A film that could have been a lot better, had there been plot structure in the first half an hour.

Rating: 6/10 (8 July 2009)

Musicals are a funny thing; on paper they make absolutely no sense at all. The characters live in a world where breaking into song and dance while at the shops is completely normal and where not only do the bystanders accept this but the audience do too. Before really understanding musicals or liking the genre full stop, it always seemed to me that the songs were more important than the story, almost to the point where the story became irrelevant; it seemed just a device in which to have songs. However, after recently starting to really appreciate the style, I now understand that I couldn't have been further from the truth. Now, to say I am a Johnny Depp fan is an understatement. I also enjoy Tim Burton when he is on top form, so you can understand just how much I have been looking forward to this film. So when I say "I am severally disappointed by Sweeney Todd", I hope you get the gravitas of what I felt after watching it and funnily enough the cause of why it fails is because of the very reason that I didn't understand musicals at first. Before I go into its failures though, I will give you an oversight of the plot and what the film succeeds at.
The story is essentially a revenge tale; Benjamin Barker (Depp) is sent away by Judge Turpin (the ever good Alan Rickman) after he sees his family at a market one day and decides he wants Barker's wife for himself. Skip ahead a couple of years and Benjamin Barker returns to London as Sweeny Todd, with only one thing on his mind - finding Turpin and taking revenge for ruining his life. When he returns to his shop, he finds Mrs. Lovett (played by Helena Bonham Carter) who supposedly makes the worst pies in London and begins a depraved killing spree, which can only end in tears. The first thing you notice about Sweeny Todd, as with most Burton films is the gorgeous Gothic set design, makeup, clothes and style. Some criticise him for his films always having the same look and design, but you can't argue the fact that even though he does use the style a lot, he's gotten very good at using it. His direction also stands out in this film more so than in his previous works. Whilst always having appreciated his directing and style, I never really thought of him as one who wants to experiment with the art of film itself. Whereas here some of his choices work very well, most notably the scene towards the start where the camera zips through the London streets, randomly noticing people as it flies by. Yet at the same time the direction is the reason why the film fails and it's all down to the first half hour.
In my mind, typically speaking in a musical, a song is used to emphasise a certain emotion or important plot device. A good musical is when it understands this and doesn't just put songs in all over the place because it can. The best example of this that springs to mind is Moulin Rouge!; when a song was used in this film there was always a reason for it. It would give insight into the way a character was feeling but couldn't show in a normal expressive way, or if there were songs that weren't part of the story they were used in a realist manner, most of the time on stage. The problem with Sweeny Todd is that it completely forgets the most important and basic film element; plot structure. There is literately little to no plot for the first thirty minutes of the film; there's song after song with nothing for them to emphasise, because the characters haven't had a chance to explain why they are doing a certain thing or feeling a certain way. What the film tries to do is what Once did so successfully by telling the plot through song, but the songs that Sweeny Todd has, while catchy and technically sound, are not expressive or informative enough to do the job. This therefore creates the devastating problem of the audience only being able to invest and care about the character half an hour into the film, at which point you just don't feel part of the story. Instead you feel as an outsider looking in, which means you don't care what happens to the characters. The acting too, while good and serviceable is not what I've come to expect from Johnny Depp. His singing is fine and fits the film well, but unlike almost all his other films, I never felt like I was watching one of his new character creations; it was more like I was watching Johnny Depp do his 'From Hell' accent with a bit of Jack Sparrow. Due to this I never really believed in the character, or what he was feeling the majority of the time, because it seemed to me Depp wasn't comfortable with the part. Thankfully Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman and Sasha Baron Cohen all provide good support, which stops it from falling on its face, but even they couldn't save a film which shot itself in the foot at the start.
I think it is a true shame they couldn't have fixed the beginning's structure before releasing Sweeney Todd, because I believe it would have been great if a relationship with the character had been built from the start. This is not to say that the film is a complete and utter failure, because it does have redeeming qualities, such as the support acting, gorgeous production values and catchy songs. If you are going to watch Sweeney Todd simply for Johnny Depp though, I would suggest instead buying The Libertine, sitting down in your chair and watching him at his mesmerizing best, because unfortunately he doesn't show it here.