Finally A Film Version: Sweeney Todd

Rating: 8/10 (28 February 2008)

Sweeney Todd Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (2007): Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Laura Michelle Kelly, Alan Rickman, Jayne Wisener, Jamie Campbell Bower, Timothy Spall, Ed Sanders, Jody Halse, Lee Whitlock, Mandy Holliday, Nick Haverson, John Paton, Phill Woodfine, Charlotte Child, Kira Woolman, Buck Holland, Jerry Judge, Norman Campbell Rees, Laura Sanchez, Jon-Paul Hevey, Liza Sadovy...Director Tim Burton, Screenplay John Logan.
After years of waiting by some fans, the film version to Stephen Sondheim's musical "Sweeney Todd" was released in theaters in December of 2007. The film did not garner any real Oscar buzz as most musical films often do, though it did win Golden Globes (much like Phantom of the Opera back in 2004). The musical film genre is dead and no attempt to revive it really works. But here we have a terrific film that combines thriller mainstream cinema with musical. Tim Burton as Director (Edwardd Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas) is perfect for the Gothic, dark feel to this musical. The cinematography and look (mostly noctural colors black and grey, sunless, pasty faced people, etc) captures a nightmarish and fatalistic quality. Sweeney Todd (Depp) once a prosperous middle-class barber, is accused of a crime he did not commit by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) who had set his eyes on Todd's wife (Laura Michelle Kelly). After satisfying his lust for her, he throws her out like garbage and she is destitute and becomes a crazed beggar woman. Years later, Todd is out of prison and seeking his wife and revenge against Turpin. He teams up with Mrs. Lovett (Bonham-Carter) who runs an unsuccessful pie shop. After beating the Italian barber Pirelli (Sacha Baron Cohen in a hilarious role) he acquires his apprentice Toby (Ed Sanders). After murdering a man who recognized him from his past, Sweeney Todd begins to conjure up a plan to avenge himself. He sets up a joint barber shop and pie shop business. Murdering his paying customers, Mrs. Lovett makes the dead bodies into pies. Ultimately, their crime is uncovered and Todd has been consumed with so much bloodlust and revenge that he unknowingly kills his own wife in a final scene that is straight out of Italian opera with echoes of Pagliacci. All this is built up in a great climax as far as this film goes. In the theater, the musical is witty, darkly humorous and thought-provoking but the medium of film has stepped it up a notch. The problem lies in the fact that there is too much emphasis on blood and gore. The R rating is clearly marked and so this is only suited to mature audiences who can handle it. As for the performances, Johnny Depp does not make this role his own. He is still Johnny Depp, in another one of his countless costumes and roles (he was Willy Wonka not long before this film) and he offers no real depth to the performance. Helena Bonham Carter does not try to imitate the terrific Angela Lansbury who owned the role on Broadway. This is good for so many reasons. She makes Mrs. Lovett appear dysfunctional rather than "warm and cutesy" like Lansbury did. It's easier to believe Bonham Carter as equally deranged as Todd than Lansbury. Another thing is that in the original Broadway musical, Lansbury was an equal star to her Sweeney Todd. In this film, Helena B. Carter has to take second chair next to Johnny Depp, who is a big star with a huge fandom and lets everyone know it, too. Much of the film shows too many close-ups of him. Alan Rickman does not make a villanious enough Judge Turpin and plays the part as a cold and aging womanizer. He has lost his ability to play really nasty villain (compare him to his performance as Sheriff Nottingham in "Prince of Thieves). The rest of the actors are not Broadway trained and it shows so hardcore Broadway fans will feel the same way about this film as they did "Phantom of the Opera" back in 2004. Though nothing like the stage musical, this film has its moments. It was for me one of the few good films of 2007. Watch this film if you're a fan of Sondheim's musical and of Johnny Depp.