Sweeney Todd Review

So a while ago I was going to post a review about Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street but I got distracted by girls.
Now I am not distracted by girls so now I will post my review of Sweeney Todd.

I posted the trailer a while ago. Here is a short video with some complied clips of the movie (none of the clips give anything away):

And yes. That is Sacha Baron Cohen aka Ali G aka Borat as the "Italian" barber, Signor Adolfo Pirelli.

OK. Where to begin?
I should first say: I adore Tim Burton's work. I think his ability to turn the grotesque into something beautiful is truly astounding. I love that he can make the weird and the strange into something gorgeous (case and point: Edward Scissorhands). I love him.

I should also say: I'm not crazy about Sondheim. I'm just not all that into his music. I don't like Into the Woods at all. Company is pretty good, and actually the music for Sweeney Todd is not bad either. BUT I think the classic Sondheim-esque sound fits very well with the themes and story of Sweeney Todd. Not so much for a show about fairy tales. (Even though I realize the true fairy tales were quite gruesome. I just don't like Into the Woods, ok?)

I should also say: I love off-color stories. I love weird stories. I love stories that are a little grotesque (and not in a blood-and-guts-dead kinda way...just in a way that's not necessarily what people would regard as pretty or beautiful) (Which is why I adore Tim Burton's work). Sweeney Todd is most certainly an off-color, weird, grotesque story. Awesome.

OK.
Having said all that...

I really liked the movie. Here's what I thought about the movie in shorthand:

Acting: Pretty good. Depp and Carter have a great dynamic. Great presence from all the actors. Alan Rickman is always creepy and brilliant. Sacha Baron Cohen had a bit part, but did a fabulous job.

Singing: Eh. They're movie stars. I wasn't expecting too much here. Because I'm not a trained singer, or all that knowledgeable on how Sondheim music needs to be done...the singing didn't bother me too much. Are Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter Michael Cerveris or Patti LuPone*? Um, no. Could Michael Cerveris or Patti LuPone be in the movie with the same amount of screen presence as Carter or Depp? Probably not. It's a give and take. I get that. The singing wasn't great, but ok with me.
*Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris are Broadway actors that recently starred in the revival of Sweeney Todd on Broadway. Both are brillant. Patti LuPone is a legand on the American stage. Here is LuPone and Cerveris performing at the Tonys:

Yeah. Awesome, right? I really want to see Sweeney done on stage now. And frankly...I want to see this version.

Directing: The direction was fabulous. Tim Burton really knows how to work a camera and uses angle and movement magnificently. It was good enough where I noticed it, but not certainly did not stand out in a way that overshadowed the movie. The movie has Tim Burton's stamp all over it. From camera angles, to sets, to the costumes, to the look of the characters...to the angled roof of Todd's barber shop that calls back to Edward Scissorhand's Gothic dwelling...it's his work through and through. And it's all fabulous.

Sweeney Todd is quite gorey and violent. I mean, the violence and gore is inherent in the nature of the story (wrongly wronged barber who reaps his vengeance by slitting the throats of his customers and sending the bodies down to the bake shop to be made into meat pies).
How the gore is handled is in the choice of the director. Most stage shows have a rigged razor that squirts blood as Todd slits the throats of this victims. The Broadway revival communicated the killing/gore by pouring bright red "blood" from one bucket to another (David). (I was just citing my source there so I don't get sued for plagiarism. I've never seen it on stage, I just know about it from what my musical theatre encyclopedia, David, has told me).
Anyway.
Tim Burton's choice was to go classic horror movie bad with the gore. The victims squirt and spew blood as he kills them, but the blood is very bright and almost looks like paint. So while it is quite gorey, the blood is noticeable unrealistic. It was an aesthetic choice, one that I thought worked very well.
Not so unrealistic though, is the horrifying sound the dead bodies make when Todd sends the bodies down the chute to the basement of the bakeshop. They land with a gut-wrenching crunch. And furthermore, the camera does not cut away as they hit the floor, so you see necks snap and bones break. It's pretty awful. I yelled and/or made some sort of guttural noise each and every time a body fell or a throat was slit.
Though it make have been stylized gore and violence, it was still horrifying to watch. Mission accomplished on that one, Tim Burton. Mission accomplished. Apparently, my noises were quite loud because after the movie, my friend Meghan told me I might as well have added my own soundtrack and that she was shaking with laughter in the chair next to me anytime I let out a yell. David, on the other hand, would say, "Fab-u-lous!" or "Love it!" each time a body fell to the basement and hit the deck.
Also...the idea of human meat going into meat pies is disgustingly realized in the movie. It inloves body parts, a meat grinder, and some well suited sound effects. The end effect made my stomach turn.
The amount of gore and violence is sort of unusual for a Burton film. As much as his films are grotesque and Gothic, gore and violence are hardly ever involved. Save for a movie like Sleepy Hollow, which has similar gore/violence style as Sweeney Todd does.
But if you are ultra squeamish, I would say sit this one out or be warned (or at least go with someone who's arm you can grab onto).

