Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Tim Burton

Writers (WGA):

John Logan (screenplay)
Stephen Sondheim (musical) ...

Release Date:

21 December 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Musical | Thriller

Tagline:

Never Forget. Never Forgive.

Plot:

The infamous story of Benjamin Barker, a.k.a Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop down in London which is the basis for a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett. Based on the hit Broadway musical.

Plot Keywords:

Judge | Widow | Sailor | Razor | Lust

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 20 wins & 31 nominations

Cast

Johnny Depp	...	Sweeney Todd
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Mrs. Lovett
Alan Rickman	...	Judge Turpin
Timothy Spall	...	Beadle
Sacha Baron Cohen	...	Pirelli
Jamie Campbell Bower	...	Anthony
Laura Michelle Kelly	...	Beggar Woman
Jayne Wisener	...	Johanna
Ed Sanders	...	Toby (as Edward Sanders)
Gracie May	...	Baby Johanna
Ava May	...	Baby Johanna
Gabriella Freeman	...	Baby Johanna
Jody Halse	...	Policeman
Aron Paramor	...	Policeman
Lee Whitlock	...	Policeman

Also Known As:

Sweeney Todd (USA) (short title)

MPAA:

Rated R for graphic bloody violence.

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Ireland:16 | UK:18 | Canada:18A (British Columbia) | Australia:MA | Finland:K-18 | South Korea:18 | Singapore:M18 | Germany:16 | Japan:R-15 | Malaysia:18PL | Czech Republic:15 | Taiwan:R-18 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Brazil:16 | Sweden:15 | Hong Kong:III | Philippines:R-18 (MTRCB) | Portugal:M/16 | Norway:15 | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:16 | Italy:VM14 | Israel:18 | South Africa:16LV | Greece:K-17 | USA:R (certificate #43914) (cut) | Ireland:18 (DVD rating) | France:-12 | Austria:14 | Denmark:15 | Spain:13 | New Zealand:R16

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

DreamWorks Pictures

Trivia:

The extra-large jacket worn by Johnny Depp is a Belstaff dark leather trench, designed exclusively for the movie.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Beadle beats Anthony he breaks the second to last segment of his telescoping cane, but in the next shot it appears fixed.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Anthony Hope: I have sailed the world, beheld its wonders, from the Dardanelles to the mountains of Peru. But there's no place like London.
Sweeney Todd: No, there's no place like London.
Anthony Hope: [spoken] Mr. Todd?
Sweeney Todd: You are young. Life has been kind to you. You will learn.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Good Eats: Oh My Meat Pie! (#12.6)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Johanna (Act II)

Tim Burton's most dramatically satisfying film so far.

I approached Sweeney Todd with trepidation, having been underwhelmed with most of Tim Burton's recent output and every screen musical of the last decade. The biggest problem I have with Burton's films is that his screenplays rarely manage to pull their disparate elements into a satisfying whole. Here, despite adapting the material to his own sensibilities and shortening the play by an hour, he adheres closely to Sondheim's book, resulting in the most dramatically satisfying film Burton has ever made.

I liked the adaptation of the off-off Broadway Hedwig and the Angry Inch, but have been left underwhelmed by all the recent big budget film musicals, so I'm glad to say that Sweeney Todd, wipes the floor with every major screen musical of the last decade, including the likable if over extended Hairspary. Most surprising is how shockingly gruesome the the film becomes in the second half. This must be the most blood drenched film since Shogun Assassin, with arteries spurting blood like like fountains as throats are cut, with the violence escalating towards the end leading towards a climax that is exhilarating, heartbreaking and satisfyingly bleak.

Unlike the dreary dirges Danny Elfman supplied for Burton's stop frame musicals, Sondheim's score is a joy to listen to from beginning to end, its dark romanticism sometimes reminding me of Bernhard Herrmann, perfectly fitting what is both a musical and a horror film in equal measures.

Depp and Bonham Carter are both excellent and it's down to their performances that I never quite lost sympathy with them in their descent into madness, blood lust and cannibalism.

Musical haters may not be converted as 75% percent of the dialogue is sung, but this completely dispatches any notion of cloying sentimentally the genre is often associated with.