Johnny Depp stars as Sweeney Todd, the infamously ghoulish barber who slices throats of the aristocracy before tipping them down to Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) - self confessed patron of 'the worst pies in London'.
Yet Todd is not merely an indiscriminate murderer. Exiled to Australia for a crime he did not commit, this is a man with vengeance, retribution and, because this is based on the hit Stephen Sondheim musical, singing on his mind.
With a reputed 70% of the story dedicated to warbling, director Tim Burton is not shying away from a genre traditionally ignored by most of the cinema going public. A risky strategy, even with more blood on the menu than an Eskimo buffet.
They say:
Rolling Stone: "As the film follows its tragic course, Depp scores an explosive triumph."
Total Film: "An especially acquired taste."
Channel 4: "Suitable for those who would ordinarily claim not to like musicals, this is nothing short of masterful."
We say:
Most Tim Burton pictures begin the same way. We're talking a thunderous orchestral score (though here with regular composer Danny Elfman making way for Stephen Sondheim), giddy camerawork, storybook credits.
You can't help but think "I'm going to really enjoy this". And most times you do, though Sweeney Todd might just be the exception.
This is a plucky attempt to do something new - a genuine horror musical with gore galore and a cold air of expectant violence lurking behind every twist of Todd's razor. It fails spectacularly because once the singing and the blood is stripped away, you are left with nothing but a middling revenge story and substandard bit characters to stretch out the running time.
Despite commendable support from Timothy Spall and, to a lesser extent, Sacha Baron Cohen (Alan Rickman is a letdown), it is the two leads who save this experience from being a total yawnfest.
Johnny Depp plays his anti-hero like Edward Scissorhands after some bad rum. With a distinguished singing voice reminiscent of David Bowie, he broods with unstoppable malevolence. Helena Bonham Carter is even better - impossibly beautiful and impossibly cruel at the same time, your eyes are drawn to her like the trancelike gaze of Medusa.
Notwithstanding some woefully dull songs, that Burton chose to keep this adaptation a musical is not the problem here. It is an acquired genre, but can be both funny and rewarding when approached with a fresh eye. Yet the man who once revamped Batman for a whole new generation cannot find his way into this production. It is so inherently owned by Sondheim, his job becomes little more than pointing the camera and telling Johnny Depp he is doing a good job.
Where once Burton's sets were majestic (the town of Spectre in Big Fish, anything from his aforementioned Batman movies), here they are oddly squashed and primitive.
The lighting too is disproportionate - with a sequence heralding the revived fortunes of Mrs Lovett's pie shop too dark and dingy for the exalted emotion it portrays. In contrast the proceeding fantasy daydream is so bright it feels like a deleted scene from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
If Depp and Bonham Carter are at home in a world of feckless lyrical outbursts, Burton is certainly not (curious considering his previous musical triumphs The Nightmare Before Christmas and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).
Save for a terrific final act, take these two perfectly cast actors out of the equation and the whole film would be nearly unwatchable. It is simply too much to take.
Off the wall is one thing, but Sweeney Todd is just plain mental.
CAST
Johnny Depp
Helena Bonham Carter
Alan Rickman
Timothy Spall
DIRECTOR
Tim Burton
TIME
117 mins
POSTED...
Sun 27 Jan at 12:28pm
