Journey 2: The Mysterious Island hits UK cinemas today (our review of the movie is up here) and we got the chance to chat with Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) who stars in the sequel to to the 2008 movie, Journey to the Center of the Earth. This time, it’s Dwayne who takes over the lead role from Brenden Fraser for some pec-popping fun (see the trailer intro here to see what I’m on about!).

In our interview, we get to hear what attracted him to the movie, how often he works out and what it was like to work with legendary actor Michael Caine and relative newcomers, Josh Hutcherson and Vanessa Hudgens.

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HeyUGuys: How would you describe Journey 2: The Mysterious Island?

Dwayne Johnson: Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is an epic 3D adventure. It’s fun, it’s visually stunning and it’s groundbreaking in many ways because of the 3D technology we used to make the movie. After James Cameron completed Avatar he adapted and improved the technology of the 3D cameras – and we are the first production to benefit from these advances in technology. We can take this new technology that’s never been seen before and apply it in an expansive way to our movie. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island was written, designed and created specifically for 3D, so it’s incredibly impressive.

How would you describe your character in the movie?

I play a guy called Hank in the movie. Hank is a hardworking, blue-collar guy. He is a man of integrity and a man of his word. He demonstrates great perseverance in the movie, but he also demonstrates a legendary move called the ‘pec pop of love’. He’s one hell of a guy.

What can you tell us about the story of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island?

The story follows a teenager called Sean Anderson and his stepfather, Hank. Sean and Hank embark on an incredible journey to a mysterious island written about by the famous author, Jules Verne. Along the way, there’s a helicopter crash, a run-in with a giant lizard and you get to see the amazing lost city of Atlantis, as well as Captain Nemo’s submarine, the Nautilus. Every attention is paid to detail and that can be seen with the stunning visuals. It’s been an amazing project to work on.

What attracted you to this project?

I was in the mood to make an epic 3D adventure because 3D is something I’d never done before. I’d spent nearly two years playing intense roles, so I wanted to make a big, fun movie. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island was the answer.

How much input did you have into the movie and your character?

I had a lot of input into the movie and the character, which is why I became a producer on the project. The singing in the movie and the ‘pec pop’ scenes were all my ideas.

How did you come up with the ideas?

The mysterious island in the movie is sinking, so there’s a lot of tension, but I started to think about how we could inject some fun into the storyline. How can we implement something that the audiences will enjoy? I was travelling on a plane with one of the producers and we were reading over the script when we discussed the 3D technology we were using in the movie. I wanted to do something fun with my body, so I said, “What if I did something where my chest is popping out in 3D to the audience?” The producer said to me, “Yes, that’s funny. That’s entertaining. We’ve never seen anything like that before, but what else can we do?” He was eating nuts at the time, which is why he then said, “I’ve got it. What if somebody throws berries at your chest and the berries then pop out into the audience?” I thought that was a great idea and then added, “What about if it is rapid fire into the audience?” It was brilliant. The studio loved it. The director loved it and it wound up being the highest testing scene in the movie.

How would you describe the comedy of the movie?

We thought it was incredibly important to take advantage of the wide audience that our movie was going to reach. When it comes to comedy, there’s something for everyone in Journey 2. There’s great comedy for younger children, great comedy for adults – and great comedy for everyone in between. Comedy is crucial in a movie like this because the tension is high and the humour helps to release that tension. For me, a lot of the comedy comes from my character’s verbal spars with Michael Cain’s character. In fact, one of the great joys of working on this movie was the back-and-forth sparring between Michael and me.

How much time was there for improvisation on set?

There was a lot of time for improvisation. However, the key with improvisation is to make sure you’re staying within the same space and spirit of the scene. I have worked with actors who tell me they are going to improvise during a scene, but they end up going miles away from the story. When that happens, you have to reel them back in – but that never happened with the cast of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. When you’re working with people like Michael Caine and Luis Guzmán, you know that everybody is going to keep it on track.

How much of the comedy was written in the script and how much was added on set through improvisation?

There was a good amount of comedy in the script when I first read it, but the tone of the comedy was very different to what you see in the finished film. When I first read the script, my character in the movie was very different. At that time, he was a Brendan Fraser-esque character, but then the writers and the producers started to add layers that would fit more to my strengths. After that, we added a lot of the comedy, such as the ‘pec pop’ scene and the song I sing in the movie. The verbal jabbing was also added because we changed the relationship between my character and Michael Caine’s character. Now, Hank’s locker room humour collides with the dry, British, stinging humour from Michael Caine. I love British humour. It’s very witty, it’s very dry and it’s very funny. It works really well in our movie.

What was it like to work with Sir Michael Caine?

It was a complete honour to work with Michael Caine. What a great guy’s guy. I was really happy to meet him and I was even happier to discover that he is incredibly down to Earth. He’s the kind of guy you want to hang out with all the time. He tells great dirty jokes, but at the same time he’s a gentleman to everybody on set. He’s amazing.

