Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Sweeney Todd



Ah yes, the oul dreamboat himself. We went to see Sweeney Todd on Saturday night. Well, I went to see it: hub yawned his way through it. I had got him there on the pretext of Helen Bonham Carter's jugulars, (or jongleurs?) but it didn't stop him from finding it all very tiresome: 'But darling, you know I don't like musicals!'

Well, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang it was not. I must confess that it's the first musical I've ever seen that combined song and gore in such a stomach turning way. I enjoyed it, in a peeping-through-me-fingers sort of way. I probably enjoyed it because Johnny Depp was in it. But Alan Rickman played his sneering judge quite well and Timothy Spall was quite the slinking stinker too. I have to admit that I laughed when Sacha Baron Cohen got his throat cut - but he did his small part quite well as the opposition barber with a side line in hair tonics.

One thing: if the evil judge Turpin was so evil, then how come his evil fades into insignificance once Sweeney Todd gets going? There's nowhere for your sympathies to lie except to expect Todd getting his comeuppance at the end of the film (and I'd best not spoil it here).

I think it's just degrees of evil - everyone in this damn story is so evil, bar the ward Joanna (originally Todd's daughter in his former life) and the young sailor who chases after her - but they're so damn 'goody' that they come across as sickly sweet - really - which makes you wish that something would happen along and corrupt them.

Yes, I get the whole desire-for-revenge-corrupts thing. But everyone has degrees of corruption in this telling - I tell you, I felt quite greasy leaving the cinema last Saturday and it wasn't that I needed a shower.

6 comments:

Kay Cooke said...

Thanks for a great film review. A workmate said she didn't like the musical side of it. A bit like your husband. I dunno if my liking for Johnny Depp goes as far as horror to that degree.

Unknown said...

Our consensus afterwards was that we'd have preferred a straight film - that said, I thought the singing was terrific! And Johnny is always worth seeing ;)

S. Kearney said...

Even just that photo on the poster would make me go and see it! :-)

Unknown said...

Can you catch it without subtitles/dubbing, Shameless? I hope you do see it - I'd love to know what you thought :)

Unknown said...

I've heard mixed reviews about this one - I suppose I'll just have to go and see!

Anonymous said...

I liked it, blood, bugs, and borderline singing aside. Not one I'd add to my collection, but a couple of hours with Johnny Depp is always worth the money.