Remind me why Sucker Punch was delayed?

I’m blaming it on director Zack Snyder’s animated flick Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole. (Really? Owls?) If not for the owls, Sucker Punch could be happening this October instead of next March. I don’t care if there are other, better reasons--somehow it’s the owls’ fault.

On the heels of the character posters being revealed at Comic Con last weekend, the first Sucker Punch trailer is out. I can’t stop watching it. Zack Snyder struggles with story and cheese issues, but damn if his movies don’t look beautiful. Sucker Punch is mesmerizing. Did you see that dragon? There should be more dragons in movies. More dragons, less owls.

The cast is young actresses, some you’ve heard of, like Jena Malone and Vanessa Hudgens, and some you probably haven’t, like Emily Browning and Jamie Chung. There’s a lot of sword-fighting and sh*t blowing up, but Sucker Punch is really about young women using their wits and imaginations to kick ass and survive.

Set in a 1950’s insane asylum, Sucker Punch features a girl who has five days to escape before she’s lobotomized. Somehow her vivid fantasy life will help her achieve this goal. See what I mean about story issues? That’s a thin correlation, but it lets Snyder mess around with so many different styles--samurai, World War II, robots. Between the insanity and the imagination, there is nothing Snyder can’t--and judging by the trailer, didn’t--justify. I have a feeling the story will give me a headache, but it will thrill me anyway.

I just hope Sucker Punch is more the work of “Rise up and fight” Zack Snyder than “Look at these hot girls in tight pants” Zack Snyder.