What was it like to work with the younger actors in the cast?

Vanessa Hudgens and Josh Hutcherson are great young actors who really impressed me. Making movies is not easy. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s a lot of hard work and it’s tough to find that balance when you’re a teenager. It’s tough to stay smart and not get wrapped up in a lot of the nonsense found in Hollywood. It’s very easy to fall out of clubs and get swept away with being a celebrity, but not these two. They are both very smart and they both have wonderful, solid families. Both of them have really great mothers and if you have a great mother then you have a fantastic shot at being decent.

Click NEXT to read the second part of the interview.

Our thirst for family adventure movies is never quenched, and the promise of yet another involving a mystical, far-off land packed with interesting creatures promises big things. Carving a niche in such a market is Canadian filmmaker Brad Peyton, the debut director of Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore that got mixed reviews in 2010. Tasked with breathing life back into the Journey to the Center of the Earth franchise from 2008, and with the second film simply shortened to Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Peyton’s shaky foray into family feature filmmaking has been redeemed.

In this adventure, a more mature Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson) is back on another quest to find yet another lost relative at the centre of the Earth, his grandfather (played by Michael Caine), after receiving a coded message from him. Reluctantly accepting help from his mum’s enthusiastic new partner, Hank Parsons (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson), the pair decodes the message and finds the hidden location of a mystery island through the classics of Jules Verne, Jonathan Swift and Robert Louis Stevenson. But getting to the island will prove tricky and highly dangerous, and the pair enlists the help of pilot Gabato (Luis Guzmán) and his attractive and smart teenage daughter Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens) who get ‘sucked’ into the bizarre rescue.

As such ideas and mythical vistas have been seen and recreated before, Journey 2 is inevitably predictable in a respectful, copycat Jurassic Park/Avatar kind of way – even down to florescent forest toadstools from the latter. However, it bounds along on a flurry of enthusiastic energy and silly but amusing frolics and familiar squabbles between Hank and Anderson Sr, never taking itself too seriously. In turn, it provides ample family fun with good clean jokes that neither bore the adults or sore over the kids’ heads.

It also aims to spark literary inquisitiveness that will have the youngsters checking out all the old adventure classics that its own journey is based on, including the lost City of Atlantis. In addition, and as with any film in this genre, it is peppered with lessons to be learnt and appreciation for your elders – even if Caine as Anderson Sr. is as unreliable as they come, and looks like an aging rocker at the end. It also has its faults when dealing with scaling of its animals in this new world (big animals are small, and vice versa) – just check out Anderson Sr.’s fireflies illuminating his abode that remain normal size.

The casting of beefy Rock – still a man giant from Fast & Furious 5 last year – with a toned Hutcherson acting alongside Hudgens in the tiniest of shorts and vest top and with curls to die for is designed to titillate and provide the glamour among the forest undergrowth. If nothing else, this display of youthful virility will thrust Hutcherson into the hormonal and rather over-crowded teen spotlight currently occupied by the Twilight boys. Boy-next-door Hutcherson has an appealing integrity about him that carries through from the first film, even though he endearingly struggles with teenage angst and bad chat-up lines this time around. Still, he can handle bee flying – another unoriginal nod to another kids’ film classic, Honey, I Shrunk The Kids.

As for the 3D, it seems to have been deployed in this film merely to allow The Rock to do his party trick of firing virtual berries in our faces using pecks power alone – and it gets some giggles. Intimidating in size but as soft a playful puppy dog, the only really disconcerting feature of Johnson’s appearance is his oddly placed nipples that provided a fascinating, if horrifying distraction in the drearier moments. Still, the actor’s comic timing laced with sarcasm is in full supply in this, and he produces some comedy moments with Guzmán and Caine as the grown men try to overcome the obstacles standing in the way of making a quick escape. Apart from that, the 3D is just a nice, visually enhancing factor, but hardly earth-shatteringly important to the story context, so you decide whether you wish to spend the extra money when paying for a family cinema outing.

As foreseen as the ending is, it’s the journey taken that is key, in generating the laughs and the life lessons along the way. Journey 2 may not offer any exciting new premise to the genre and is not without its continuity errors, but its appealing cast has a great chemistry and an infectious team spirit that gives you a buzz and entertains you right until the corny and equally predictable finale.

***~~ (3/5)

Here’s what is most probably the final trailer for Dwayne Johnson’s new movie, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. The trailer is introduced by Johnson and his co-star Josh Hutcherson who refuses to ‘pop his pecks’ like thje massive man sat next to him!

Michael Caine, Luis Guzma and Vanessa Hudgens complete the main cast of the movie which is set to hit our screens 3rd February. We’ll have a merchandise competetyion coming up shortly for the film so keep your eyes peeled.

Young Sean Anderson receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist. It’s a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret.

