sweeney_todd

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

U.S. Release Date: 12/21/07
Running Time: 1:58
Rated: R (Violence, profanity)

Cast: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jayne Wisener, Ed Sanders, Jamie Campbell Bower

Director: Tim Burton
Screenplay: John Logan, adaptation by Christopher Bond, based on the Broadway show by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler
Music: Stephen Sondheim
Studio: Dreamworks Pictures

“There's a hole in the world / like a great black pit / and the vermin of the world inhabit it / and its morals aren’t worth what a pig could spit / and it goes by the name of London”

One of the final features released in 2007 is one of the best. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is the darkest and bloodiest motion-picture musical in recent date. It’s delivered from stage to screen with diligence, gore, and “Burtonian” Goth. Placed among the ranks of recent musicals, Sweeney Todd rockets straight to the top. It’s macabre, commercial, and brilliant in song.

Fifteen years after being banished from his wife and daughter, Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) returns to his hometown of London under the name of Sweeney Todd. Seeking revenge on Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) for his banishment, Todd opens a barber shop above Mrs. Lovett’s (Helena Bonham Carter) meat pie eatery, with hopes to give the Judge the closest shave he’s ever received.

Todd’s thirst for vengeance sends him on a killing spree, slitting the throats of all who enter his loft. With each “practice” murder, Todd begs for the next throat to belong to Turpin, so he can achieve retribution and take back his daughter Johanna (Jayne Wisener).

Arguably Burton’s best since Ed Wood (if not his outright opus), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is the motion-picture that Tim Burton was born to make. Under any other director’s command, Sweeney Todd would have most likely escalated in camp and decreased in value. With Burton, audiences receive pools of blood, swarms of shadows, and the best adaptation of the Broadway show possible.

Assuming you’re privy to the musical, if someone shouted that Sweeney Todd was coming to the big-screen, who would you want in the director’s chair? Can you think of a more suitable option than Tim Burton? The style that Burton brings to the table in each of his motion-pictures wholly complements the eerie aura of Sondheim’s 1979 musical. Of course, with Burton aboard, his leads come with the territory.

In voice, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter do justice to Sondheim’s brilliant soundtrack. Is anyone really surprised that Depp can sing? Even though he doesn’t hold a tune as superbly as he acts, he is highly talented and pulls off all the songs without flaw. With songs like “No Place Like London,” “My Friends,” and “Johanna,” Depp belts out the main themes of Sweeney Todd in an emotional yet subdued manner. In “The Contest,” Depp couples with Sascha Baron Cohen for a playful ditty, and later in “Pretty Women” Alan Rickman joins Depp in making viewers float on a cloud and sit on the edge of their seat simultaneously. Where is “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd?”

By means of “The Worst Pies in London,” “By the Sea,” and “Not While I’m Around,” Helena Bonham Carter shows that she can do more than exist as a staple Brit actress. She doesn’t stand out as much as Depp, but she doesn’t disappoint either. On the whole, the pitch-perfect cast aids in establishing the songs as mainstays. What’s more, all involved allow the soundtrack to meld with the storyline—making it hard to detect forced music amid fluid dialogue.

Whether you’ve already seen the musical or haven’t been in the chair before, Sweeney will surprise you with its copious amounts of red liquid and sinister direction. It is a fantastically-wicked musical and a fittingly-campy horror. Full of twists, memorable songs, and charismatic characters, Sweeney Todd possesses the power to influence all in its presence. And in doing so, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street cuts it close (very close) to being an all-out masterpiece.

Wait! Is that popcorn you’re eating drizzled with blood and shaving cream rather than butter? Better take a closer look before you munch on a handful.