Sweeney Todd

Viewer Rating:Cascarino has rated Sweeney Todd rating: 2 Star

I just don't get this Tim Burton lad. If I had made so many mistakes in my professional career, I would be fired and never offered another job. Anybody who lists 3 howlers like "Batman Forever", "Mars Attacks", or 2001's "Planet of the Apes" on their CV has got be so wildly eccentric that their films will inevitably follow suit. One of the true great achievements of Burton is that he discovered Johnny Depp, a great talent who again shows his quality in "Sweeney Todd". This is, without doubt, an interesting film most of the way through, but only because of the madness of it all. In the typical Burton mode, it is dark and ominous and really surreal, but doesn't offer much more. If I wanted to see throats being slashed, I would go to a Halal certified beef abattoir. The Director focuses so much on the set and the music that he fails to invest enough effort in building characters or developing the plot. We get a brief flash from the past where we see Depp's character, Benjamin Barker, as a younger man being dragged off to prison while out with his wife and child, framed by the sinister Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) who lusted after his wife. Back in London after 15 years in an Australian penal colony, Barker has changed almost beyond recognition and, complete with his new depraved look, gives himself the new name of Sweeney Todd. Crazy, bitter and hell-bent on retribution, Todd hooks up with Mrs Lovett (Bonham Carter), an old friend who tells him that his wife killed herself after being raped by Judge Turpin, the latter taking her child and imprisoning her in a room in his house. Todd vows to avenge his wife's death and get his now tennaged child back, but first must lure Turpin to his barber shop, which is the scene of all of his throat slashing murders. Most of the story is communicated through often incomprehensible songs, interspersed with low volume dialogue. But it just becomes pretty monotonous after the first 45 minutes and any of the horror effect is negated. I would like to see this musical in a Theatre, but on a DVD and with imperfect sound, it loses its edge and doesn't really deliver for me.

Review published on the 25 June 2008 12:22