I saw Sweeney Todd last Tuesday, but forgot to write about it then. While writing up my thoughts on Cloverfield, I remembered that talking about movies was one of the reasons I started this site, so here I am again. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is the Tim Burton-directed adaptation of the stage musical, and stars (surprise surprise) Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. It is a bleak, bleak musical with a very dark ending. (Again with the surprise….) It is also surprisingly good.
I don’t see all that many musicals — especially not on film — but my most general complaint about them is that they start to get tedious after a while. Too often, the music simply delays the advancement of the story, and is rarely good enough to be of primary interest itself. I did not find that to be the case with Sweeney Todd at all, though — the pacing was good, and the story advanced quickly enough to maintain my interest.
It is essentially the story of a serial killer. We feel some sympathy for Todd (originally Benjamin Barker) at first, as we learn of his wrongful imprisonment and how his family was destroyed, and can empathize with his desire for revenge. But that desire for revenge against a specific man is eventually warped into a desire for revenge against everyone, and encouraged by his partner Mrs. Lovett. It progresses down a bloody and bleak path full of dismal characters, with only a few having any good qualities whatsoever. You might be able to argue, however, that it has a happy ending.
The music — and performances by Depp and Bonham Carter — was also surprisingly good: unobtrusive, understandable, on-key, and funny. Burton carefully crafted the flow of the movie so it all came together effortlessly, with no jarring transitions to knock you out of the story. Of course, much of it is classic Burton — the sets, the setting, even the staging of some of the musical numbers — but it is not even remotely out of place in this show.
I went to see this movie with some friends — I’d had no plans to see it of my own accord. I was delighted to find that I liked the movie. Even though I really enjoyed it, it was a really dark movie, so I’m not sure how quickly I’d jump at the chance to see it again. But I’m awfully glad I saw it that first time.