Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (***½)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Directed by: Tim Burton
Staring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen
Seen: February 22nd 2008
***½ Out of ****
Before seeing the film, the only thing I knew about Sweeney Todd was that it was a very bloody stage play, and that the characters in the 2004 Ben Affleck film Jersey Girl used it to shock audiences by performing it as a primary school play.
That said I did not know what to expect from this film.
A ship appears sailing out of the fog into darkest London, and a young man sits singing on the bow. Johnny Depp steps into the frame, ending the lyric with “in London” in as gruff a singing voice as I’ve heard. This is what we start with – they disembark, stroll up the first street, and Sweeney (Depp) greets the young man and sets off for his old home. As he turns the view flies past him, quickly tracing his route, pausing at certain street vendors, ladies of the night, some homeless and more to his old home, immediately setting the visual and emotional tone the movie follows to a tee, dark and brooding.
Johnny Depp, to my ear, does some great singing here, perfect for his character, a man wronged by the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman displays the evil not fully there in Severus Snape) who stole his wife and daughter. He finds his wife is dead, and his daughter is a prisoner of Judge Turpin, and revenge is on his mind. But of course, like all heroes do, he has to prepare and plan to get there in the end. Our hero in this case is in fact a murderer, but we root for him, something Hollywood has been able to do with increasing success as the years went by…
Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G.) also makes an impressive appearance as the famous barber Pirelli, but he is just a nuisance that Todd deals with along the way as part of his quest to get to Turpin.
Mrs. Lovett (Bonham Carter) helps him, her failing pie-shop under his unoccupied home. Once back in, he immediately exhumes his shaving blades, holds one in an outstretched arm, and proclaims: “At last, my arm is complete again!” They team up, whoever he kills upstairs gets grinded into her ever more popular pies downstairs; and no-one gets the wiser, except for a destitute street woman, who they keep silencing, important character maybe? Mrs. Lovett is clearly in love with Sweeney Todd, and this becomes most evident in a dream sequence quite unlike the rest of the film, which had me laughing out loud at its beautiful absurdity and colourful deposition. Vengeance is foremost on Sweeney’s mind, making him incapable of recognising Mrs. Lovett’s feelings towards him, and her blind love for him completely makes her miss this. This is no love story; it’s a revenge story because of love.
There is a wicked sense of darkest black humour here, I’ve even heard people say they found the way bodies fall to Sweeney’s basement funny (to me that was a bit over the top, too grisly). I did find the overall theme of the film very amusing and entertaining, a wonderful musical, if you can stomach the violence and cannibalism. This is typical Burton and Depp, with a bit of extra gore, but extremely enjoyable.
Directed by: Tim Burton
Staring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen
Seen: February 22nd 2008
***½ Out of ****
Before seeing the film, the only thing I knew about Sweeney Todd was that it was a very bloody stage play, and that the characters in the 2004 Ben Affleck film Jersey Girl used it to shock audiences by performing it as a primary school play.
That said I did not know what to expect from this film.
A ship appears sailing out of the fog into darkest London, and a young man sits singing on the bow. Johnny Depp steps into the frame, ending the lyric with “in London” in as gruff a singing voice as I’ve heard. This is what we start with – they disembark, stroll up the first street, and Sweeney (Depp) greets the young man and sets off for his old home. As he turns the view flies past him, quickly tracing his route, pausing at certain street vendors, ladies of the night, some homeless and more to his old home, immediately setting the visual and emotional tone the movie follows to a tee, dark and brooding.
Johnny Depp, to my ear, does some great singing here, perfect for his character, a man wronged by the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman displays the evil not fully there in Severus Snape) who stole his wife and daughter. He finds his wife is dead, and his daughter is a prisoner of Judge Turpin, and revenge is on his mind. But of course, like all heroes do, he has to prepare and plan to get there in the end. Our hero in this case is in fact a murderer, but we root for him, something Hollywood has been able to do with increasing success as the years went by…
Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G.) also makes an impressive appearance as the famous barber Pirelli, but he is just a nuisance that Todd deals with along the way as part of his quest to get to Turpin.
Mrs. Lovett (Bonham Carter) helps him, her failing pie-shop under his unoccupied home. Once back in, he immediately exhumes his shaving blades, holds one in an outstretched arm, and proclaims: “At last, my arm is complete again!” They team up, whoever he kills upstairs gets grinded into her ever more popular pies downstairs; and no-one gets the wiser, except for a destitute street woman, who they keep silencing, important character maybe? Mrs. Lovett is clearly in love with Sweeney Todd, and this becomes most evident in a dream sequence quite unlike the rest of the film, which had me laughing out loud at its beautiful absurdity and colourful deposition. Vengeance is foremost on Sweeney’s mind, making him incapable of recognising Mrs. Lovett’s feelings towards him, and her blind love for him completely makes her miss this. This is no love story; it’s a revenge story because of love.
There is a wicked sense of darkest black humour here, I’ve even heard people say they found the way bodies fall to Sweeney’s basement funny (to me that was a bit over the top, too grisly). I did find the overall theme of the film very amusing and entertaining, a wonderful musical, if you can stomach the violence and cannibalism. This is typical Burton and Depp, with a bit of extra gore, but extremely enjoyable.
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