Ok, now I need to talk about the last part of the movie. If you haven't seen it and intend to...here be spoilers. If you know what happens at the end of Sweeney Todd but haven't seen the movie and don't want to know how Burton handles the end...here be spoilers.




So, Benjamin Barker is this dude right? And this other dude (an evil and corrupt judge) decided he wanted to mac on Barker's wife, right? So he has Barker arrested to he can take Barker's wife and child for his own. He sends Barker away, Barker comes back a broken and vengful man adopting the ego of *cue the dramatic music* SWEENEY TODD!!! After coming home and meeting Mrs. Lovett (owner of the bakeshop who is in love with Todd (who doesn't seem to notice)) who informs him his wife killed herself via poison and that the evil judge has taken on his child as his ward, Todd vows to exact revenge on the judge and spends the rest of the movie trying to get to the judge to kill him erstwhile slitting the throats of his clients and sending the bodies to Mrs. Lovett to put into her meat pies.
Phew.
Ok.
Here is where the spoiler comes in...
So there's this little old beggar lady we see float in and out throughout the movie. She happens to be in the wrong place and the wrong time and Todd quickly and without question cuts her throat and sends her to the bakeshop.
The judge enters his barber shop, and Todd...uh...hacks his throat to pieces. He sends his body to the bakeshop.
Todd then goes down to the bakeshop, wishing to hack the judge to pieces himself. He comes upon Mrs. Lovett who is dragging the body of the old woman away so Todd won't see her. Todd looks at her closely, and realizes *cue dramatic music* that the old woman he so swiftly disposed of was HIS WIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Todd than kills Mrs. Lovett for lying to him (she told him his wife was dead because she wanted to steal Todd for herself (bitch)) by throwing her in the oven.
Yeah, don't take the kids to this one.
SO!
...all this to get to the end scene which I want to talk about.
Todd kills Lovett, and is cradling the body of his murdered-by-his-own-hand wife. when Toby (who tried to convince Mrs. Lovett earlier that Todd was a bad man and that he would protect her, "Nothing's gonna harm you not while I'm around") who has been hiding in the bakeshop Mrs. Lovett locked him in (Mrs. Lovett locked him in there after she found out he was onto Todd being nuts, because she loved Todd and didn't want Toby to call the police)...ok...where the heck was I???
So Toby, who has been hiding in the bakeshop, privy to all this (including Todd killing Lovett) comes out and slits Todd's throat.

OK!

Got it???

NOW!
All to just to talk about the last scene. And I don't really even have anything great to say about it. Don't you guys love my blog?

SO!
In the Burton's movie, Todd is on the ground cradling his wife's body, right?
Toby comes up behind, and Todd senses someone there and sits upright.
Toby slits hit throat.
A waterfall of blood spurts forth from Todd's throat. That happens for a couple seconds...
And then his head slips slowly forward as he dies.
The blood is dripping everywhere.
And the camera closes in...
And you see his blood falling all over the body of his dead wife, who, though he is dead, he is still holding in a pieta.
You see his blood fall over her face and her entire body.
The camera closes in close enough, where is seems to be raining blood.
Sounds absolutely heinous and disgusting right??

I am not lying when I say it's on my list of most beautiful moments I've ever seen on film.

...I'm not totally off the wall crazy for the movie. It was really good. I really liked it...but that single moment...blew me away.

...kinda like Burton's movie Corpse Bride. The movie itself wasn't too great. It was very well animated and the art in it was incredible...but the story and writing fell a little short. BUT the last moment in the film, where the Corpse Bride disintegrates into butterflies that fly off into the moonlight...literally brought me to tears.
...I'm such a nerd.