Well, it only took a musical to do it. After the oddity that was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I was beginning to wonder whether the duo of Johnny Depp and Tim Burton had run its course. But Sweeney Todd finds the tandem back in good form; easily the best collaboration since they wrapped up Ed Wood back in the early 90’s.
The downright psychopathic storyline of a vengeful barber who returns to London to kill the judge that wrongly imprisoned him (and anyone else who gets in his way) is bloody insane, but never less than enthralling to watch. At times I felt like I was watching one of the best movies of the year… other times I felt like I was just watching Burton release his inner-Eli Roth (gory for gore’s sake). It’s hard to love a movie that’s so depraved and, well, disgusting but the director does a wonderful job building a London that’s uniquely Burton-esque (his films have always been better when he could be in charge of every set down to the littlest detail). It’s a beauty to watch, even when it’s drowning in blood.
But ultimately, for as refreshing as it is to see these guys working at a high level together again, the story unfolds in a rather obvious way (There’s only one way this movie could possibly end… and it does). Even knowing nothing about the source material outside of Kevin Smith’s Jersey Girl rendition, it’s fairly easy to predict almost down to the detail how this one is going to close out. So as the film winds down, we start going through the motions a little bit and the luster comes off of Sweeney’s blades.
Still, there’s something to be said about a movie that involves baking people into food and feeding them to others. Exactly what that is... I don’t know, except maybe to say it’s Shakespearean-esque (Titus, anyone)?
The downright psychopathic storyline of a vengeful barber who returns to London to kill the judge that wrongly imprisoned him (and anyone else who gets in his way) is bloody insane, but never less than enthralling to watch. At times I felt like I was watching one of the best movies of the year… other times I felt like I was just watching Burton release his inner-Eli Roth (gory for gore’s sake). It’s hard to love a movie that’s so depraved and, well, disgusting but the director does a wonderful job building a London that’s uniquely Burton-esque (his films have always been better when he could be in charge of every set down to the littlest detail). It’s a beauty to watch, even when it’s drowning in blood.
But ultimately, for as refreshing as it is to see these guys working at a high level together again, the story unfolds in a rather obvious way (There’s only one way this movie could possibly end… and it does). Even knowing nothing about the source material outside of Kevin Smith’s Jersey Girl rendition, it’s fairly easy to predict almost down to the detail how this one is going to close out. So as the film winds down, we start going through the motions a little bit and the luster comes off of Sweeney’s blades.
Still, there’s something to be said about a movie that involves baking people into food and feeding them to others. Exactly what that is... I don’t know, except maybe to say it’s Shakespearean-esque (Titus, anyone)?
1 comment:
i love johnny depp!!! he is a freaking amazing actor and i would give almost anything to meet him and/or tim burton!
GREAT JOB GUYS!!! =}
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