SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Andrew Pelechaty While most people know 'Sweeney Todd' from the Stephen Sondheim musical, this UK production depicts the original story of Sweeney from the 18th century melodramas, adapted from 'The String of Pearls' newspaper serial and various other penny-dreadfuls at the time, with one major difference. While the early plays and penny dreadfuls painted Sweeney as a stereotypical, melodramatic villain, who the Victorian audience took delight in booing, Ray Winstone's version is closer to the musical. Winstone plays Sweeney as an honest barber who slits the throat of a Newgate Gaoler who boasts of mistreating kids (earlier Sweeney had given money to some kids hanging out the window), haunted by memories of his own twenty years spent in Newgate. Once he tastes that first kill, he can't stop ("I did it because I could...then, I couldn't not"). Along the way, he meets Mrs. Lovett, and saves her from an abusive relationship, and an infection which threatens to kill her, though he repels her advances. Eventually, he buys a shop for Mrs. Lovett's pie business - next to his barber shop - and comes up with the perfect way to get rid of the bodies stockpiling under his shop and help Mrs. Lovett; use the flesh of his victims for her meat pies. However, the plan comes unstuck when the nearby church is engulfed by the stench of the dead. By the end of the movie, Sweeney is a shell of a man, tortured by guilt over his crimes.While arguments exist over whether Sweeney actually existed, this film give an interesting account of Sweeney the man and why he became the demon barber.

JoeytheBrit Dave Moore's TV version of the infamous tale of the bloodthirsty barber Sweeney Todd unsurprisingly bears little relation to Tim Burton's musical version released the following year. This one is much more matter-of-fact in its portrayal of Todd's descent into madness, and gives his motive for killing as revenge for being jailed in Newgate prison as a child for a crime committed by his father. Initially, there is a skewed sense of justice to Todd's reason for killing off his clients but, as his blood lust (and feelings for the neighbouring Mrs Lovett) grows stronger his reasons become less calculated.Ray Winstone plays Todd. He is a fine actor, but loses some of his screen presence by choosing to underplay the role, his voice rarely betraying any kind of emotion. Despite this it's a choice that suits the character, even if it doesn't the actor. Cutting up his victims in the cellar of his barber shop, stripped to the waist, his bare head gleaming white and his mouth slack, Winstone makes a truly grotesque monster, one made all the more frightening because he is otherwise an extremely quiet and ordinary man.There's a lot of violence in the film, a lot of slit throats and mutilation of corpses, but, again, it's not given any kind of sensationalistic value. Essie Davis plays Mrs Lovett, another decent character whose descent into monstrosity is sparked by the things that have happened to her rather than any inherent evil. She turns into a grotesque parody of herself as the film progresses, her beauty destroyed by pox scars, sporting fine wigs made by Todd that sit incongruously atop her ruined features. It's all very grim and dark and there is no place for humour, even of the gallows variety. Perhaps a touch of humour, especially on the part of Todd, is what is needed to both round out his character and make his monstrous actions that much more horrific

gavin6942 Sweeney Todd, a resident barber of London, has an urge inside of him to kill. As it grows and grows, he comes to fancy a young woman whom he cannot have -- both because she is married and because he is not physically capable. As they grow closer, he lets her in on his secret and a macabre friendship is born -- one a butcher and the other a maker of meat pies.Ray Winstone is perfect as Sweeney Todd. I don't know him from much outside of "The Proposition" (which everyone loves, but I found disappointing). He has the look of a man worn down by time and heartache, cold enough to kill but sad enough to drive us to sympathy. Other people may picture Todd differently, but I think this look fully captures the darkness and emptiness of the man. All the characters have a very dirty look to them, which I also like -- no perfect conditioning in the hair and daily bathing rituals. I like it raw, and this film gives it to me.This is not a musical version but simply a film with a dark tale to tell. It interests me to see how this one was presented. As I understand it, the original story came from the 1820s or 1840s. Yet, this film version touches on themes like abortion and the complete absence of God, which I would presume to be quite heavy for the time (though I may be mistaken).The denial of God, morality and such is the driving force of this film compared to other versions. It's nihilism through and through, which is like the perfect medicine for someone like myself who was raised on heavy doses of Nietzsche, Kafka and Kierkegaard. Horror films often touch the evil in the world and what drives it, but few films -- horror or not -- really get to the deeper philosophic roots of the meaninglessness of the world in our modern time. Some have tried ("Dark City" comes to mind) but this one really hits the spot.With the Tim Burton and Johnny Depp version having just been released, I presume the BBC version of "Sweeney Todd" will not get as much of a chance. But I would advise you to check it out and compare -- one is a musical, one is not. And Burton, while dark, has his own way of looking at the world. So you're not really seeing the same film twice so much as viewing an entire world fro ma different perspective, something I think is healthy for all of us to do time and again. Give this one a shot, it packs a wallop you cannot deny.

fedor8 I knew nothing about "Sweeney Todd", the former versions, the basic plot, not even what genre of movie it was - when I pressed "play" - and that's the best way often to watch a movie, especially in an age when you see a million scenes in previews hence feeling as if though you'd already seen the damned thing.Anyway. ST is a sort of murder/drama with touches of romance even. It's an unusual story, nothing off-the-wall, of course, but with touches of originality. Parts of it are predictable, others aren't. Winstone is very convincing as the title character and this Essie Davis is very good, too, and very attractive. It was about time we see another beautiful British (well, Australian - same thing) woman on film, after a series of nepotistic uglies filthied the screen with their presence: the likes of Emma Thompson, Helena B. Carter, and several others. (Ironically, this Bonham creature plays the same character as Davis in Tim Burton's 2007 version, which must be crap.) Sweeney Todd is a complex murderer; not a psychopath at all (he feels love, remorse, has empathy), with motives only understandable to him. I found it a little odd that Davis would so quickly (after a night's sleep when she survives her disease) get used to the fact that Todd is a butcher and that she ate the meat of her own lovers through his deeds. But that's the only (slight) problem I can think of in an otherwise interesting movie. It might be a TV movie, but looks more like a theatrical release.I can't imagine why anyone would want to watch Tim Burton's sing-a-long version of this story. It must be garbage.