Cosmo Digital

The Good: Graphic Bloody Violence set to music. Need I say more?

The Bad: Many songs cut down or removed completely; fast and awkward pacing;


While watching Sweeney Todd opening weekend, I was grinning like a maniac through the entire film. A fan of the original Broadway production, I followed this film closely ever since I learned of its existence several months ago. Over a month ago I called my friend and told her "we are going to see Sweeney Todd opening weekend". And we did. Was it worth it? A most emphatic yes.

Let me make this clear from the beginning: you need to have a dark and twisted sense of humor to find much enjoyment in Sweeney Todd. When I went to see it, most of the audience was filled with older women and their teenage daughters who were clearly seeing the movie only because of Johnny Depp and apparently having misread the "R for Graphic Bloody Violence" rating. I can only speculate as to what their reactions were. That rating does not lie. This movie is very bloody in places. The kill-fest doesn't begin until the movie is about half over, but the visuals more than make up for the wait. The blood spray was surprisingly realistic, with only two exceptions.

The movie progressed very fast, although it sped up considerably once the killing began. It seemed to take far shorter than the two hours. Some parts in the beginning felt rushed, especially since several songs from the first act were cut out. This gives the first half of the movie a slightly choppy and awkward feel.

No review of Sweeney Todd would be complete without a comprehensive discussion of the largest part of the film: the music. The producers specifically distanced this movie version from the original Broadway performance, but I will compare the two nonetheless. Many songs were removed, most notably all five of the Ballads. I can see why they did this. Time constraints were an issue, and the ballads do tend to pull you out of the story. This wouldn't be such an issue, except some transition scenes in the film were the perfect places for the ballads to be included. The film began with an elaborate CG sequence that would have fit perfectly with the first Ballad of Sweeney Todd. But instead it was just an instrumental score. I wonder if this was the original intention, for the CG intro is almost exactly the same length (3 1/2 minutes) as the Ballad. The final credits would likewise have been perfect for the final Ballad. But none of that happened.

With a few exceptions, I did not really mind the truncation of the songs in the film. Some songs, such as those sung by Anthony and Johanna, were cut but didn't seem to affect the movie very much. The pacing would have felt less rushed had all the songs been included, but this was a minor gripe. The exception to this was with "God That's Good". For a few moments I feared it was cut out of the movie entirely, as the songs were slightly reordered with "God That's Good" now coming after Sweeney's rendition of "Johanna". It was included, but in a considerably altered form. The entire chairmaking sequence was cut out completely, with that being moved to it's own little montage earlier in the film. More disheartening was the chorus being removed. You can't really have a song titled "God That's Good" without people actually shouting "God That's Good". The chorus doesn't seem to be included in the CD either, which is sad. I was tempted to shout out the words in the theatre to let everyone else know how the song is supposed to be performed.

This isn't the greatest film ever made. Far from it. Several sections did feel rushed, and I am still not sure how well the casting was. Some actors such as Johnny Depp and Sacha Baron Cohen did great jobs. Others such as Helena Bonham Carter felt lacking.

Regardless of my gripes, they are all rather minor issues. I would certainly go see this movie again, and will purchase it on DVD. But that is because I was already a fan of Sweeney Todd.

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