Good Film

Rating: Null/10 (28 February 2008)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
*** (out of 4)
Horror-musical about the one and only Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) who slashes throats as a barber and sends the flesh downstairs to Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) so that she can make her meat pies. All of this so that Sweeney can seek vengeance against the man (Alan Rickman) who stole his wife and child. I've yet to see a review who mentioned the 1936 Tod Slaughter film but I'll do so right now. There's no question this is a better version but in the end I've never hated a film that I loved so much. There's so much brilliance in this film that it's a shame I didn't enjoy it more but the first thirty-minutes were somewhat brutal for me. I really wasn't enjoying any of the songs nor was I enjoying any of the build up of the characters. I thought the songs were rather weak and the film took way too long to get to the build up, which finally happens when Sacha Baron Cohen's character hits the screen. This is when the story of the vengeance starts to unfold and this is when Burton and the cast really starts to shine. I'm not sure what it was but this is when the film took off for me and Depp really started to shine in what has to be one of his greatest performances. Yes, he's not much of a singer but I think he actually did great during the songs that deal with anger. When Depp let his voice go in anguish screams I thought the songs were very powerful. Carter can't sing that well either but I think the songwriters and Burton did a nice job of hiding this by giving her songs some nice comic touching, which the actress nailed perfectly. The ending of the film is highly dramatic is quite beautiful as is most of the visuals in the film. I hate CGI but thought Burton used it very well here in this fantasy world. I was also shocked at how bloody and violent this film was with all the throat slashings. Burton lets the blood flow very deep so I'm shocked so many people were going to see the film. Perhaps a second viewing will let me enjoy the start of the film more but there's still plenty of stuff here to love but I couldn't help wish that I had loved all of it.