Tim Burton's most recent film follows the story of a murderous barber named Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) who slices the throats of his customers. Wanting revenge for his wife and daughter being taken away from his by the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), Todd works with Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) to turn his victims into meat pies and lure the Judge to his death.
As seen in the above synopsis, this is definetly Burton's darkest film. The darkness is intensified even more through haunting musical numbers by Stephen Sondheim and a very desaturated color pallete. Despite this, Sweeney Todd still has very much in common with Burton's other films; it features very detailed production design (it won an oscar for its art direction), and its characters are reminiscent of those in his other films. One such character is Sweeney Todd, who's self-isolation is very similar to that of Edward Scissorhand (also played by Depp). Much like Edward, Todd pushes those who love him away in order to protect them.
Another similar aspect of the film that is characteristic with other Tim Burton films is its over-exaggeration of reality. This is shown not only in the killing scenes, where victims lose gallons of blood from a slit throat, but also during a scene where Mrs. Lovett fantasizes about her future with Sweeney Todd. Instead of the usual dull colors, their would-be life is shown in colors that are more luminescent than in real life. It looks like a picture in a story book.
This scene pretty much sums up the whole move: fancy costumes and set, amazing performances by all of the actors and actresses and sick, twisted humor, all topped with a helping of blood.
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8 comments:
Will someone please explain to me why this is considered a good movie? Sure, the struggles Todd has had over losing his wife are devastating, but whyyyyy do people enjoy watching this guy slit people's throats??????
I actually really like this movie. It does get gory at times, but the blood is either animated or fake looking giving the violent scenes an aura of surrealism that make the actions less terrible from the viewer's point of view. One of my favorite pieces of animation in this film is one of the first scenes when it begins raining and the raindrops are a stylized and tinted red, foreshadowing the rest of the film. I guess what I like about it is the mood the film is able to set up. It is dark and pessimistic without being gloomy and slow paced. The movie is intriguing not because of the plot line, but that the mixing of fantasy and reality makes this movie into the perfect fairy tale (albeit a dark one).
I agree with Johanna and think this is a really good film. I will admit, the blood in the killing scenes is VERY over the top, but I think that's what gives its comical tone. There are alot of things in this movie that are so over the top, you tend to laugh at them. But the one thing I love most about this movie is what Drew talked about, the desaturated color scheme. I like the fact that Tim Burton usually doesn't incorporate bright flashy colors in his movies, and that with Sweeney Todd, he went darker and practically took out all color except for blood, to, like Johanna said, place an emphasis on the violence in the movie.
I agree with both Johanna and Whitney, as this is my favorite of Tim Burton's films. I think that if he had used a realistic amount of blood, or even none, the movie could have been very disturbing. But because he used the amount that he did, Burton added a touch of comedy to a very depressing and dark film. To add to what Johanna said about pacing, I feel that it is because of the anticipation to see how over the top the next death will be that makes this film move quickly.
I also really like Johnny Depp in this movie. He always plays the quirky character and it is interesting to see a horrorish film bring out his darker humor. Mrs. Lovett (Helena Carter) is the perfect foil for Todd and adds a cheeriness and willingness to care for others and forgive which makes Todd's character seem even more dark and broken. The fact that Todd decides to dwell on his past instead of making a new life for himself and his daughter which may to some make him an anti-hero.
I like the fact that Johanna brought up the dark humor aspect of the movie. I think many people focus too much on the gore of this movie to notice the humorous parts, like the montage where Mrs. Lovett sings about the possible future with Sweeney Todd and Toby. The expressions on Johnny Depp's face are priceless. I also like the dialogue between Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd because that too is quite funny. I hope Tim Burton has his next film be modeled like this: tragedy, music, humor, and much more darker. Can Tim Burton get any darker in his movies?
A scene that I thought was even funnier (but for completely different reasons) was the one where Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd come up with the idea of creating pies out of his victims. Instead of being disturbing, this scene comes off funny becuase, well, they're singing a song about which person they would much rather eat. Will it be the preist, or the grocer? I'm sorry to dissapoint you Whitney, but Burton's next film won't be nearly as dark as this was, as it is "Alice in Wonderland." Even though it will be dark, as most of his films are, i doubt that he could make a book like that darker than Sweeney Todd was.
I still don't feel the humor behind gore and violence of any kind. Maybe I'm just a whimp. Does this say something about our society today? That we have become so accustomed to violence and gore that we think it's funny if the violence is overplayed?
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