CMFH Film Reviews

2007, USA/UK
Adventure, Crime, Drama, Horror, Musical, Romance
Review by Deborah Dearth

The blood flows fast and steady in director Tim Burton's cinematic adaptation of the Tony-award winning musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Who better to set such a dark tale to the big screen? With six-time collaborating actor Johnny Depp stepping into the titular barber's chair, the morbid drama centers on a man done wrong. Jealous Judge Turpin (the reliably slitheringly dry Alan Rickman) steals away Benjamin Barker's wife and daughter and exiles Barker for 15 years. Seething from a rotted mind and poisoned heart, Barker exacts his revenge upon his return under the guise of Sweeney Todd.

Assisting in his quick and dirty plan is pie shop proprietor, Mrs. Lovett, who encourages him to take his time. In the process, his practice targets and ultimate victims of his deadly barber's chair find themselves in her fresh meat pies – all the better to improve business on both ends.

As gruesome as the story is, in song it finds a dark humor. Depp is restrained yet satisfying in his vocalizations, at times channeling Neil Diamond. His character maintains tunnel vision towards deadly revenge, and Depp shies away from his usual glint of comic relief. Helena Bonham Carter adorns her songs with an cheeky cockney accent and it is through her Lovett character that there remains a glimmer of hope and sympathy. But this is 19th century London, and hope comes at a terrible price.

The smallest roles gain the greatest vocal talents. Jamie Campbell Bower (Anthony), Jayne Wisener (Johanna) and Laura Michelle Kelly (beggar woman) sing sweetly, and though young Ed Sanders (Toby) acts a bit stiffly, his singing is commendable.

Martin Scorsese's favorite production designer, Dante Ferretti, worked with cinematographer, Dariusz Wolski, to create a dampened mood, devoid of most color except for the bright flash of red blood. Burton-friendly costume designer Colleen Atwood continues to create a dark and seductive style, leaning away from her usual plethora of prison stripes and finding a home in more subdued yet stylish fashions. Even Signor Pirelli's (Sacha Baron Cohen in a fittingly showy role) flashy blue coat receives tattered treatment when observed up close.

Despite such attention to physical detail, animation is still used for expansive shots of a city in ruin. The style adds a fairy tale quality to the film, for the sort of grim and bleak setting required for pulling audiences into an altered reality. This is, after all, a celebrated bloodletting as each unwitting victim finds himself in the meat grinder. Not for the weak of heart, though the blood often flows with help of aforementioned animation, it spews for the effect of quantity over artistic quality. However, viewers should enter the theatre with certain expectations – a quick drip not being one of them.

Burton and company provide a creatively satisfying treatment of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's musical, complete with stars who may not survive on Broadway but fit the film production with ease. Devilishly dreary but never boring, dream sequences and curious characters create a path to Todd's twisted world, where the blood flows hot and revenge is best served in a pastry.