Sweeney Todd

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This movie stunned me so much that I could hardly move from my seat when it was over. The dark cinematography is brilliant and works so well to enhance the story. Johnny Depp has given us so many amazing performances in the past and you can put this one up there at the top of the list. I have to admit that in the past I have loathed Tim Burton offerings but he redeems himself in my opinion with a feast for the eyes and ears that is a triumph. I approached the movie with trepidation because actors put in singing roles seldom work, but not this time. The singing was not only terrific, it was mesmerizing. I have to warn you this movie is for movie fans that love music (Broadway, classical or opera) and have a cast iron stomach. I heard they used 70 gallons of fake blood filming it and I believe them. All I can say is you can see the bloody scenes coming a mile off so you have plenty of time to avert your eyes.

It was bloody, disturbing, gruesome...and I loved every minuet of it! Deep makes a awesome Sweeney but I think Helena Bonham Carter is my favorite performance in this film, she is VERY funny and makes the character her own! BUT for people who love the stage version (which I do!) try to erase every thought of it from your mind! If you keep comparing it to what it was on stage than you won't enjoy it as much! Go in to the theater with an open mind and embrace the film for what it is (very different then what it is on stage)! This is an amazing film and I recommend it to every one (except to people who have week stomachs)!

This movie is awful. I went to see this movie because I liked past performances of Depp and I like the way Burton works, but this was a waste of time and money. To begin with, with few exceptions the actors can't sing. A lot of singers can't act, and the opposite is true as well. Depp should absolutely stick to speaking. Then they keep on singing the same lines. Over and over and over. They could have put a few more dialogues, soliloquies, or even more sung lines in the story, but instead they opted for boring people. The story itself could have been good, except that the plot is flat and predictable, dragged on by the incessant monotone singing. Every major plot point, including the final "twist" was so overdone that my fiancée guessed it about 15 minutes into the movie. This movie could have been done SO much better with a more convoluted plot. In truth, there are no twists, no poignant moments, no deep characters, and no story. Fans of the actors and of the director will love it for sure, but then again they are fans and that's what they do.

"At last, my arm is complete again." Sweeney Todd as he admires one of his efficient razors after a long absence. I'm not sure Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd is "grand," but I'm confident it's in the best Grand Guignol tradition of sensational stage horror given its name from that little theater in early 20th century Paris that specialized in sensationally ghoulish productions. I am also sure that no one in film is better able to play the titular butcher than the shape-shifting, ever-naughty Johnny Depp. The opening song "No Place Like London" hints to Anglophiles like me that it won't be my usual tour of West End theaters, rather a seedy, dangerous place where Mac the Knife would be more at home. Throughout the musical, Steven Sondheim's lyrics expressively revel in the amoral, throat-slicing world that Sweeney and his adoring meatpie lady, Nellie Lovett (Helena Bonham-Carter), wallow in as he prepares to take revenge on the equally amoral Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who dispatched Todd to prison early on to get his beautiful young wife. Hence Sweeney's revenge inclination. Sweeney's lyric best expresses the wildly murderous world, hardly the usual province of musicals: "Alright! You, Sir?/No one's in the chair come on, come on/Sweeney's waiting/I want you bleeders./You sir! Too sir?/Welcome to the grave./I will have vengeance./I will have salvation . . . ." Yes, it's Sleepy-Hollow, Corpse-Bride Tim Burton's movie with blood spouting like red paint from a pressure gun contrasting the somber, almost black and white underside of London. When one of the children bites into a pie with a finger in it (shades of our contemporary law suits!), the audience doesn't even gasp, given the omnipresence of bloody bodies. There is no more interesting musical this year, even considering the enchanting Once. In the end, it is unsettling, unsavory, and unusual. Burton does better than anyone else in juxtaposing horror with innocence.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is one of the year's most talked about films, it's getting big Oscar buzz and of course, what could be better than Tim Burton taking on this dark musical? With Johnny Depp starring along with beautiful Helena Bonham Carter by his side, this movie just screams terrific. My mom and I saw the movie today and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street lived beyond to my expectations. Tim Burton hasn't exactly released a classic lately that would be remembered for all time, but Sweeny Todd is sure to make it's way into one of the most memorable films of 2007. Johnny Depp and Helena both have incredible voices, they were so hauntingly beautiful and magical together, it's like these roles were made for them. Along with an equally strong cast as Alan Rickman and Sacha Baron Cohen who were also incredible, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a new memorable musical for years to come. Sweeney Todd has come to London on a mission, a mission for revenge! His wife was taken by the evil judge for his own pleasure's with her and Sweeney's daughter. Now Sweeney's daughter is grown and is being held by Judge Turpin and he has been informed by his lover, Mrs. Lovett that his wife has died. "At last my arm is complete!" Sweeney says as he raises his faithful razor and wishes to kill the vermin of the world as well. Mrs. Lovett comes up with the clever idea to create a tasty meat pie of the victims and makes quite the popular business. But Sweeney is determined to find his daughter who is being wooed by his young friend, Anthony, and kill the judge who has taken everything from him. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was so beautifully shot. The reason why I love Tim Burton so much is because he knows how colors and contrasts work in a film. He knew how dark Mrs. Lovetts and Sweeney Todd are, in a picnic scene where everything is supposed to be bright, Sweeney and Lovetts are the only dark figures in the lovely setting. The music is triumphant, the songs were so memorable and almost hypnotic, I felt like was in a real Broadway audience. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is one of the best films of the year, I guarantee it, this was a terrific musical that was a bloody good time! Tim Burton is back and he's better than ever with Johnny. 10/10

