Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

You could say I am a Tim Burton fan, his unique sensibilities and offbeat range of work appeals to the alternative side of me and whilst not all his films are amazing they are always worthwhile and interesting, a lot than can be said for many other filmmakers who trot our generic work year on year. For this latest collaboration with Johnny Depp he turns his attentions to Sweeny Todd, the darkly comic Stephen Sodenheim musical and adepts himself well. This is definitely Burton’s darkest work yet, even the likes of Sleepy Hollow pale in comparison but that is not such a bad thing. The film, like the stage play, is in fact more of an opera than a musical with little of the film not rendered in song. While this may take a little getting used to it soon becomes normal and there is a generally great job done on all the songs by the very game cast, Johnny Depp in particular acquits himself admirable to the task at hand, his demented Sweeny Todd initially squeezing just enough sympathy from the audience before his true nature is revealed. The gothic settings and period detail make this one of Burton’s most visually spectacular and stylised films. There is no realistic portrayal of 18th century London here, and there doesn’t need to be, the fantastical nature only heightens the mood. The film also doesn’t skimp on the gore, I consider myself fairly adapt at handling gore in film but some of the scenes here still made me flinch. By having the red of the blood be one of the few bright colours in the film Burton focuses the audience on it, the black humour is well preserved too, some of the deaths are so over the top they become slightly comical, whilst retaining their innate horror. Helena Bonham Carter proves a decent foil for Depp, her Mrs Lovett is another rather terrible but sympathetic character, in fact the whole supporting cast does a great job be in Alan Rickman’s slimy Judge Turpin or Sacha Baron Cohen’s scene stealing performance as Pirelli, Depp’s rival barber. However your enjoyment of the film will largely depend on your love of the material, it is fairly faithful to the musical by all account, and the style of story. Whilst I did enjoy it and found some sections to be brilliantly created, the overall darkness of tone and ruthless nature of the characters left me rather cold, there is no hero to root for and the tragic nature of the tale makes it one your are unlikely to want to revisit. Still these are issues like I said with the nature of the story rather than its execution on screen. The film also runs rather long and sags in places, a few songs could maybe have been cut and the side story involving a young boy and Judge Turpin’s daughter could definitely have been trimmed. Still for a visual feast and some great performances this is definitely up there with Burton’s best films, but the lack of heart and soul cost the film in the end as all the death and destruction seem self-serving. A fantastic adaptation that manages to combine the core of the play with Burton’s unique vision without compromising either. The top cast and some excellent scenes however are dampened by the callous nature of the story.