Unable to stop him from going, Sean’s new stepfather, Hank, joins the quest. Together with a helicopter pilot and his beautiful, strong-willed daughter, they set out to find the island, rescue its lone inhabitant and escape before seismic shockwaves force the island under the sea and bury its treasures forever.

To celebrate the release of JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND in cinemas February 3^rd, we are giving five lucky winners the chance to win an exciting JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND goodie bag, including a t-shirt, hat and a ginormous growing toy lizard!  

In this follow-up to the 2008 worldwide hit “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” the new 3D family adventure “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” begins when young Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson, reprising his role from the first film) receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist.  It’s a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret.  Unable to stop him from going, Sean’s new stepfather, Hank (Dwayne Johnson), joins the quest.  Together with a helicopter pilot (Luis Guzman) and his beautiful, strong-willed daughter (Vanessa Hudgens), they set out to find the island, rescue its lone inhabitant and escape before seismic shockwaves force the island under the sea and bury its treasures forever.

To be in with a chance of winning this prize, simply answer the question on the next page.

Yahoo have released these four new posters for their movie, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below…. We like the fact that The Rock is jumping over an egg in this one and in the UK one it’s a rock!

Journey 2 – The Mysterious Island stars Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Luis Guzman, Vanessa Hudgens and Kristen Davis​ and helmed by Brad Peyton.

In this follow-up to the 2008 worldwide hit “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” the new 3D family adventure “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” begins when young Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson, reprising his role from the first film) receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist.  It’s a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret.

Unable to stop him from going, Sean’s new stepfather, Hank (Dwayne Johnson), joins the quest.  Together with a helicopter pilot (Luis Guzman) and his beautiful, strong-willed daughter (Vanessa Hudgens), they set out to find the island, rescue its lone inhabitant and escape before seismic shockwaves force the island under the sea and bury its treasures forever.

“Journey 2: The Mysterious Island,” is directed by Brad Peyton (“Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore”).  It also stars Michael Caine as Sean’s grandfather, Alexander Anderson, and Kristin Davis as Sean’s mom, Liz Anderson.

It’ll be with us February 10th 2012.

Earlier today I put up the first UK poster for Dwayne Johnson’s new movie, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and didn’t actually bother to check if the trailer that we were sent was different to the US one that we placed last week. Turns out it is and gives us much more footage from the movie along with new storyline. I’ve embedded it below for your viewing pleasure. Alas there is no Dwayne Johnson moob dancing in this one! Good or bad thing? We’re not sure!

Journey 2 – The Mysterious Island stars Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Luis Guzman, Vanessa Hudgens and Kristen Davis​ and helmed by Brad Peyton.

In this follow-up to the 2008 worldwide hit “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” the new 3D family adventure “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” begins when young Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson, reprising his role from the first film) receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist.  It’s a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret.

Unable to stop him from going, Sean’s new stepfather, Hank (Dwayne Johnson), joins the quest.  Together with a helicopter pilot (Luis Guzman) and his beautiful, strong-willed daughter (Vanessa Hudgens), they set out to find the island, rescue its lone inhabitant and escape before seismic shockwaves force the island under the sea and bury its treasures forever.

“Journey 2: The Mysterious Island,” is directed by Brad Peyton (“Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore”).  It also stars Michael Caine as Sean’s grandfather, Alexander Anderson, and Kristin Davis as Sean’s mom, Liz Anderson.

It’ll be with us February 10th 2012.

This poster gives you tips on what to do if you discover a forgotten island, disturb some giant lizard eggs and need to get away fast! This is the first UK poster (could well be the first poster anywhere actually) for the sequel to Journey to the 2008 movie, Center of the Earth. This time we get the title Journey 2 – The Mysterious Island which sees Dwayne Johnson taking on the lead role accompanied by Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Luis Guzman, Vanessa Hudgens and Kristen Davis​ and helmed by Brad Peyton. If you missed the first trailer, you can see it here.

In this follow-up to the 2008 worldwide hit “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” the new 3D family adventure “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” begins when young Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson, reprising his role from the first film) receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist.  It’s a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret.

Unable to stop him from going, Sean’s new stepfather, Hank (Dwayne Johnson), joins the quest.  Together with a helicopter pilot (Luis Guzman) and his beautiful, strong-willed daughter (Vanessa Hudgens), they set out to find the island, rescue its lone inhabitant and escape before seismic shockwaves force the island under the sea and bury its treasures forever.

“Journey 2: The Mysterious Island,” is directed by Brad Peyton (“Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore”).  It also stars Michael Caine as Sean’s grandfather, Alexander Anderson, and Kristin Davis as Sean’s mom, Liz Anderson.

It’ll be with us February 10th 2012.

Click the poster to enlarge.

Here’s the first trailer for Dwayne Johnson’s new movie, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island which could also have the title Journey to the Centre of the Earth 2. This time, joining Johnson is Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Luis Guzman, Vanessa Hudgens and Kristen Davis and it’ll be with us 10th February 2012 and is helmed by Brad Peyton.

