A few bumps but will please any Burton fan

Rating: 6/10 (1 April 2010)

Ichabod Crane (Depp) ventures to Sleepy Hollow, a place of frequent murders by the apparent legend of the Headless Horseman and soon Crane finds himself deeper than his intention.
The visionary director of darkness Tim Burton delivers another darkly stunning stroke of a creepy legend that sees Johnny Depp star as a detective investigating the strange happenings at the uncomfortable settings of Sleepy Hollow.
Based on Washington Irving's story, Burton's 1999 take is dark and grizzly with his typical dark styling any fan would love. The design and shots of the Hollow are typically haunting and exudes the moment in the script to be sharp and interesting, giving audiences the occasional jump along with awe at the accomplishment of the idea of a mass murderer in Burton's wonderland.
Since he launched on our screens in the 1980's the director has certainly created a vivid depiction of happy is sad and sad is happy with a florescent wave of dark semiotics and appreciation of the story, Edward Scissorhands and Beetle juice stand outs.
Here, with the story arguably one of the darkest he has ever tackled bar Sweeney Todd, we see him take up a more action orientated agenda. Chases in woods on horseback, spooky magic connotations and deathly sword swipes give a strong vibe of excitement and bliss to fill the room with engaged faces.
There are a few drawbacks to this motive, particularly given the story's intentions. For one, the opening stages with Crane in court and then riding towards the Hollow is all very formal and rather drab and then encoding spurts of action in the story's moment doesn't feel quite right. One example would be when in the forest and Crane goes inside the tree trunk and the bizarre happenings in there feel disorientated in the plot's motive to suss out the villain.
Marginally Burton salvages these with the wonderfully shot action moments anyway but the feeling of the story is never quite right in its overall intention as a crime and with horror to justify, there was too much ambition intended.
Depp, like in From Hell, puts on a brave accent that, whilst articulate, doesn't get away from his character being incredibly frustrating to watch. The nervous and confused detective is often misbalanced through dissecting a body then crying over a spider that won't give any edgy viewers confidence.
Not that there are too many frights anyway, which given the story of a headless serial killer, is a shame.
The supporting cast of Ricci, Gambon and Richardson do the necessities of back filling historical foundation well enough and Danny Elfman's score once more is inch perfect.
Given the promise it is a slight let down but regardless Burton carves up glorious set design and action that will please his army of fans.