Zack Snyder has fast become one of the most visually striking directors of our time, delivering some of the most stunning spectacles of cinematic eye candy in films like 300, Watchmen and most recently Legend of the Guardians. The visual treats he has offered have not been a simple matter of high quality special effects – any director with a budget and a half can do special effects – but Snyder’s films surpass the generic fare because they are all about style. The opening scene and credits of Watchmen or the image of a tree full of corpses in 300 simply ooze style. Snyder’s stylistic, comic-inspired artistry are so eye-meltingly amazing to watch they take on a substance too many blockbusters lack these days which treat action without respect they deserve by opting for mindless fast-cut edits and hyperactive pacing. Snyder however, elevates action and comic-book fantasy to a transcendent ‘higher plane’. No surprise then that his upcoming film Sucker Punch is by all accounts looking like a kick-ass extravaganza of awesome.

Watch the trailer below the jump!

The trailer for Sucker Punch, to put it mildly, looks ballistic. It’s like a psycho-surreal combustion of the craziest, coolest dream you could ever have; hot anime-esque girls toting machine guns and swords; war torn battlefields of blimps and dog fighting bi-planes; giant robots and fire-breathing dragons; and what I can only describe as a colossal samurai golem (if any of you have seen Gasaraki, I kid you not it’s like a Kugai with a Gatling gun). Yes, it’s that insane, and I cannot begin to describe how badly I want to see this.

The story we glimpse from the trailer has an interesting premise to tie all of those incredible elements described above tie into a coherent whole and make some sense. Australia’s Emily Browning (The Uninvited) plays ‘Baby Doll’, an abused girl who finds herself thrown into a mental asylum in the 1950s. Here she meets other girl patients, including Abbie Cornish (Bright Star), Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical 3), Jena Mallone (Five Star Day) and Jamie Chung (Grown Ups),whom band together to plot their escape from the facility. In order to cope, however, the girls delve into their own imaginations, dreaming up the science-fantasy madness we see in the trailer as a way to grapple with their attempt to break out. The trailer shows how the mundane reality of what they’re attempting is transformed into a glorious and heroic quest, as they seek out the items they will need to forge their great escape. Cue Emily Browning in a school girl outfit fighting in trenches with a katana while flak cannons and machine gun fire blaze overhead.

Even if the entire narrative is just a pretext for the most ridiculous eye candy ever, that’s something I’d be more than happy to buy into. If Sucker Punch is even half as crazy and stylish as its trailer is, Snyder will have once again given audiences something to rave about.