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Simply Perfect

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I remember the old days, when the BBC was the most politically correct, conventional and non-risk-taking channel on TV. Times have changed, and imagine my surprise when their new adaptation of the Sweeney Todd legend began with a graphic throat-slitting, complete with blood coursing over a victim's chest! All this and at just two minutes past the watershed shows just how much times have changed. Although this is the most gruesome part of the film, overall it's quite strong on the violence front, and not for weak hearts.The good news is that SWEENEY TODD is a darned sight better than another recent Victorian BBC story – SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CASE OF THE SILK STOCKING, which not only wasted the talents of Rupert Everett but made a travesty of the whole Conan Doyle canon. Sadly, as is the case with many TV movies, budget restraints are evident here, with only a handful of locations and a few street sequences to bring Victorian London to life. Still, although cheap, it's definitely a cheerful film, with a better script than usual and some nice period details.Ray Winstone is the core of this film's success, his performance probing the depths of Todd's psychology. He's great in the role, and ably supported by the unknown Essie Davis, who is actually better as Mrs. Lovett, and deserves to go on to greater success based on her fine performance here. A stalwart cast have been assembled, one of those casts where everybody puts in a decent performance. Familiar faces pop up here and there, including Hogwarts caretaker David Bradley (whose tongue-cutting is one of the film's most graphic moments) and stalwart genre star David Warner, here playing a blind bloke. Okay, so the film is a little weak here and there, and the ending is quite unsatisfactory – which didn't Todd just do that sooner? These minor quibbles shouldn't affect the rest of the production, which is generally sound; let's hope the BBC start making more decent dramatisations like this, as they can't cost very much to produce!

This is an amazing adaptation of the classic story. Todd is viewed with cold realism as the person that he would have been, had he been real. Great cast and script, always keeps the spectator on the edge. At first you are made to sympathize with Todd, then doubt, then despise him, then understand him (kinda). I know it is just a story, but the police was really terrible at its job, I guess in reality they would have figured it out pretty soon after the first couple of murders. I general, a disturbing story told simply and wonderfully. P.S.1 Makes one wonder if he killed all his customers how he managed to keep himself in business :P P.S.2 I think the greatest loser from this story was the boy he had to help him with the shop :P

This is nowhere close to the spectacle and splendour of the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp horror musical, but it is certainly a good regular, British adaptation. It is pretty much the same story in Burton's version, except he isn't grieving over a dead wife (there's a twist to that in Burton's version), no victims are made into meat pies, and the lead character kills himself in the end instead of someone killing him. Basically Sweeney Todd (Ray Winstone) is your normal everyday surgeon and barber, and having flashes of a horrible childhood past he suddenly starts murdering his male customers. In amongst the slaughter he has a love for pie maker Mrs. Nellie Lovett (Essie Davis), who is okay not too long after finding out Todd's dark secret, and this certainly shows when she is not bothered about the state of her deteriorating face. Eventually he gets to the point where he was bound to be caught, and he is arrested by Sir John Fielding (David Warner), and sentenced to hanging. In the final sequence however, he gives himself a final shave, and then slices. Also starring Harry Potter's David Bradley as Todd's father, Paul Currier as Thornhill, Tom Hardy as Matthew Payne, Jessica Hooker as Polly and Ben Walker as Tobias. Winstone is pretty good, but obviously not more than Depp, the violence obviously is not as graphic and over-the-top as Burton's, but quite fun to watch. Good!

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.