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

"I'll steaaaal youuu Johaaaaanaaaa" *slashes an innocent man's throats* "Johaaaaanaaaaaa" *stabs neck with razor*! The unusual blend of yearning for love and slicing necks vengefully, yet oddly it works. Based on the infamous musical, an English barber returns to London after being exiled to seek revenge on a Judge who took his love away from him. How does one cure vengeance you might ask? Well, murder customers with a razor and process their cold bloody corpses into meat pies. Simple really, duhhhh. To recreate the Victorian melodramatic musical, you need someone who can visually entice you with gothic imagery. Someone who can balance gore and whimsical musicality. Obviously one candidate for the mighty task: Tim Burton. His notorious gothic and dark fantastical mind was perfect in adapting the musical. He is able to recreate specific stages that both replicated the musical production and created an entirely new cinematic edge. Whether it be Sweeney melodramatically singing to his razor blades or Mrs Lovett picturing her perfect life whilst grinding corpses, it all works as a surreal nightmare. Excessively gory which, again, sets itself apart from others. Depp and Bonham Carter both had strong vocals and gave committed performances that separated this from your typical cheesy musical, particularly the former's singing ability which really suited the role of Sweeney. A hint of 'Oliver Twist' with all the "Laaaandaaaan!" accents and a splash of "Sleepy Hollow" for the veil of darkness that shrouds Victorian London. The songs were enigmatic, particularly various renditions of the same song, however weren't really memorable. The second act unfortunately dragged due to the extensive melodrama and thin plot. Then the ending was far too rushed and concluded abruptly. Yet somehow, somewhere...it's one of the stronger entries in the genre (and I hate musicals). Dark, moody and edgy, serve me up a famous Mrs Lovett meat pie now because I'm taking a bite!

Like Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are a match made in heaven. Period.Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp)'s a barber who was sent on a penal transportation after a false charge was laid against him by Judge Turnip (Alan Rickman), who wants his wife. He's back to London after 15 years with one goal in mind-revenge.Johnny Depp's performance is a tour-de-force. Oscar-worthy. He plays his character with such finesse, and it's just fantastic to watch him on-screen. The rest of the cast has also brought their A-game with them. Like all other Tim Burton movies, this movie is a technical marvel. The settings, the visuals, the atmosphere, the cinematography and all other technical aspects are flawless. Stephen Sondheim's score is wonderful too.That brings me to the vocal performances of the cast- What I love about musicals is that, actors who are generally not professional singers, have to convey their emotion with singing, to the best of their ability, albeit not perfect at times. It's a real challenge for them, and I highly commend their hardwork. Every actor has sung convincingly in Sweeney Todd, there was hardly a falter in that department.Not every musical gets it right. At times, the singing and the lines don't go together, and the end product sounds weird and a bit "off".This movie slightly suffers from that , with one scene, at the start, which I found very infuriating to watch. Apart from that, the rest of the movie is filled with fantastic dialogues and songs. There's another great opening credits scene, which we've come to expect from Tim Burton. The story isn't your average "run of the mill" revenge thriller. There are a few surprises awaiting at the end.Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street is a MUST watch for everyone who doesn't find musicals weird.8/10.

I can honestly appreciate the sick beauty of the film, the pervert story of good people falling down a dark and twisted life style, its most definitely worth the watch and was very refreshing from the normal bright and sunny happy endings we typically favor. Despite the grim color setting and story line, it's an enjoyable film for those who possess a dark humour. I found that it took a while to get to the good parts but as Ms Lovett says, all good things happen to those who wait and it was the ending that took the prize with me. I must admit the singing wasn't terrific, to be honest it gave me a headache at times but Jonny Depp has some great moments where I was like ''Whoah, that was a nice note''The demon barber on fleet street might not be your typical watch, it sure wasn't mine, but if you give it a chance you just might be as pleasantly surprised as I was, I know I sure will be looking into films akin to this one. Yes, that's how much I liked it, and I'm not even that much of a movie person, I think this is my first review I've ever written. I enjoyed it that much!

you would get a tragedy like this. That's really the only way I can describe this movie, it's what you'd expect a tragedy by Burton to be. Wacky characters? Check. Dark and gloomy atmosphere? Check. Fancy costumes? Check. All you need now is Helena Bonham Carter. Oh wait, she's in the movie, forget that. This is really the only live-action musical I can still watch. I've noticed as I've gotten older, a lot of other live-action musicals don't connect with me as much, but this one does. Maybe it's because it off-sets the randomness of people breaking into song with them getting their throats slit? The songs are all great and recognizable, Depp and Carter are good opposites for each other, Tim Burton brings his usual whimsy to the film, and it's a refreshing take on the musical genre. If you're a fan of Tim Burton, there isn't much to dislike about this film.R.I.P. Alan Rickman