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Movie Review
A cut above the rest
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
5:00 pm Dec 23 - by Clifford White – Buzz Writer
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In this photo released by Paramount pictures, actor Johnny Depp portrays Sweeney Todd.
Rated R
3.5 Stars Out of 4
Seldom do I go to a musical and actually feel the least bit unsettled or shocked (unless the singing is ungodly atrocious), but Tim Burton‘s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street will cause anyone not accustomed to blood splatter to turn from the screen at least once. In his sixth collaboration with Burton, Johnny Depp stars as the deranged Sweeney Todd. To say that Depp’s sinister glare is unnerving would be an understatement. Half of the film he carries around two silver knives in hip-holsters like a gunslinger. His growls reverberate like those of Clint Eastwood’s man with no name.
Another Burton regular, Helena Bonham Carter. plays Mrs. Lovett, the owner of the struggling bakery below Sweeney’s Barber Parlor. The duo work together to thin the population of London - Sweeney does so out of an intense hatred of mankind, fueled by his wrongful imprisonment at the hands of Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman); Mrs. Lovett does so out of twisted affection for Sweeney and a cheap means to get meat for her pies. Carter practically slithers along the screen as Sweeney Todd’s amoral enabler. Instead of delaying him from exacting revenge merely for the sake of it, she convinces him to do so for profit as well.
Once an honest and decent man, Sweeney Todd was shattered when the ruthless Judge Turpin had him sent to prison so that he could to steal Todd’s wife. Hardened by this injustice, Todd losses his respect for humanity and considers everyone worthy of death, including himself. By the end of the film, Sweeney Todd seems like a psychotic Edward Scissorhands who mercilessly slays anyone foolhardy enough to step into his parlor. Not for the faint of heart, Sweeney Todd reflects Burton at his ‘grotesquely dark’ finest. The songs will not have anyone humming along, but they will leave you wanting your throat covered at all times.
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Last post: Dec. 27, 2007 at 12:42 am
Nikki (Nikki Blight) said on Dec. 27, 2007 at 12:42 am:
The movie is very typical Burton... his films are hit or miss for me. Some, like Sleepy Hollow and Edward Scissorhands, I've loved, and others I'd prefer to never, ever see again (I'm looking at you, Planet of the Apes remake...).
I went mainly for Depp and Rickman, and throughly enjoyed myself, even if the scene with the grand re-openning of Mrs. Lovett's shop did make me gag a little. It's a pretty twisted story. I liked it. :)
Jeff Brandt (Jeff Brandt) said on Dec. 24, 2007 at 11:02 am:
I actually thought the songs were very hummable.
I saw this the same night I watched Charlie Wilson's War, and I definitely preferred this. Sweeney Todd never gets boring, unlike CWW. But, I do think the throat-slitting montage could have used more variation.