I just got out of the first screening of "Sweeney Todd."
The movie is good, but not great. Tim Burton adapts the Sondheim musical into a bloodbath--at one point, the person seated next to me compared it to "Eastern Promises"--though it's all in good fun. Burton's direction is solid, especially in the middle hour. He nicely marries his gruesome touch with the Broadway showstoppers ("Pirelli's Miracle Elixir," "Johanna," "By the Sea," etc), and there are times when you feel like you're watching a classic Hollywood musical. The problem is, you want the movie to have more heart--and we all know how important heart is for Oscar voters. You don't leave the theater with the sense of mourning you should for the characters.
Johnny Depp is exactly as you would expect him to be in the lead role. It's a fine performance, although it feels like a singing version of Sleepy Hollow. It's such a competitive year for actors, I don't think his nomination is a guarantee.
Helena Bonham Carter is a knockout. She's shares the screen time with Depp, and she has rightfully been placed in the lead actress category. (Thanks to Sasha Stone for the tip.) She should be nominated.
Sacha Baron Cohen is amusing in a bit part.
Burton's direction might get him in the top five, maybe. But I think "Sweeney Todd" will miss out on best picture. There was applause as the movie started, some applause during the more imaginative numbers, but no applause at the end. That's not a good sign. Even "Charlie Wilson's War" got claps at the closing credits.
Update: Tom O'Neil loved the movie, of course, though he's been calling "Sweeney Todd" the movie of the year before he even saw it. He's free to gush like one of Sweeney's victims, but there's some bad journalism here. O'Neil writes that at the end, people were so mesmerized they couldn't leave their seats. That's not true. The final cut is so abrupt, you're almost unsure that the movie is really over. Once the credits started rolling, people picked up their stuff and left at a regular pace. If there's further debate, I'm calling the Carpetbagger as a witness.
