Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

Lancoor A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

Chantel Contreras It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

joe-pearce-1 I liked this more than did most of the reviewers, but mainly for the visual aspects of the film. First of all, I am not used to TV movies with production values, sets, costumes, and atmospherics on this plane. If this were a theatrical film, it would probably have received a few Academy Award nominations for those sets and costumes, but they are quickly forgotten (as are good performances) in most TV fare. Anyway, this entire film has a claustrophobic and rather dirty atmosphere. One looks at just about every scene, even those taking place a bit away from the general mayhem, and wonders how people could have brought themselves to get out of bed every morning to face another day of such filth, degradation, and mayhem. Even the clean-cut heroine of the film is a barmaid fully capable of twisting a tough man's arm behind his back and throwing him out of the pub in which she works. The people who work in Mrs. Lovett's pie emporium (well, we have to call it something) look like denizens of Hell, and that is no exaggeration, for to a large extent that is what they are. And there is a sense of pure horror that pervades just about every scene and location that is quite outside the secret horror that is going on thanks to Mr. Todd and Mrs. Lovett. Next to this, THE BEGGAR'S OPERA is a day at the seaside! Outside the atmospherics, there are the performances, and with Ben Kingsley, Joanna Lumley and Campbell Scott doing the honors, we are in good hands, even though one might not really wish to remember the first two as characters of this much reprehensibility. Will I ever see Ms. Lumley again without mental recourse to her decaying teeth? But they do their job well, and Mr. Scott, as a character of scant nobility who stands out as a paragon of virtue next to many of the other characters (he's the hero!) also does well in a role that could have been tailored for his dad in his earlier career (but George C. would also have done extremely well as Sweeney Todd at any time). Anyway, not a pleasant viewing experience by a long shot, but should a story about (even unwary) cannibalism be a pleasant viewing experience even under the best of circumstances?

Coventry It's probably a bit unfair to compare this version of the Sweeney Todd story – as well as any other film version ever made before – with Tim Burton's film which came out in 2007, but at the same time also inevitable. Burton's movie is like the ultimate adaptation of the Sweeney Todd story, with the perfect cast (Johnny Depp, Alan Rickman, …), superior production values, dazzling music and breathtaking art-direction. Naturally all previously released versions pale in comparison, but that still doesn't mean they aren't interesting to watch. Despite being "just" a TV-production, talented names were involved in this movie as well, like director John Schlesinger ("Midnight Cowboy", "Day of the Locust") and veteran actor Ben Kingsley in the titular role. The plot details here differ with most other versions I've seen thus far and particularly Sweeney Todd's motivations to kill the customers that set foot in his barbershop aren't as convincing as usual. Here, Sweeney Todd is a downright merciless and malignant killer whereas in other versions he's more of a mentally tormented individual with pure vengeance on his mind. He kills random and seemingly lonely people in his barbershop and "donates" their bodies to his associate Mrs. Lovett; who processes the flesh in her acclaimed and world-famous London meat pies. Their morbid business finally raises suspicion when an American investigator arrives in London in search of a former partner. It turns out the missing person was last seen as a customer in Sweeney Todd's barber chair… "The Tale of Sweeney Todd" is reasonably entertaining throughout, although there are too many dull sequences and moments of substantial emptiness. The infamous lead character's profile is bleak this time around. You can't feel any empathy for him, but neither is he the intellectual and eloquent master villain that he pretends to be. Mostly surprising about this movie is the high amount of nasty make-up effects and grisly images. There are quite a lot of gruesome murders and their bloody aftermaths on display and some of the make up effects are even TOO repulsive, like for example Mrs. Lovett's dental hygiene. Kingsley's performance is far below his usual standards, but he nevertheless remains a professional chameleon actor. The best performance actually comes from the young Sean Flanagan as the mute barber assistant. It's certainly not a bad effort from the legendary director John Schlesinger, but I wouldn't go through too much trouble to purchase a copy.

capkronos Deranged wig-maker/barber/dentist/doctor (whew!) Sweeney Todd (Ben Kingsley) kills rich Londoners and keeps an abused, mute, pale orphan around as a slave. A hideous-looking, rotten-toothed Joanna Lumley (from the "Absolutely Fabulous" TV series) is his lover and partner in crime, who uses the dead bodies in her famous meat pies. A very bland Campbell Scott is the "American gentleman" trying to clear up a debt and instead stumbles onto the operation. It's all a grim, unpleasant, talky new version of the famous tale that could have used some more comedy, but just barely skims by on some good performances, gore and, especially, excellent costumes and sets that accurately capture rich 19th Century London atmosphere (although it was actually filmed in Dublin, Ireland). The original movie version (SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET, starring Tod Slaughter) of George Dibdin-Pitt's stage play came out in 1936 and was followed by the popular Stephen Sondheim musical and many inferior Z movie copies from the likes of Herschell Gordon Lewis and Andy Milligan. This one was backed by the Showtime cable network and there's nothing much to gain from watching it.

waterkiller This is an excellent film with a good range of actors and actresses. Overall an excellent film that i will buy when it comes out on DVD, whenever that is. I recommend that anybody that enjoyes Joanna Lumley to watch this film next time it is on television.