Sweeney Todd Movie Review Thread — Page 10

Holy mackerel!

My favorites...



"Why are they talking like that? Why are they talking like that?"

Okay...I have to ask. Did someone REALLY say that? To not know beforehand that SWEENEY TODD is a musical is pretty shocking. To not know what a musical IS when you're watching it is absolutely mind-boggling.



and...
...As the couple left(during A Little Priest,) the man extended his hand and flipped off the screen.

What on earth could be going through these people's heads?

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I like the comment that it's a parody of musicals. Wow...we've been awfully misled then, haven't we?

I'll throw my thoughts in here as well...

And they're really THOUGHTS, not so much a formal review. I'm not good at writing those, but better at writing down the ideas and emotions as they come.

Right now, having just seen the film a few hours ago, I'm stunned by it. A little in shock, a little repulsed (I feel like I need a shower), and both impressed and disappointed by what I saw.

*****SPOILERS******

None of the following was surprising to me, particularly after seeing and hearing so many clips, but I'll mention them just the same:

The movie looks like a graphic novel. A blend of "From Hell" and the original Frankenstein from Universal.

The Sondheim score sounds fantastic played by such a large well-recorded orchestra. Considering that Sondheim was paying homage to the film scores of Bernard Hermann when he wrote the original Sweeney Todd, it's truly satisfying to hear this music played by a full fledged "movie orchestra."

The violence was pretty damn disgusting. Particularly the demises of the Judge and Mrs. Lovett.

Wonderful things:

Helena gave the best acting performance in the film. Her singing was fine, but not great. No shock, I know. I thought she made Mrs. Lovett as real as possible in this "horror movie" world. Her tortured, devastated expression, when she realizes Tobias knows too much and he must die... this actually MADE the entire movie for me. The most haunting moment in the film.

Disappointing:

Johnny's acting was fairly "one (nice, impressive) note," but of various degrees of the same exact emotion. There were missed opportunities and layers in his performance, particularly when he realizes the Beggar Woman is his wife at the end. I thought he underplayed or internalized that revelation to the point that I never really felt anything for his Sweeney, ultimately. Even in the old monster movies, there was always one moment where we connected with the humanity behind the evil. I thought it took away from my impression of his work, and left me feeling rather cold. I did, however, like him bleeding all over the dead Lucy. That was a wonderful, tragic tableau and should have come AFTER we see the horror on his face when he realizes what he did. He actually sang "What have I done?" with no more intensity or expression on his face or in his voice than any other line thus far. That's really unfortunate for him and for the film as a whole.

The movie felt creaky, a tad slow, and only mildly fascinating until Pirelli and Tobias showed up. Everything kicked up a notch then. Once the violence kicked in, the film finally became something highly unusual. A horror movie musical. Something I have never seen before... and am not sure I want to see again, in truth. But it did what it set out to do.

I loved having Tobias as a child in this film. The kid looked and sounded right, and played most of his scenes very well. Again, there were missed opportunities, particularly at the end of the story. His menacing expression when he came out of the dark for Sweeney was truly chilling. But when he was initially locked in the bakehouse, his "frightened" expression was way too standard. I would have wanted to see him short-circuit there. Not just look scared. In the stage show, he emerges with his hair turned completely white. I wanted to see that here as well... and they should have kept his childlike, "Pack him, ****him, and mark him with a B..."

And I really didn't like just a simple fade-out before the credits started to roll. Tobias should have turned into the camera and slammed that oven door right in our faces. Into complete darkness. And we would hear it echo out over a dark screen, with an awkward pause, before the credits began.

Anthony looked like a buggy-eyed nerd, not like a young, handsome strapping lad who sailed the seas. Too fragile and willowy to have survived so long in those conditions. I think going "Heroin Chic" for him was a big mistake. I did buy his youthful age, and understand that he could have been all over the world at that point and never seen such a beautiful girl before... I just didn't buy this actor in that role.

Johanna was also a bit buggy-eyed but very beautiful. (Seriously, why do so many "kids" in Tim Burton movies have hyperthyroid problems?)

A missed opportunity was seeing Johanna go a bit mad herself in the asylum. And they trimmed too much of her music. They should have kept her part of the "Johanna reprise" at least, where she keeps singing "married on Sunday, married on Sunday..." If we'd seen her facing the horrors of the asylum as she sang that, it would have added a lot for her character and her performance.

