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Reel Deal: "Sucker Punch" (2011)

Considering both casts of Zack Snyder’s two hit films, “300” and “Watchmen,” you’ll notice a grand total of four females, three of which have negligible supporting roles. Even though Silk Spectre II (Malin Ackerman) has her moments in “Watchmen,” we have yet to see a woman occupy Snyder’s visually brilliant universe kicking some major ass. But in his new project, “Sucker Punch,” we’ll see, not one, but FIVE dangerous heroines.

No, “Sucker Punch” is not a female boxing movie. Snyder’s film, now set to be released in March 2011, centers in on a young girl in an insane asylum who will soon be lobotomized. After first describing the film’s concept with “Alice in Wonderland with machine guns,” Snyder released a more detailed synopsis in February 2009, stating, “"Set in the '50s, it tells the story of Baby Doll (Browning), who is trying to hide from the pain caused by her evil stepfather and lobotomy. She ends up in mental institution and while there she starts to imagine alternative reality. She plans to escape from that imaginary world but to do that she needs to steal five objects before she is caught by a vile man. She has 5 days to escape before being lobotomized. In order to cope with the situation, she enters the hyper-real world of her imagination, and the lines between reality and dream begin to blur. She is joined with friends who are inmates from the institution. Lessons learned in the said fantasy world could help the girls escape their real-world fate."

Emily Browning has been cast as Baby Doll. You might remember her as Violet Baudelaire in Brad Silberlings conception of “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.” Baby Doll’s inmate friends have been named Blondie, Sweetpea, Amber, and Rocket, and have been cast to Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish, Jamie Chung, and Jena Malone respectively.

How do I know that these girls are going to deliver some pain? Statement from cast member Jamie Chung about the film: “It really is '300' but with a female cast. It's really empowering. It's powerful, there's machine guns! The girls have been training for 12 weeks, so you can only imagine. The girls are lifting 210 pounds.”

Snyder had me at “Alice in Wonderland with machine guns.” The image attached to this post is from a special blu-ray edition of “Watchmen,” and is preliminary poster art for the film.

Check out the Reel Deal next Friday for more movie info. The news of this badass new film should hold you over for the week.

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