Ho ho ho! Saw the odd old Sweeney Todd today.Eve drove me to the movies where we met some work friends and piled in. Unfortunately, this meant I wasn’t concentrating as fully as I might have been. Laughed a lot. However, this is probably a good thing – it is actually an upsetting film in many ways. A sad story – ultimately a tragedy.
Many scenes or little quips are gorgeously, morbidly funny. As are the sudden outbreaks of song, which feel unexpected until you’ve sat through a good portion of the film. Spent drive home taking it in turns to hammily intone “I will have veeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnngeance!” In the manner of Johnny Depp. It is a fabulously hammy film, really. Much like Oliver, I guess.
A word of warning, in case you did not realise already, it is an immensely bloody film. Not necessarily gory, but there are many vividly (inhumanly) red, flowing, sliced-open throats. Many. Tonnes.
Nowhere near as stylish as Tim Burton’s earlier, grubbier movies – like Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, etc. Although it is still attractively shot and punchily well paced. The songs aren’t exclusively silly.
To conclude; embrace the silliness, laugh like a peasant being shown a juggling trick – you will need to if you want to survive the depressing dramatic irony.
A+
