Revives the musical

Rating: 10/10 (7 February 2008)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) was a simple barber with a pretty wife and infant daughter, until the corrupt Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) had him unfairly locked away so he could force his wife to be with him against her will. Years later, Benjamin returns to London but with a new name- Sweeney Todd- and with one thing on his mind: revenge. He makes friends with pie shop owner Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) and, after missing his chance for revenge against Turpin, decides to take his anger and vengeance out on the ordinary inhabitants of London, slitting their throats so Mrs Lovett can use them to make meat pies.
The musical has been a genre that's faded away over the years, much like the western or the murder mystery. But director Tim Burton has reunited with frequent star of his films, Johnny Depp, to make a film version of the popular stage play. And it has his unmistakable style stamped all over it. This is no Rogers and Hammerstein, everything's jolly, la la la musical from the old days, but a raw, savage, blood-splattered film that would shock fans of those types of films away. Not so much The Sound of Music as The Sound of Throat-gurgling! It's Burton's darkest film to date and he handles it very well indeed.
Watching the film, you're reminded what a unique and pleasant experience the musical can be, for a type of film that isn't about much nowadays, as the frequent musical numbers do sweep you away and wrap you up in the film quite wonderfully. Even more impressive when you think that all the cast, including Depp, Carter and Rickman, all did their own singing. It's not so much their performances that roll the film along here as their singing, which is certainly more likable. The story's pretty decent, too, showing an unflinching 18th century London with corruption and moral decadence everywhere, as well as exploring how one man's endless quest for revenge warps his mind and causes him to lose his soul.
The 18 certificate didn't come for nothing, and when the throat-slitting scenes come about they don't spare anything, all the blood squirting and spraying out the slit throats in a manner as gross as you could imagine. This may be too much for some faint-hearted viewers, but it could just as easily be a recommendation to others. At any rate, this is well worth checking out as a sterling re-introduction to a genre that's fallen to the sidelines pretty much altogether over the years. *****