This trailer is action packed, silly, funny and actually looks pretty good! Have to admit, I didn’t hugely enjoy the first Journey to the Centre of the Earth but I’m willing to give this one a go.

Have a watch of the trailer below and let us know what you think on Twitter or in the comments section.

Keep watching until the end to discover what the ‘peck pop of love’ is!

Scott Walker’s directorial debut will be worked from his own script for The Frozen Ground, the true story of a seemingly respectable family man, Robert Hansen, who turns out to be a serial killer. Over the course of more than a decade, Hansen kidnapped, then hunted and killed more than two dozen women in the hostile wilds of Alaska.

John Cusack will play Hansen, in what seems like a beautiful piece of casting. Nicolas Cage will be the State Trooper who finds Hudgens, who is one of the few of the intended victims who has managed to escape. Perhaps inevitably, Hudgens’ character struggles to make people believe her seemingly improbable story. Curtis “Fiddy Cent” Jackson is on board as an executive producer and has also been cast in a role as a 1980′s-era pimp.

I’m inclined to say that I’d watch Cusack in pretty much anything, so the idea of seeing him as a menacing, presumably psychopathic serial killer fills me with anticipation. One to keep an eye on.

Sources: Deadline and Anchorage Daily News.

Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch IS OUT NOW ON BLU-RAY™ TRIPLE PLAY AND DVD  and we’ve got three copies of Sucker Punch: The Art of the Film book to give away. You can read our review of the book here and read our interview with artist Alex Pardee concerning his work on the movie here.

Close your eyes. Open your mind. Engage in the visual action spectacular Sucker Punch as it explodes onto Blu-ray Triple Play and DVD on 8th August from Warner Home Video”
Born from the creative vision of master filmmaker Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300), Sucker Punch features an ensemble cast of young stars, including Emily Browning​ (The Uninvited), Abbie Cornish​ (Limitless), Jena Malone​ (Donnie Darko​), Vanessa Hudgens​ (the High School Musical​ films) and Jamie Chung​ (Hangover 2).

She has been locked away against her will, but Babydoll (Emily Browning) has not lost her will to survive. Determined to fight for her freedom, she urges four other young girls – the reluctant Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), the outspoken Rocket (Jena Malone), the street-smart Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and the fiercely loyal Amber (Jamie Chung) – to band together and try to escape a terrible fate at the hands of their captors, Blue (Oscar Isaac) and Madam Gorski (Carla Gugino​), before the mysterious High Roller (Jon Hamm​) comes for Babydoll.
Led by Babydoll, the girls engage in thrilling fantastical warfare against everything from samurais to serpents, with a virtual arsenal at their disposal. Together, they must decide what they are willing to sacrifice in order to stay alive. But with the help of a Wise Man (Scott Glenn​), their unbelievable journey – if they succeed – will set them free.

From critically acclaimed director Zack Snyder, Sucker Punch is a visually stunning and explosive suspense ride about a girl and her unbelievable journey to freedom. The Blu-Ray Combo Pack includes an action-packed Extended Cut featuring an additional 18 minutes of footage and an immersive Maximum Movie Mode hosted by director Zack Snyder. Four unique animated shorts also take you deeper into Zack Snyder’s immersive world.

All you need to do is answer the following question using the form below,

Sucker Punch stars this actress, who worked with Zack Snyder on Watchmen and is also known for her roles in Sin City and the Spy Kids film series.  Name the actress.

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 23rd August at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available
• Prize is non-exchangeable and non-refundable. There is no cash alternative
• The Editor’s decision is final and binding on the entrants. No correspondence will be entered into

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

© 2011 Warner Bros. Entertainment All rights reserved

More Sucker Punching for you today on the day of release for the Blu-ray and DVD, and if you’ve not sashayed into the fray yet these two clips may just tempt you to do so.

Craig posted his article on giving Sucker Punch a second chance earlier today and judging from the response the film’s divisive qualities are fostering strong opinions with some folks loving the action and look of the film, others agree with Craig and find there’s more to Snyder’s film when you scratch the surface, other still are turned off by it completely.

These two clips come from one of the film’s many action sequences and give you a flavour of what the film’s visual style. My professional opinion is that it’s utterly nuts. See if you agree…

Feast your face on the two clips below,

To the discerning film fan the modern multiplex can be a depressing and woefully uninteresting place to quench one’s thirst for cinematic pleasures. Filled as it so often is with unrelentingly banal and superficial Hollywood spectacles that fail to even be the simplistic fireworks displays that they appear to promise to be.

To find a film that is also actually about something is like trying to find a tiny nugget of gold in an increasingly deep pile of manure. Aiding you in avoiding the bulk of the pile is a kind of consensus opinion that tends to spread quickly regarding those films that simply add to that pile and in particular those that load it on in wheelbarrow fulls. This often doesn’t seem to make a difference to box office receipts though, Transformers 3 being a recent example of this trend, and sometimes this advance word also just gets it plain wrong. This latter situation appears to have been the way things went with Sucker Punch, a film that seemed so derided that when attending a semi-public advance screening I witnessed negativity thrown at Snyder during a pre-film Q&A, from people who hadn’t even seen the film yet.

