Tim Burton's dark opera

Rating: 8/10 (10 August 2016)

Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) returns to London with friend Anthony Hope after being falsely convicted by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman). He returns to his shop above Mrs. Nellie Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) and her worst pies in London. She tells him that Turpin lusted after his wife Lucy and abused her to death with his henchman Beadle Bamford (Timothy Spall). Turpin has taken his daughter Johanna Barker as his charge. Anthony falls for Johanna who is imprisoned in her gilded cage and is beaten by Beadle. Benjamin takes on the new identity of Sweeney Todd. He wins a battle with traveling barber Adolfo Pirelli (Sacha Baron Cohen) and reopens his barber shop.
It's a cold, brutal, dark musical. The performances are brilliant especially Depp. The coloring, the dreamlike visual, and the brutal style are all compelling. The blood-splattering slices are wonderful. The whole movie has a dark menacing beauty about it.