SWEENEY TODD.
"Sweeney Todd. He never forgets and he never forgives."
"Sweeney Todd. He never forgets and he never forgives."
The story is rather simple, a man, falsely accused and sent away for a decade and a half by a lecherous judge returns and exacts his revenge. He was a barber before and now he's a barber again, but he does a little more bloodletting than he used to in the past. He's aided by a woman who sells the worst meat pies in London. And there's a side story about Todd's daughter and a sailor who loves her (and also happened to have rescued Todd at sea).
Broken down, this is a tale that focuses on how obsession with revenge leads to tragic consequences as well as a narrow field of vision where mistakes can be made. On top of the emptiness of the act. In some ways, it's similar to Park Chan-Wook's revenge trilogy (OLD BOY etc...), being visually stunning and focused on the problems of revenge.
Broken down, this is a tale that focuses on how obsession with revenge leads to tragic consequences as well as a narrow field of vision where mistakes can be made. On top of the emptiness of the act. In some ways, it's similar to Park Chan-Wook's revenge trilogy (OLD BOY etc...), being visually stunning and focused on the problems of revenge.
My only qualm about the movie was the first half-hour. First was Depp's entrance. It was hard to get past the idea of Jack Sparrow and it sure doesn't help that he uses the same accent and his first scene is on a ship. A black, ghostly one, at that. But after a while, I hardly even noticed it. The other dragger was the non-stop songs. Within the first half-hour, there had to be maybe ten songs with at least three lines of dialogue here or there. It was quite slow. However, once it got to the contest, it picked up pace fast.
Burton breaks a golden musical rule - The musical numbers should never be rushed. That's why we're there – to appreciate the beauty of Sondheim's layered and dense masterpiece. Only that isn't why Burton is there. Clearly, Todd's penchant for slashing throats is what most fascinated the man at the helm of this horror story. And while the blood gushing out and splattering against the camera and the walls is both disgusting and exhilarating at the same time, it amounts to very little more than gorgeous torture porn. Who knew that SWEENEY TODD would be so maniacal that even the insane genius of Tim Burton could not fully comprehend the man himself?
