After the death of her mother, Baby Doll (Emily Browning) is left with her younger sister to live with their evil stepfather (arn't they all?) But when he finds out in their mother's will that she has left all the riches to the daughters, he goes on a violent rampage, killing the young sibling. Baby Doll, enraged with anger, is sent away by her stepfather to live in a mental asylum where in five days she will be given lobotomy in order to not alert the authorities of her stepfather's crime. The asylum is housed with girls from all backgrounds who have all been institutionalised due to problems in their past. It is here that the Russian therapist Dr Vera Gorski (the always excellent Carla Gugino) uses acting therapy in order for the patients to act out their feelings. Baby Doll knows that she needs to escape in order to not undergo the procedure and with the help of Sweat Pea (Abbie Cornish) her sister Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and Amber (Jamie Chung) the stage is set for their escape. But here is where it goes into the new depths. With the help of using this acting method of the good Russian doctor, Baby Doll escapes in her mind and dreams up a new world for the girls. They are now in a brothel where the madam is the doctor, the girls are workers in the club and Baby Doll is the new girl who will help them all escape. But for her to find what she needs to escape, she soon discovers she needs to go one more level in her mind to find what she is looking for. And this is where it gets cool. Imagining many different worlds, including old school wartime, samurais, dragons lairs and robotic future. Here in these worlds she is instructed with the help of Wise Man (Scott Glen) that she will need to find four items with a fifth she needs to discover for herself. But will she find them all before it is too late? I can't tell you that, but this movie does not have an ending you would expect at all.
Zack Snyder has a huge hit on his hands here and I for one have no idea why audiences in America were not lapping this up. It has not really set the box office on fire and to me that is a real shame. This movie is crazy and I strongly recommend seeing it on the biggest cinema screen you can find, or you will not receive the full scope of what the director is imagining. Using the bleak real world and contrasting it with the visual feats of the action scenes make this movie work extremely well. But don't lose where the girls are or you may hurt you head thinking about it. The director, in my opinion, keeps outdoing himself in every film he makes and just keeps getting better and better. He knew exactly what he was doing in this film and it shows. The concepts are crazy, and the good thing about this movie, the action scenes do not outshine the rest of the film.
All I can say is the girls kick-ass in this movie. I have to admit I have my favourite, but you will need to work out yours when you see it (Mine was Rocket ssshhhh don't tell anyone). Emily Browning is fantastic as Baby Doll (go the Aussies) and gives enough emotion and strong attitude to make you want her to succeed. Abbie Cornish (another Aussie) is excellent as Sweat Pea and I have already mentioned how much I loved Jena Malone as Rocket. She rocked. That's all I can say about that. But I also loved Carla Gugino as the good Doctor. She is such a strong woman working with these girls to give them a better world than they have been objected too. But let's not forget the men. I loved wise man. He was in a way the best Charlie to these angles. He was the perfect mix of a companion that these girls needed on their journey. But I haven't even mentioned how evil Mr Blue the head of the asylum/brothel is. Oscar Issac gives the perfect amount of creepy, sleazy, scary villain that you would expect in this piece (even with his creepy moustache). He was excellent as the main person standing in the way of these girls hope for freedom.
What was wrong with this movie you may ask? I don't have a single thing in my mind. It was amazing. I loved the characters. I loved the soundtrack and I absolutely loved the visuals. I was blown away. The only thing that probably bugs me is that who ever cut the trailer needs to be fired. The trailer does not set the film up at all and makes it look like one big giant music video. If I was Zack Synder and Warner Bros. I would fire them. This movie is amazing and due to this dumb ass has not found the success it deserves. Hopefully overseas markets will love it more, or at the least the DVD market. But honestly this is a movie that needs to be seen on the biggest screen to get the best impact that Synder is trying to show. Similarities are going to be made between this and Inception. But I think the similarities end at the mind. They are two different movies and completely different stories. All I can say is I want to rush out and see this again. As I said don't hate me if you don't like it. I did say at the start it is for an acquired audience. But for that audience, you are going to wet your pants excited over it. 4.5/5
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