Sucker Punch (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

iTunes Review

Like the film itself, the Sucker Punch soundtrack relies heavily on strong female leads. Sounding equally inspired by both the original version of Eurythmics’ 1983 hit “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” and Marilyn Manson’s haunting 1996 cover, actress Emily Browning’s rendition here boasts a gossamer vocal performance sounding as though she could be a long-lost sister of Marissa Nadler. Similarly, Björk’s “Army of Me“ (featuring Skunk Anansie) gets the remix treatment. The end result plays like a seven-minute-long postapocalyptic dirge, with futuristic mechanical cacophonies banging and clanging in the background before a ferocious guitar solo rips the recording in two. The second part builds tense and stressful orchestral movements that come to a head before the song’s familiar hook binds it together in an exhaling resolve. The soundtrack pulls another Icelandic singer, Emilíana Torrini, into the mix, covering Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit”; it recalls Danielle Dax’s 1990 recording of The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” (also covered here with a slightly more organic approach by Carla Azar and Alison Mosshart).