Sweeney Todd Review

I know that "There Will Be Blood" is the name of a forthcoming P.T. Anderson movie, but it could've just as easily been an alternate title for "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street."

Tim Burton's latest collaboration with star Johnny Depp (their sixth) is an adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's dark musical about a mad, vengeful barber and it makes "Sleepy Hollow" (one of Burton and Depp's previous efforts) look like a family film. Oh yeah, it's also one of the year's best movies.

Benjamin Barker (Depp) has returned as Sweeney Todd to exact revenge on the evil Judge Turpin (the ALWAYS slick Alan Rickman), who wrongfully imprisoned him and took away his family. Todd is befriended by Mrs. Lovett (a brilliant Helena Bonham Carter) who just might be a little crazier then Sweeney himself.

Depp acquits himself quite nicely in the lead role though, curiously, a lot of his performance involves quietly brooding. That is, of course, when he's not singing, and, while he doesn't have the strongest voice in the world, I enjoyed his (and the rest of the casts' singing) immensely. Burton seemed to (smartly) emphasize strong performances over great singing — fortunately, he also got really good singing.

As good as Depp was, the real standout for me was Carter as Mrs. Lovett. She provides much of the movie's (dark) humor through her odd devotion to Sweeney ("By the Sea") and her work as a pie maker ("The Worst Pies In London"). I know that Depp and Burton are getting all the awards-season attention, but I'd love to see Carter up for some awards.

The rest of the cast is solid. Though he's oddly not given THAT much to do and we don't know that much about the character (what did he have against Barker to begin with?), Alan Rickman infuses Judge Turpin with that charismatic Alan Rickman sleaze that only Alan Rickman can bring. His performance of "Pretty Women" with nemesis Sweeney was a highlight.

Sacha Baron Cohen pops in as a rival of Sweeney's and brings the funny for a few minutes, but I was really impressed by Ed Sanders as Toby, the boy adopted by Mrs. Lovett into her twisted family. His performance of "Not While I'm Around" was a surprisingly sweet counterpoint to all the murder, mayhem and madness. Not as interesting were Jamie Campbell Bower and Jayne Wisener as a pair of young lovers, but their courtship DOES turn out to be important to the main plot.

Sondheim's bleak and often clever music and lyrics turned out to be a great match for the distinct style of Burton, who did a great job of mining darkly comedic moments as well as the gory ones. The songs are catchy as hell and worked into the dialogue quite nicely. Burton also paints an appropriately gray London, which contrasts nicely with the exaggeratedly red blood that spews from many victims' necks (how DID Sweeney keep getting people to come back?)

Though the violence might be excessive for some (ok, a LOT) I think it's necessary to the story Burton's telling, about how Sweeney has become desensitized to everything in his life during his quest for vengeance.

And while this is some of Burton's best work and he does an excellent job of building tension from scene to scene (I was on edge about 75% of this movie), in the end I was ever so slightly disappointed by how unsurprising it was. What I mean is that, in the end, it was pretty much exactly what I expected a Tim Burton movie to look and feel like.

That's not a bad thing, since Burton is one of my favorite directors, but, at the end of the day, this will just be another really, REALLY good Tim Burton movie, when it could've been something special. My two favorite Tim Burton movies ("Big Fish" and "Ed Wood") are the ones where he reaches for a bit more than some gothic, dark, fairy tale, and does something a bit unexpected while still maintaining the signature style that makes him one of our best directors.

Still, if you like good acting, great music (and you're not too squeamish), you should definitely check this one out.

Sweeney Todd...A-