This negativity was a microcosm of the explosion of bile thrown at the film by many that had seen the film and many that hadn’t. This dismissive reaction was a white noise that quickly drowned out any moderate voices or even impassioned defences. This film was bad, misogynistic and dumb. It must be true, it said so on the internet. But Sucker Punch is far from bad, the reports regarding its apparent misogyny seem to have been based a surface level reading of a far more complex issue that went mostly un-discussed and any suggestion that a film that deliberately layered text upon subtext in a way that worked (although admittedly occasionally stumbled) in a complex and incredibly difficult way can surely never be called dumb.

Sucker Punch has intellectual depth and complexity that has rarely been discussed and it is this depth and complexity that deserves a second (or indeed first – one reason why this piece will be low on spoilers) look. This is not a film to take some sort of passive approach to or ignore out of a perceived idea of what surface level pleasures it is supposedly relying on. These surface pleasures actually appear to have been the biggest distraction in the debates surrounding the film and it is not in the action sequences that the meat of the film’s more fascinating elements can be found. They are undeniably important but it is more what writer/director Zack Snyder and co-writer Steve Shibuya are saying about this kind of action and the significance of what surrounds the sequences, and what goes unseen whilst they take place, that holds the key to the film’s thematic depth.

Sucker Punch is, on one reasonably basic level, an action film about action films, or more specifically about films in which women are active players in the film but do so whilst using their sexuality or being subject to objectification and even abuse by men (and/or male filmmakers). Sucker Punch taps into a long running debate surrounding what is often an area of exploitation filmmaking that is incredibly problematic and fraught with complex arguments. As stated this is done so within the framework of a film that may on the surface appear to be a prime example of this very kind of filmmaking. It is this delicate balancing act that relies on some very tricky self-reflexism that makes for such a risky and fascinating piece of bravura filmmaking.

This de-constructive approach on display actually prompted the first film to come to my mind upon leaving the cinema to not be an excessive action spectacle but Bob Fosse’s personally self-reflexive film All That Jazz, a film that explored Fosse’s own status as a musical director but also unpicks the very nature of musicals. This approach is one that is very close to the thematic obsessions of Snyder in Sucker Punch. and they also both have engrossing representations of the film industry that do little to flatter those involved. Whilst Fosse was relatively explicit with his allusions, particularly when ‘he’ experiences heart surgery as the backers of his musical bet against him surviving, Snyder is more oblique in his approach. One reading of the film, for instance, could position Gorski (Carla Gugino) in the role of the struggling director, leaving  ’producer’ Blue (Oscar Isaac) and High Roller (Jon Hamm) to lobotomise and rape the leading ladies, but this is not the simple and narrow-minded approach taken by Snyder and Shibuya and things go beyond this rather simplistic reading.

All That Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1979)

Perhaps the most problematic aspect of Sucker Punch though, and one that has led to harsh if dare I say misguided criticism, is highlighted with the possible reading of pscho-drama psychiatrist/ dance instructor/Madam Gorski as a film director surrogate.  This underpins the most difficult issue facing Snyder in making Sucker Punch, using the very thing he is de-constructing and critiquing as a way to explore it. Accusations of him attempting to “have his cake and eat it” are quick to spring forth but these could well be more born out of the influence of the highly misleading and gratuitous marketing campaign than an analysis of the film. Isn’t the tricky game that Snyder and Shibuya are attempting to play one that leads to a richer and more fascinating text and isn’t it all the more impressive that they so often succeed. Surely the alleged compromise is not as much of an issue as it has been presented.

Think of the ‘Remember My Forgotten Man’ number from LeRoy and Berkeley’s Golddiggers of 1933 (a film that has a prominent visual reference in Sucker Punch), a sequence that directly references the depression and the plight of returning soldiers. Does the entertainment value, aided by the opulence of the number, the giant coins in the We’re in the Money sequence or the general lavishness of the production undermine the social commentary that is so significant in the film. It certainly impacts on it but the film is fascinating and vital regardless, it certainly doesn’t nullify what is clearly embedded in the text and the subtext. The truth with Sucker Punch appears to be that many refuse to see beyond its ‘Giant coins’ choosing to ignore the more substantive discussion points raised throughout.

In exploring the action and exploitation genre Snyder also eschews any simple answers, choosing not to preach to the audience a simple message, such as female empowerment comes through ass kicking action or that ass kicking action in a short skirt destroys any idea of female empowerment – two concepts that seem the only options in many critic’s minds. He instead chooses not to offer a narrow minded polemic but further problematises the debate, making it all the more interesting. Snyder chooses to explore a complex argument and offer no over-simplified solution, opening the debate and exploring competing ideas. Isn’t this something that we love filmmakers doing, not a cause for instant complaint and dismissal.

