Fan-gory-tastic!

Rating: 10/10 (20 January 2008)

After a couple of 'off' years in many respects, Tim Burton has returned to the full on darkness that made his name. Him and Johnny Depp are a team made in heaven... or perhaps a darkly lit hell? Who knows. I love Tim's vision. Depp's performance is brilliant. His 'cockney-london' singing voice is reminiscent of David Bowie... maybe that was intentional? But, Depp is so in the role you don't care. He's intense and focused. Depp is easily the best actor of his generation. HE becomes the role. The supporting cast a great. Bonham-Carter is just nuts. Probably more disturbed than Sweeney. The 18 Cert is odd. There are worse horrors with a lesser rating. I guess its more to do with the dubious morales and cannibalism? The gore is straight out of Hammer. The OTT Thick red blood just looks fantastic. It's part gore, part artistic. Musically... for me, it was great to see an almost old school 'musical' being made. And by that I mean, big sets, OTT characters and one song followed by another almost straight away as part of the narrative and not as a filler to the story/pop-song type thing. The songs, some hit, some miss, but overall it's so well balanced and performed. It'll be criminal if Depp isn't in the running or winning the Oscar this time round.