Review: Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

Having now seen Sweeney Todd three times in two days, I felt I should write a review while the film is still fresh in my mind.

I had been very excited about this film having heard of it back in the Summer of 2007, I'm a big Tim Burton fan and thought a macabre, murderous musical was right up his street. However I found myself disappointed come February when I found out it had been rated 18, I still never have seen it in it's large-screen glory.

Sweeney Todd tells the tale of Benjamin Barker, a barber who was imprisoned falsely and had his wife and child taken from him by an evil judge (Alan Rickman), back in London 15 years later, he has his eyes set on nothing but revenge, despite Mrs. Lovett's (Helena Bonham-Carter) best efforts.

What can be said for it? It's a fantastic film, Johnny Depp's untrained, grizzly voice fits his character perfectly, Sweeney is without doubt the most interesting character in the entire film, it's fascinatingly tragic to see his character so fixated on the revenge, ignoring everyone else, this is fantastically portrayed in one particular song, where Sweeney sings a song to his razors about his friendship with them, singing over and clashing with Lovett's song describing her feelings for him.

The songs all in all are very well written and entertaining. The number of times the characters sing over one another makes for a really interesting and engaging way of performance, Alan Rickman in particular being surprisingly impressive as a singer.

The films is... bloody to say the least, there's plenty of gore as Sweeney slowly makes his way through half the village, slitting the throats of innocent men, blood sprays in all directions, it's Kill Bill for arthouse lovers. What's so good about the violence in the film is that it's ironic, this is no slasher horror film, it's a tragic psychological murder musical. Even more impressively is that the murders always keep their impact, after a montage of about eighteen throat slits, one may assume enough is enough, but the daths keep coming and become more and more climactic. In fact, the last 5 deaths in the film are quite possibly the most moving out of all, each more climactic than the last.

The one thing I'll say about this film that robs this film if it's all-time classic status is the genre confusion this film seems to have succumbed to. Only a very particular audience will want to watch a gore film that's also a musical, connoisseurs of each of these genres I find it hard to believe would appreciate the other fully as an art form.
But again, one could argue that the particular taste required to enjoy a film like this makes it all the more special, like you're being let in on something.

In conclusion, a fantastic film that entertains from start to finish. Wonderful music, grizzly deaths and some truly sad, sad moments.

Rating: ****+/*****
Sequel: It's highly, highly unlikely, though considering the end of the film, I'd like to see what happens next.
Favourite moment: Sweeney unsuspectingly slashes the throat of his wife not knowing who she is
share on: facebook