There is an area though where there is a clear focused line of argument that speaks strongly about the way males engage in watching women perform and it is an element in the film that seems very critical, despite the aforementioned multi-stranded approach. This is the focus on female subjugation and objectification through the action genre and the way in which this is explored though the choice to not show Baby Doll’s allegedly ”tittilating” dance, the dance is replaced by the elaborate action set pieces instead. Whilst the men in the brothel gawp at Baby Doll’s dance we are shown intricately constructed action set pieces that surely leave any engaged viewer with many conflicting thoughts. The choice to not show the dance is also a move that has had its point wonderfully proven with every new internet commentator that complains about not getting to see it or indeed a higher level of female flesh that they appear to have been promised by the already scant outfits.

Baby Doll’s dances are also explicitly critiqued by the character of Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), “The dance should be more than just titillation… what the heck does your’s say?”. Significantly Sweet Pea’s introduction in the brothel is on stage as she rehearses her own dance, one that mirrors Baby Doll’s impending lobotomy and also, crucially, Sweet Pea’s own appearance on ‘stage’ in the asylum. This appearance is her first introduction in the asylum and it is also our introduction to the pyscho-drama stage that Gorski uses to explore the girl’s most troubling memories, an approach mirrored in Gorski’s role in the brothel.

Sweet Pea’s memories are hinted to be somewhat related to the events we see in the opening, namely Baby Doll’s attempted escape from an abusing father. When a transition is made between the asylum and the brothel, Sweet Pea openly criticises the opening scene and comments on the idea that maybe a lobotomy (with hindsight read rape also) is not the sexiest of scenarios.

This mirroring and layering that pervades throughout Sucker Punch (even evident in the smartly redressed sets) is both the key to unlocking the narrative structure of Sucker punch but also the discussion being had in relation to thematic concerns.

I have been somewhat obtuse in the past two paragraphs, and to a lesser degree throughout this piece, in a deliberate effort to not reveal too much with regards to the plot in an effort to not spoil too much for a first time viewer or the pleasure of finding elements hitherto unnoticed for those who re-watch the film. This piece is not designed to be a thorough analysis of Sucker Punch, this would take many more thousands of words, but hopefully will have provided something of a counter argument to those stressing that this is a film to be avoided.

I’ve now seen Sucker Punch multiple times and have found new areas of interest with each watch and can also highly recommend checking out the extended cut, which builds satisfyingly upon the thesis already evident in the theatrical cut. This film is a rich text designed for an active viewer and if you are willing to engage with the film and explore its many facets you will, I’m sure, find much to consider and discuss.

Sucker Punch is now available to buy or rent on Blu-ray in a triple play edition that contains both the theatrical and the extended cuts.

With Zack Snyder firmly with ensconced with the Man of Steel at the moment there’s time to look back at his last film – the divisive Sucker Punch.

Out on Blu-ray and DVD today the first ten minutes of Snyder’s stylised violence are available to watch today in order that you might want to know more and take a closer look, which is something our man Craig Skinner did and you can find out what he thought of Snyder’s film, and the subsequent reaction to it, in his post Why Sucker Punch Deserves a Second Chance, which will hit the site in about half an hour.

There’s an extra 17 minutes included on the Blu-ray and we’ll be taking a look to see if those extras seconds of graphic gunplay can put a new spin on a film that provoked a storm of critical shouting, both for and against, when it was released earlier in the year.

Head over to Virgin Media or blinkbox to view!

Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch EXPLODES ONTO BLU-RAY TRIPLE PLAY AND DVD ON 8TH AUGUST and we’ve got three copies of the film on Triple Play to give away.

Close your eyes. Open your mind. Engage in the visual action spectacular Sucker Punch as it explodes onto Blu-ray Triple Play and DVD on 8th August from Warner Home Video”
Born from the creative vision of master filmmaker Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300), Sucker Punch features an ensemble cast of young stars, including Emily Browning (The Uninvited), Abbie Cornish (Limitless), Jena Malone (Donnie Darko), Vanessa Hudgens (the High School Musical films) and Jamie Chung (Hangover 2).

She has been locked away against her will, but Babydoll (Emily Browning) has not lost her will to survive. Determined to fight for her freedom, she urges four other young girls – the reluctant Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), the outspoken Rocket (Jena Malone), the street-smart Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and the fiercely loyal Amber (Jamie Chung) – to band together and try to escape a terrible fate at the hands of their captors, Blue (Oscar Isaac) and Madam Gorski (Carla Gugino), before the mysterious High Roller (Jon Hamm) comes for Babydoll.
Led by Babydoll, the girls engage in thrilling fantastical warfare against everything from samurais to serpents, with a virtual arsenal at their disposal. Together, they must decide what they are willing to sacrifice in order to stay alive. But with the help of a Wise Man (Scott Glenn), their unbelievable journey – if they succeed – will set them free.

