There is a freaky embargo on Sweeney Todd, given that it had a junket, unofficial reviews are all over the place, it was reviewed by Harry Knowles a month ago, and I (and most of my colleagues) already know what dozens of people think of the film… but I’m not supposed to tell you.
What I can/will tell you now is that there are truly shocking elements to this film that are every bit as severe as you have heard… lots of paint-thick blood and bodies smashing into the “bake room” below Sweeney barber’s chair. Depp is still likely to win the Oscar ahead of the zealously artful Mr. Day-Lewis… though a shock win of old-school love by someone like George Clooney could emerge. And I think the movie could actually work for the Geek Boys, which has been the sell by Paramount for months now. Add the Gay Men’s Chorus, committed to musicals, and the Depp Posse, and you could see $50 million in the first holiday week. The question after that will be whether it becomes High School Musical of Blood for the teens and/or Oscar bait or a quickly dismissed piffle for the adults. I still think that the real mistake, as regards awards, was waiting so long to show and release the film. (Yes, I know… it wasn’t ready! That’s why you set delivery dates for directors, sir.)
I will say that the film plays a lot better on multiple viewings. The shock of the blood and smashing corpses is diminished, the singing is less energetically picked apart, the giant lump in Sasha Baron Cohen’s pants is less “WTF,” the whole teen storyline feels less out of place, and the story structure, for me, came into much clearer focus… the film felt shorter and more to the point. It is exactly the kind of movie you see once and kinda wonder… then see again and find things in… then throw in the DVD player one more time to check out one scene, and watch the entire film again, it finally sinking in.
This is a very, very hard movie to judge objectively as someone who knows and loves the show… both knowing and loving being key. Yes, we who love it all see it through the prism of what is and isn’t reflected from that stage show, including the singing performances. Yet when Alan Rickman forces out a warble of "Pretty Women" and Burton has him with his head facing to the ceiling, in Sweeney's chair, vulnerable to the world like an animal in restraints, sweet as he has ever been, it is one of the most beautiful images of Rickman I have ever seen on film. And knowing the show… the question of whether we fill in the gaps that have been left or overload the film with the burden of more story... it's just impossible to know. But like I wrote, my sense is that on additional views, it will get simpler to see the movie and not the show.
In any case, more to come… eventually.
Read the complete post at http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/archives/2007/11/sweenie_the_pla.html