As it is, Anthony and Johanna are usually played as stock melodrama characters. Take that "style" (which I don't even like) away from them, and there's not much left for them OR the audience to chew on. If they were going to cut "Kiss Me" they shouldn't have cut the awkward interaction between the two when they first physically meet. She has no idea how to behave around a young man, and probably got what little she knows out of novels she stole away from the Judge's library. It doesn't have to be played for cartoonish laughs, but it could have been a very bittersweet, slightly humorous, and painfully tragic moment for the two of them. And for us.

I didn't mind the Ballad of Sweeney Todd being cut, but I VERY MUCH minded ALL the choral singing being cut from the entire score. It was especially noticeable in "God That's Good!" I wanted to hear the people singing, eating, drinking and merrily enjoying themselves. It fits the scene! I also wanted to hear the inmates singing in the asylum. Somebody involved in this REALLY doesn't like choral singing of any kind and made it a curious "blanket rule" for the whole film. Bad mistake, and it made some of the energy of those scenes in particular suffer greatly as a result. Plus, it really kept the principle performers emotionally and stylistically isolated from anybody else "living" in the movie. It was actually less realistic to have no one sing but the leads in this "musical world."

All in all, I think Tim Burton and Johnny Depp accomplished what they set out to do. Whether or not it was successful sitting in the audience? Well... For me, only partially so. When their vision "worked" it really worked well. But primarily due to Depp staying on his very narrow, gritty, determined path as a serial killer, I didn't find myself being drawn into this version of "Sweeney Todd" nearly as much as I have by several others.

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Thanks for the great review, best12bars. Describing Anthony as "heroin chic" is such a great way to put it.

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ljay--I took the hillside scene at either end to be "real," bookending the fantasy. Since the somber color palette matched the rest of the movie.

But I had a hard time believing that Sweeney would have gone out like that to sit on a hill with Lovett and Tobias. I can't see how he would have been persuaded to go on any "outing" whatsoever.

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I love this movie so much. I've already seen it twice and it was even better the second time. Ed Sanders amazes me! His face at the end gives me immdiate chills. So. Good.

I just got back from my second viewing. I was too swept up by the fact that it was finally made into a film to be truly objective the first time around because I love the musical so much. I wanted to wait for a second viewing before I posted my thoughts in this thread. Well after seeing it for a second time you can count me in the minority that isn't gushing over this film adaptation or ready to toss it every single accolade known to man.

It suffers from poor storytelling as far as the Johanna/Anthony storyline is concerned. The lack of a true resolution for these two characters was truly unsatisfying.

I missed all the choral parts in this wonderful score! I'm with best12bars on this one. That whole "God, That's Good!" sequence would have been so much better with the choral parts.

The Beggar Woman/Lucy was so underused. Not a major loss but still...

I didn't buy Jaime Campbell Bower as "Anthony" at all. He has a beautiful voice but he was too, too pretty to convince me he was
a sailor who'd traveled around the world.

Visually the movie was moving. I didn't find the blood disturbing , after all he *was* slitting throats, no?

Depp did a very good job as "Sweeney". He handled his songs pretty well. Although his "Epiphany" lacked something.

Dramatically Helena Bonham Carter was too one note. She was just in my opinion to low key in this role. Not one glimpse that this woman had a screw loose. Her singing left a lot to be desired. I couldn't understand one word she sang (and I use that term loosely) in "The Worst Pies In London"....and I know the score!

It's critical when telling a story through song that the viewer understand what is being sung. I'm sure those who have never heard the score to "Sweeney" had no idea what she was warbling on about. It was extremely disappointing.

Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall were great as "Judge Turpin" and "The Beadle" respectively.

When all is said and done this is the best possible big screen version of SWEENEY TODD we are going to get...like it or love it, take it or leave it.

Updated On: 12/22/07 at 10:39 PM

genius but sick, incredibly sick.

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i do think by not having Sweeney run into the Beggarwoman when he first arrives in london undercuts that tragedy.

& what i realized about myself: i didnt think "good singing" would matter so much to me, & i didnt even realize that that is one of the things i love most about SWEENEY; how the voices weave together acrobatically, how they call & respond.

& this version didnt even attmept it.

another thing: i was so happy when i read that Tim Burton was doing it, because i thought he would bring out a level of humanity in the story that we might not have seen before; instead he made it more brutal than i couldve imagined, & i have less empathy with this version of SWEENEY.

i *AM* happy that its a success, tho!

also i agree that its hard to care about Johanna without KISS ME to show that she *has* a personality.

tho i *AM* happy that its a success!

I wouldn't take what the people on IMDB say too seriously.

Updated On: 12/23/07 at 01:29 PM