From critically acclaimed director Zack Snyder, Sucker Punch is a visually stunning and explosive suspense ride about a girl and her unbelievable journey to freedom. The Blu-Ray Combo Pack includes an action-packed Extended Cut featuring an additional 18 minutes of footage and an immersive Maximum Movie Mode hosted by director Zack Snyder. Four unique animated shorts also take you deeper into Zack Snyder’s immersive world.

All you need to do is answer the following question using the form below,

In Sucker Punch, this director made the jump from the commercial-music video world to movies with such films as 300 and Watchmen. Name the director.

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 15th August at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available
• Prize is non-exchangeable and non-refundable. There is no cash alternative
• The Editor’s decision is final and binding on the entrants. No correspondence will be entered into

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

© 2011 Warner Bros. Ent. All rights reserved

Vanessa Hudgens (Sucker Punch) and Brendan Fraser (The Mummy) are in advanced talks to star in indie drama Gimme Shelter.

Gimme Shelter centers on a pregnant, homeless teen (Hudgens) who flees her abusive mother and seeks out her biological father (Fraser). He first takes her in but then throws her out when she refuses to abort her child.

Ron Krauss (Rave) is writing and directing the film, which is expected to start production next month in Connecticut.

Krauss, Jeff Rice (The Watcher) and Dama Claire (Conviction) will produce.

Hudgens can currently be seen in Beastly, while Fraser’s next film, Whole Lotta Sole, will be released later this year.

Source: THR

Last week, Warner Bros. treated the interwebs to the first five minutes of their new movie, Sucker Punch which is directed by Zack Snyder (300 & Watchmen). The film features a cast which includes Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Jamie Chung, Carla Gugino, Oscar Isaac and Vanessa Hudgens who you may know from High School Musical fame.

While most of us just watched this five minute video thinking ‘Man this looks good!!’, our friend Brendon Connelly who writes for BleedingCool.com took extra time to go through it and record a voice-over track to talk us through how it was shot, what the various imagery we see means and how the first five opening minutes link to and are referenced to the movie as it unfolds. Don’t worry though, no spoilers are given away here.

It may seem odd that we are bigging up another blog work but we know how hard Brendon works on this stuff and when someone spends that much time creating a piece like this, it deserves to be shared with as many people as possible so without further ado, here’s the video.

I’ve also placed the original five minute clip below incase you want to watch it without Brendon’s VO.

Sucker Punch is out in UK cinemas now and if you missed all our rather extensive coverage of the movie, you can check it out here.

Brendon Dissects the Five Minute Opening:

Original Five Minute Opening:

Over the weekend we posted our interview with Zack Snyder, which may have resolved some of the debates about Sucker Punch, but probably just added more fuel to the blazing arguments about the film. The same day we spoke to Snyder, we also spoke to the film’s five escapees: Emily Browning (Baby Doll), Jenna Malone (Rocket), Abbie Cornish (Sweet Pea), Vanessa Hudgens (Blondie) and Jamie Chung (Amber). They regaled us with stories of brutal training regimes, gun play, and how Snyder communicated his vision.

——————–

Describe the film in one sentence

Malone: It’s basically like a prison break film about five young girls that band together, and what they’re willing to sacrifice for their freedom.

On prep for role

Malone: It’s pretty epic; both of us had never really even been to the gym before.

Malone: Day one was kind of the most terrifying moment of my life. I walked away completely red-faced in tears. I [was] just like, ‘is this really what we’re going to have to do? It’s going to require a lot of dedication and commitment. That’s the thing about doing anything so extremely challenging, that the rewards are so great.

You were all in tears?

Browning: Well, I don’t know if Abbie was in tears. I don’t know if Abbie cries.

On the training

Browning: It was three months solid before we started filming, about six to eight hours a day, five days a week.

Malone: Four hours of martial arts in the morning, then we’d have a 45 minute break, and then we’d do about an hour and a half to two hours with Navy Seals, which was all strength and conditioning training, which is a lot of circuit, weight lifting, anything you can pull with your hands, and your arms. We were doing tyre pulls and push ups, all of that sort of crazy things. On the rower until we couldn’t breathe anymore. Abbie, the first time she really pushed herself, she became hypoxic, and her lips went blue.

You knew about this and still signed on?

Browning: That kind of challenge is really exciting. For me, the idea of being able to physically transform myself in this way, and have people do it for me – wwe were doing the work, but we had people watching our every step and taking care of us…

Malone: Helping us with our diet, and vitamins, and regimen.  It’s kind of incredible for Zack Snyder to be able to take a look at us five girls, and traditionally we’re not action stars; no-one’s ever looked at me and been like you know, ‘you can slay 40 men and a dragon’. For him to be able to see that in us and imbue us with that level of confidence, for an actor, that’s kind of the ultimate; it’s like someone casting you as a part that no one could ever imagine you as, you get so deep into it that it really becomes part of you.

