SUCKERPUNCH - Original Soundtrack
Sony, 2011

By Shane Pinnegar

Let me start by saying that I haven’t seen the movie, so I’ve no idea if there’s a narrative involved lyrically in these songs, and I’m merely reviewing the tunes.

So, first up, the movie’s star Emily Browning has a stroll through The Eurythmics ‘Sweet Dreams’ and it’s a pleasant enough gothic orchestral take on the original. I have to question how much input Browning had on the track though – did she arrange and score it, or did the studio merely wheel her in, then have her breathy, almost spoken vocals fed through an autotune in order to titillate 14 year old boys the world over?

Bjork’s ‘Army of Me’ gets mashed up with Skunk Anansie’s ‘Sucker Punch’ to nice effect, and should show Browning something of the passion and charisma of a real singer.

The normally delightfully kooky Emilliana Torrini does a pretty straight version of Alice In Wonderland-inspired drug epic ‘White Rabbit’, then there’s a risible Queen mashup punctuated by some appallingly gratuititous rapping, before Skunk Anansie deliver a stonkin’ version of The Stooges’ ‘Search & Destroy’, and so on through various Roxy Music & The Smiths tunes.

If anything, this soundtrack reminds me of many from the early to mid 90’s – all indie and gothic and dark covers of old songs tweaked and repackaged for the tweenies. Consequently, there are a high point or two, a travesty or two, and a whole lot of “okay” – but then, I’m not the studio’s targeted market demographic!