Rob's Guide to the Film Galaxy #1

Hello, welcome to the first editon of Rob's Guide to the Film Galaxy, where I look at all sorts of film topics and expand your film knowledge (sounded a bit wanky then, didn't I?), and also I'll be reviewing films both present and past. But now for today's film blog:

FILM REVIEW

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Hello. welcome to London. Enjoy many of the attractions you can find: The Big Ben, soccer matches and Buckingham Palace...but if that is too bright for you; why not try Fleet Street, where you can find a pie shop which sell the worst pies in London...and don't forget to go upstairs where you get a nice, clean, *hint hint* bloody *hint hint* shave and you'll lucky if you come back out at all...

This is the world of Sweeney Todd, a Broadway musical which has now been turned into a film by none other than the master of gothic-themed films himself, Tim Burton! and who else would he have portrayed the neck-slitting main character other than his favourite actor, Johnny Depp!

The story is about a barber named Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp), who had a beautiful wife and a baby daughter, getting falsely arrested and sentenced to life of hard labour out of England. Luckily, many years later, he escapes and gets a lift from a young, helpful sailor (played by newcomer Jamie Campbell Bower) back to London. Benjamin changes his look from upper-class and decent to dark and soulless and adopts the name, Sweeney Todd. He moves back into his old upstairs barber shop on Fleet Street and finds out, according to his landlord from downstairs, Mrs. Lovett (Burton's partner Helena Bonham Carter), that his wife was sexually abused by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who made the arrest on Benjamin/Sweeney, and made her poisoned herself to death; and also he has taken his daughter and claim himself as her guardian. So Sweeney must get revenge and he can only do it by what he does best and take it to extreme....if you catch my drift.

Now, this is not the first time I have seen an adaptation of the violent musical, well actually it's not really a full adaptation because it's just a lame school play performance in the not-so-good Jersery Girl. So I guess this is the first full adaptation of the musical I have seen. Now I am happy to admit that Burton is one of my favourite directors, along with others like Tarantino, Scorsese, Kubrick, Rodriguez, Smith, The Coens, etc. (Yes, I know, I have a lot), and I have spent my time watching most of his work, from his early films (like the short film Frankenweenie and the first two Batman movies in the early 90's) to his well-known stop-motion films (The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride). Also over the last two decades, in most of his films, he just takes something that exists and puts them into his own dark vision (Eg. He has used the story of Frankenstein and changed it into a similiar story for a dog in Frankenweenie; or when he takes a mix of 1950's B-grade Sci-fi films and 1970's disaster films, and then *ta-da*, you have Mars Attacks!). He has also been known to work a lot with Johnny Depp, as Sweeney Todd would be the sixth film they have worked togehter (Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood [the portrayal of influential yet really bad director], Sleepy Hollow [actually one of my favourites from Burton], the not-that-good Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remake; and Corpse Bride [so far my favourite Burton flick of this decade so far])

For Sweeney Todd, this feels like basic Tim Burton all the way (gothic themes, that cheesiness that makes you giggle a little bit and...Johnny Depp) so this is a must for hardcore fans of Burton (like myself).

POSITIVES: Since this is a musical, I kind-of have a thing against most of them (espically High School Musical). I just think they are way too corny and meaningless. But when it comes to Sweeney Todd, I think it's not bad for a musical. The songs cover most of the dialogue in the film and its what makes the film, cause without it, it would have been pointless! I give good acting credits to Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, and also definately Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Borat and Ali G), who makes a brief appearance.

NEGATIVES: Well, some of the other supporting characters were slightly irritating. Alan Rickman, I reckon he is a good actor and all and he has had played a villian before (Die Hard, anyone?), but this is a not role for him, he barely sings at all, only one song! I reckon if they got someone like Christopher Walken or Sean Connery (if he came out of retirement), that would have been great! and that kid!! God, when will people learn, you can't work with unexperienced kids actors in M, MA or R rated films!! and as for the musical side, well there were some of that corny/cheesy vibe but I didn't have a huge prob with that one.

So, in conclusion, Sweeny Todd is a must for anyone who is a fan of Tim Burton or musicals, or you just want to see a first-ever gory musical on-screen.

3 and a half out of 5 bloody razors!