Sweeney Todd - any good?

Churchy99

Adventurer
Has anyone here seen Sweeney Todd? I want to know because I'm a bit short of money and only want to see it if it's really good! Also just to see what everyone here thinks about it. Is it true that it's a musical? Not that it bothers me but it might give me an idea of what to expect
 
YES. It was brilliant, I loved it. I saw it a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it.
Yes, it's a musical, but it's a very ...gory musical. Some of the songs involve gory subjects (I won't say, as I'd consider it spoilers), there are bloody scenes and so on. When I told people about it, it sounded very strange to them ...and I suppose it does sound odd, but I really think it worked, the songs and singing is great, the characters are great, it was really well done.
Musicals are not my thing, but I did very much enjoy Sweeney Todd, and I'd recommend (which I have been doing!) seeing it. :)
 
Sami said:
YES. It was brilliant, I loved it. I saw it a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it.
Yes, it's a musical, but it's a very ...gory musical. Some of the songs involve gory subjects (I won't say, as I'd consider it spoilers), there are bloody scenes and so on. When I told people about it, it sounded very strange to them ...and I suppose it does sound odd, but I really think it worked, the songs and singing is great, the characters are great, it was really well done.
Musicals are not my thing, but I did very much enjoy Sweeney Todd, and I'd recommend (which I have been doing!) seeing it. :)

Cool sounds up my street - I love stuff out of the ordinary - a gory muscial sounds cool! I will go and see it then!
 
Churchy99 said:
Sami said:
YES. It was brilliant, I loved it. I saw it a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it.
Yes, it's a musical, but it's a very ...gory musical. Some of the songs involve gory subjects (I won't say, as I'd consider it spoilers), there are bloody scenes and so on. When I told people about it, it sounded very strange to them ...and I suppose it does sound odd, but I really think it worked, the songs and singing is great, the characters are great, it was really well done.
Musicals are not my thing, but I did very much enjoy Sweeney Todd, and I'd recommend (which I have been doing!) seeing it. :)

Cool sounds up my street - I love stuff out of the ordinary - a gory muscial sounds cool! I will go and see it then!

That's what I thought! And I hope you'll enjoy it then!
 
I wasn't impressed but then again I'm not sure what I was expecting. I'm not a fan of either Burton or Depp to begin with. It wasn't unwatchable but I can see it being another one of those movies that's going to be praised to the hills for some reason. Burtons style whilst refreshing visually in the 80's and 90's is starting to feel very plastic and sterile to me anyway.
 
Johnny Depp using his generic Jack Sparrow voice is off-putting. Though I heard it's uber gorey which curbs my interest, and may other dark teenagers. >_>
 
Personally I thought the gore was overdone. Sure it's Sweeney Todd and you expect a bit of blood and gore but they just seem to take it and run with it and started to seem unnecessary and with no clear purpose. I think Hollywood needs another lesson in 'less is more' because I found that it started to detract from the film very quickly. The movie shows no restraint at all. It's like this is what Burton was more concerned about than the actual characters or story, a real shame.

Melancholy teenagers will love it though and no doubt they'll be selling Sweeney Todd bags, patches, hairdryers, t-shirts and other various **** on Hot Topic and special interest shops across the land. Much to my dismay and annoyance.
 
Mate saw it yesterday saying brilliant, close to perfect for a musical and plenty of blood for the gore fans, will be seeing this today and can't wait. Any film with Depp, Rickman and Carter in it can not be bad.
 
One other thing that I want to comment on is that Sweeney Todd is meant to be a black comedy but it seems the humour is all but lost. There are some songs that are there to lighten the mood but in the movie are presented in a way that they are mainly just bleak. Depp and Bonham Carter's performances were good but thier singing was only average and could have been cast more suitably. The only reason I can think why Depp and Carter were chosen was because of the following...

1. The Depp/Burton combination fills seats.

2. Carter is banging Burton.

Alan Rickman as the Judge was a good choice though.
 
Lupus Inu said:
I'd personally like to see a Burton movie without Johnny Depp, is it possible?
Mars Attacks. The fact that it came out shortly afte Independence Day made the already funny parody movie even more hilarious.

As for Sweeney Todd, I don't like musicals either, with the exception of the Blues Brothers and the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Burton's style is refreshing but it's getting too commercialised - I'm with Sy in blaming the emo kids latching onto the Nightmare Before Christmas, which is a really fun movie if you ignore the merchandising.
 
Lupus Inu said:
I'd personally like to see a Burton movie without Johnny Depp, is it possible?
Well Big Fish was fantastic and Depp was nowhere to be seen.

I enjoyed The Nightmare Before Christmas too but with all the shameless merchandising it's hard not to be irked by it.
 
I have now just seen it and its very good - not brilliant - I felt that the beginning got going very slowly and some songs were not needed and were not spaced out enough (I like many musicals just for the record) but some songs fit perfectly and the background score was great!

The second half is where the gold lays in this film I disagree with the claim that the violence was over the top although the murder of his wife didn't seem very cold at all, more comical! I think it added to it and showed just how ruthless he was and how casual he was with killing people.

