Burton Crafts a Thrilling, Dark Tale

Rating: Null/10 (22 December 2007)

"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is a quite simply a masterpiece. Every aspect of the film is top-notch. The music thrills, the acting is tremendous and the look of the film dazzles. It is hard to put into words when everything in a film comes together, but I left the theatre immediately wanting to see it again.
Much has been made of the gore in the film and I think that talk is largely exaggerated. The film does have its share of bloody scenes but it isn't a wall to wall blood fest. Everything is so stylized that it's really blood and brutality as high art so I found it easily tolerable and I am a squeamish person.
Helena Bonham Carter is extraordinary. She brings humor and a kind of pathos to her wonderfully wacky Mrs. Lovett. Then there is Johnny Depp. He simmers with rage and aches with pain all while singing with a vocal quality that is rich and tremendously pleasing. His body language and eyes tell a story all on their own. I have always thought him to be a magnificent actor and this performance does nothing to betray that. Both Depp and Bonham Carter were up to the task and succeeded beyond my grandest expectations.