and not because of poor acting. Overall it was standard Hollywood action movie acting, with the action speaking more than the words. It is hard for me to recommend the movie but what I can say is either watch it for the actions sequences alone or watch it twice
.
Read on if you have watched it or don't care about spoilers because I am going to explain what the story of the movie really is. Try to follow my explanation.
Category: Action-Fantasy
Update: I decided to split this review into two because I still get asked about what this movie is about. This is the review of the movie itself while the explanation of the movie is here.
When the movie was about to end, I thought that is was an exciting action movie driven by this hard-to-follow story of a girl's fantasy of escaping from an asylum. I didn't think much about it even with the kicker at the end. It was after a few days later when I watched it again then I realized what the story structure was. It was different and imaginative but ultimately it's downfall. People who saw it didn't get it. I didn't the first time but looking back, the directors must have thought it was literal as it was right there in front of us. We just got distracted with all the visual candy.
Basically, it's the story of a young woman who was put in an asylum by her father and her attempt to escape. Her mother had died and left everything to her and her younger sister. The father, who seemed to have been molesting her for some time, decides to take his rage out on the younger sister. The young woman got hold of a gun and in the attempt to shoot her father, accidentally shoots her younger sister. His father puts her in the asylum to shut her up and pays off the head orderly to have her lobotomized so that she can't tell her side of the story. Don't worry I haven't given much away. All the above happens in the first 5 minutes.
If you just watched this movie and turned off your brain and focused on the actions sequence, you would have walked away with a good action movie. Each sequence is a sight to behold and has themes influencing it, ranging from Manga, to Fantasy (complete with Lords of the Rings-like orcs), to Steam-punk to Futuristic / Sci-Fi, all mashed together. For fans, it was really interesting to spot which things were influenced by what genre. Very lush and detailed, a lot of thought went into the design and look. So much so that no one would stop to question why is there a World War II bomber in a world of dragons and orcs. There is a good book on the art of the movie
available.The movie is also about the other girls in the asylum / brothel and their motivation for escape. Central to this is the relationship of Rocket and SweetPea who are sisters. Rocket has a dream of escaping while SweetPea, although older, has basically accepted her fate and looks out for here sister. The other girls don't make much of a dramatic impact although this is because they don't have enough screen time and not because of poor acting. Overall it was standard Hollywood action movie acting, with the action speaking more than the words. It is hard for me to recommend the movie but what I can say is either watch it for the actions sequences alone or watch it twice
.Read on if you have watched it or don't care about spoilers because I am going to explain what the story of the movie really is. Try to follow my explanation.
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