Hudgens: What was so great about the training was that, they were saying, Logan Hood, on 300, the training for that, they’d be competitive. They’d team them against each other. With us you had to team us up with each other, so that we could cheer each other on and be there for each other. We don’t want each other to suffer, so you had to do your best so that you’re not leaving them behind, because you can’t move on until the other one does as well.

Just having them there, and doing these things together and doing these things together, and pushing yourself as far as you think you can every single day, and just sweating together, and just, like, needing each other in the most animalistic form, it created an incredible bonding camaraderie.

Cornish: We were training like stuntwomen. There was a moment I forgot I was an actor. I was about to go join the stunt crew

On the weapons

Hudgens: We each had our different weapons; we would work with each thing specifically. In the morning we would get together and do some boxing, or whatever it was they were going to throw us through the ringer of that day, but we spent a lot of time with our own individual weapons, and they just became a piece of ourselves.

Chung: I remember we were at a shooting range. It was an empty sound stage, and as a pilot I had a 9mm Glock, that was the only gun I had, and I was like, ‘aw, this is cool. This is awesome. I feel powerful’, then I look over, and Vanessa has this [makes the noise of Vanessa’s massive machine gun firing], and I’m like, ‘aw man! This sucks.’

Cornish: I love the Glock though. Such a great gun.

Chung: I mean, it’s a handy weapon.

Cornish: I had a shotgun, an M4 and a broadsword, so I had this whole world, and there was one point where we were contemplating having a pistol somewhere too. I know it sounds out of control. So I got to play with all of those weapons. Each one felt different. Surprisingly the M4 was my least favourite. I loved it, but there was something about the shotgun, about the pistol, and even the broadsword.

On Snyder’s vision

Malone: That’s one of the biggest misconceptions talking with journalists, and even the fan base with Zack Snyder; people think you go in blind to his visions, and his worlds, but I think that was the thing that I was most blown away by, the amount of detail and support that we were given. The script is basically the film. The script was more r-rated than the PG-13 version of the film that’s being released, but we were given artwork, previsualisations, in our green room at the gym for the first three months, the entire walls were plastered with his drawings, and conceptions and ideas for things, and he was always bringing us in and showing us new details. A new version of the mecha came in and we would all run to his office.

On the CGI

Malone: They work so closely, that a lot of things are happening at the same time. When we were in the middle of the robot world, I remember looking and being able to see the entire world. They had done previsualisations of, ‘this is what the textures are going to look like’ and ‘this is what the robots are going to look like’. You know, it’s 80% real life sets. Real men in prosthetics. I was in a trench with 10 ft walls with bursts of dirt flying into my eyelashes. The whole entire set smelled of manure. It was all dirt, it was all real. And it’s about 20% green screen, so I feel like Zack is oddly authentic to his fantasies. He really wants to build these details, he really wants to build these worlds and let you as an actor thrive in them.

Zack Snyder may have a Superman reboot in the works but today is all about his latest movie, the genre fusing Sucker Punch, which has now arrived in UK cinemas.

Our good friends at Upbeat sat down with the man to talk all about the film and Snyder’s passion for the project is clear.  Our review of the film is here, and our coverage is available here. With the film dividing critics today’s the day you can make up your own mind, prepared or not…

Last night, Ben and I took to the red carpet in Leicester Square in London, England for the UK premiere of Zack Snyder’s new movie, Sucker Punch. Snyder has previously directed 300, Watchmen, and Dawn of the Dead (Ben would hurt me if I didn’t mention that one!) and from what we’ve seen in the trailers and clips, looks just as stunning as all his previous work.

We got to speak with Snyder and most of the leading ladies from the movie before they were whisked away into the cinema. You can see all our interviews right here.

While Ben was interviewing, I got a little snap-happy and managed to get photos of pretty much everyone who was out for the premiere including the new Superman himself, Henry Cavill. He didn’t do any interviews but I quite like some of the shots I got of him. To see the more comical ones, you’ll have to watch the video in the interviews post! Photos below are of Emily Browning, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Abbie Cornish and Carla Gugino.

I also love the images where one of our fellow reporters got them to do some Sucker Punching for real by asking them to don the boxing gloves! Worked really well as you’ll see below.

Sucker Punch hits UK this Friday, 1st April. You can also read our review of the movie here and see all our coverage which is rather extensive right here!

Hope you like my snaps!

It must be something to do with the first of April release date that inspires marketing minds to release the first six minutes of films to whip the unconverted into a frenzy.

It happened about a week ago with Duncan Jones’ Source Code and now Warner Bros have let loose this short clip which sets up the main body of the film, telling the nasty tale of how Emily Browning’s character ends up in the asylum which then becomes a brothel and a war zone with dragons and gas masked goons for some reason.

Here’s our take on the film, which is released today. Get ready to unprepare yourselves,

Metacafe via ComingSoon