As a fan of the original stage version of this grimly Gothic tale, going into Sweeney Todd was bittersweet in my hopes and expectations. However, I'm pleased to announce that I did find Burton's latest effort impressive and intentional. Fans of the original won't be disappointed with a top-notch cast and the wonderfully dark overtures that haunt every minute of Sweeney Todd. Tim Burton, one of the masters of ambiance, sets his atmosphere in the grisly streets of a depressed London and his artistry punctures through every scene of screen time. I would have to clarify that, while Johnny Depp is a skilled actor, fans of the original will find it hard to believe that Depp has the ability to transform into the George Hearn "Sweeny" we've come to know. This is in fact true and recognized by Burton. In this respect, the character of Depp is not played as the same manner as the deep-voiced, towering Todd from the musical adaptation. Depp's is more of a less boisterous and thoughtful one. The vocal performances are great but have a different approach and feel to them. It was a refreshing adaptation and I feel a triumph on the part of Burton for making a stage-to-screen experience that captures you from it's bloody introduction.

I am generally not a fan of musicals. I don't like the artifice of singing dialogue moments. I have no problem with singing in a movie but this grates on me. Take Dreamgirls for instance. For the most part i was fine with it, good songs, performed as performances with a narrative structure surrounding them. However once of twice it had songs in place of dialogue where characters were discussing things amongst themselves or some such thing and i just got annoyed. And yes i dislike all the classics like West Side Story for this very reason. For about the first 20-30 minutes of Sweeney Todd I was having the same problem. This makes no bones about it being a musical. It's not Rex Harrison speak-sing, it's not staged songs in the middle of clumps of dialogue, it's pretty much all singing. Everything. Every sentiment, every emotion, every plan, every aside. Yet after about 20 minutes or so i got used to it and went with it and then just appreciated the wonderful dark humour and sheer entertainment quality of it. Johnny Depp is great in the lead but he is complimented across the entire cast with Alan Rickman on fabulously villainous mode; Timothy Spall wonderfully revolting an Beadle Bamford - Rickman's henchman; and Helena Bonham Carter hilariously off-centre with all the best lines. It also has a star making turn from a brilliant child actor, Edward Sanders. Much better than the now ubiquitous Freddie Highmore (who got his big break with Depp in Finding Neverland before rejoining him (with Burton) in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory) he seems destined to have a great career potentially. The film's greatest achievement however is how Burton has translated it to screen. This is a purely film musical. It never feels stagey. Unlike recent films like The Producers, Dreamgirls, Chicago which felt largely like they'd stuck a camera in a theatre and just filmed the show here Burton is brave enough to create a cinematic musical using all the tricks of his craft. That is never feels like it belongs anywhere but on a cinema screen is a huge testament to Burton's skill in the translation and I hope the Academy is intelligent enough to recognise this come the Oscars next year. The dark humour is great, the look is stunning, Depp is gloriously unhinged while remaining believable. Even if, like me, you don't generally like this type of musical i think you'll get swept up in Sweeney Todd and enjoy it. Bravo Mr Burton.