And the scene at the end where hemurdered the judge was great - he pretty much deserved to die among the other aristocrats and upper class snobs of his time The dipiction of London was as a shithole in the 1800's was great and spot-on. Well acted too. It was only the beginning which let it down for me - I think about a 7 or 8 out of 10 for me
 
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Brilliant film, sat there the whole time amazed, loved the violence and the singing particularly the song about who they should cook and serve first.

Although its not something I will watch over and over again it will remain one of my firm favourites this year.

Would love to watch the making of though on the dvd release
 
Churchy99 said:
The second half is where the gold lays in this film I disagree with the claim that the violence was over the top although the murder of his wife didn't seem very cold at all, more comical! I think it added to it and showed just how ruthless he was and how casual he was with killing people.
Ever seen Frenzy? The killer is extremely violent but you only see the first killing, the second killing just shows a continuous shot of a corridor. I just think there didn't need to be as much violence as there was to try and hit in the fact this this guy is a bad un. I think everybody got that pretty quickly as it was. After a while of being shown it lost it's purpose if you get me.

Once again a lot of people are easily impressed by a lot of stylised gore and I once again shake my head.
 
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I haven't seen Frenzy (although I have heard of it) but you're right that less can equal more just by using different echniques other than full frontal gore - I think it depends on the context in which you show it and the character, situation or atmosphere you, as a director is trying to create - in this case I believe it helped build upon the character of Sweeny Todd.

when he was killed I think it made sense somehow and fit in with the theme of blood running throughout the film (such as in the title screen) Also with the quick deaths you see with the trap door and Todd singing it is quite reminiscent of other Burton films where he uses horrible or "scary" acts to create a sense of comedy as seen in those films. J

Just for the record I wasn't "impressed" by the gore I just felt it added to the overall feel of the story. (I wasn't one of those who went to see it purely for gore and was grinning when gore was being shown) If it didn't have it in I would not have complained as the way it was directed and the atmosphere of the shop and the envrionment was built up to be a very gloomy place indeed and I felt the level of gore went hand in hand with the other techniques used by Burton and the portrayal of the characters.
I was more impressed with performances from certain actors.

Looking at my previous post I can understand where you would get that impression though!! I do sound like a gore freak there!
 
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I went to see it over the weekend and wasn't expecting much as i'm not a huge fan of musicals. In the end i loved every minute of it. Incredibly well directed and the mise en scene is impressive, not Burton's best work but still very impressive especially for his first out and out musical. Only thing i can pick out about it i didn't like was the fact the blood just didn't look real, more like red paint, it was gory (for Burton) but i didn't think it was 18 certificate worthy. Don't be put off by the fact it's a musical, Depp is brilliant as Todd and it is well cast, but i agree he should use different actors for his next film.
Totally disagree that this will be an emo kid fashion frenzy. Sweeney will not be a cult figure like the likes of Edward Scissorhands or Jack Skellington but it will be classed as a great modern made musical. Funny how kids bum Nightmare before Christmas and call it their favorite Tim Burton film yet half of them don't even know it wasn't him who directed it lol.
 
LukasROAR said:
I went to see it over the weekend and wasn't expecting much as i'm not a huge fan of musicals. In the end i loved every minute of it. Incredibly well directed and the mise en scene is impressive, not Burton's best work but still very impressive especially for his first out and out musical. Only thing i can pick out about it i didn't like was the fact the blood just didn't look real, more like red paint, it was gory (for Burton) but i didn't think it was 18 certificate worthy. Don't be put off by the fact it's a musical, Depp is brilliant as Todd and it is well cast, but i agree he should use different actors for his next film.
Totally disagree that this will be an emo kid fashion frenzy. Sweeney will not be a cult figure like the likes of Edward Scissorhands or Jack Skellington but it will be classed as a great modern made musical. Funny how kids bum Nightmare before Christmas and call it their favorite Tim Burton film yet half of them don't even know it wasn't him who directed it lol.

It was an 18 in the UK? ..Wow, I never thought it'd be THAT high, a 15 sure, but good god.
 
Sami said:
LukasROAR said:
I went to see it over the weekend and wasn't expecting much as i'm not a huge fan of musicals. In the end i loved every minute of it. Incredibly well directed and the mise en scene is impressive, not Burton's best work but still very impressive especially for his first out and out musical. Only thing i can pick out about it i didn't like was the fact the blood just didn't look real, more like red paint, it was gory (for Burton) but i didn't think it was 18 certificate worthy. Don't be put off by the fact it's a musical, Depp is brilliant as Todd and it is well cast, but i agree he should use different actors for his next film.
Totally disagree that this will be an emo kid fashion frenzy. Sweeney will not be a cult figure like the likes of Edward Scissorhands or Jack Skellington but it will be classed as a great modern made musical. Funny how kids bum Nightmare before Christmas and call it their favorite Tim Burton film yet half of them don't even know it wasn't him who directed it lol.

It was an 18 in the UK? ..Wow, I never thought it'd be THAT high, a 15 sure, but good god.

Aye it was, the blood didn't even look real even though there was a lot of it. Maybe the subject matter was a bit too touchy for the British censors. Though usually we're quite lax compared to US and other countries.
 
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