Opening 5 Minutes of 'Sucker Punch'

The film opens with a darkened stage, all that is visible are some surrounding lamps which cast soft light onto the ornate bronze front of the stage. A woman's voice begins to speak in a soft and calm tone, she talks about everybody having a guardian angel - which could take any form - who are there to remind us that we have control over our life. There is also a song playing faintly in the background; once the voice stops, the volume of this song increases. The names of the production companies (Warner Bros Pictures, Legendary Pictures)/ their logos appear on the red curtain that is hanging down from the top of the stage, both company logos are bronze to compliment the aged colour scheme.

The curtains part and we see a bedroom, with a girl sitting on the bed facing the wall. The camera moves in towards the girl, and then pans around to the front of her face. Through her facial expressions, the girl appears nervous as she looks at a man standing in an open doorway who shakes his head as she gets up and runs past him. Both characters are wearing unusual costumes, which look slightly old fashioned, but with a futuristic twist. The camera shows her back as she is running down the hallway , then we switch to another camera which shows her running out of the shadows in the background as it is focused on a character in the foreground covering a body with a white sheet. All of the scenes of her running are in slow motion, which allows the audience to pick up on her every movement and facial expression.

The music has now become very loud and there are absolutely no sound effects,which makes the scene  slightly surreal. There is another younger girl looking at the bed, who collapses in grief and is comforted by the older girl. The camera then rotates, moves upwards and then pans down to show the face of the body that is being covered. At this point, the scene is very dark, and the only light is a flickering dark blue one coming from the storm outside; suddenly the film has become very nightmare-like.

These opening scenes have given the audience an idea of what the film may be about, mostly through the narration at the very beginning. From the amount of time the camera spent focused on her throughout these five minutes, we can also gather that the girl we see sitting on the bed will be a significant character in the film. In addition to this, the surreal use of slow motion, costume and music hints that the film may be in the genre of 'fantasy'.