Reviewed by Jimi Williams
Stars Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Jamie Campbell Bower, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jayne Wisener
Written by John Logan (screenplay), Stephen Sondheim & Hugh Wheeler (musical) and Christopher Bond (musical adaptation)
UK certification 18 | UK RRP £22.99
DVD Region 2 | Runtime 116 minutes
Directed by Tim Burton
There’s no doubting that Tim Burton’s films can require a niche audience. His neo-gothic fairytales convert and alienate in equal measure, but they are often wholly unique. After his most child-friendly project in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Burton has come full circle, serving up his most audacious adult project to date — with a side order of pies.
For those not in the know, Sweeney Todd is a musical, though its similarity to Singin’ In The Rain ends there. This is a musical horror (surely a first?) and Burton does not dilute his vision. This is one of those rare films that reaches the screen the way it was intended to be; Burton’s inventiveness has been given free reign at last, and it’s bloody marvellous. Adapted from the Stephen Sondheim stage musical, Sweeney Todd tells the tale of a barber who cuts his customers’ throats and turns the corpses over to his fellow tenant, Mrs Lovett, to be baked into pies. Of course, Sweeney (AKA Benjamin Barker) wasn’t always bad: the dastardly Judge Turpin (Rickman) had him sent to prison so he could covet Barker’s wife in peace. Suffice to say after 15 years of incarceration, Sweeney arrives back in London and he’s not best pleased.
As a conventional horror film this would all seem rather customary; as a musical, Sweeney Todd is nothing short of astounding. From the moment Depp breaks into chorus on a barge entering London to the oh so bloody finale at Lovett’s bakery you are swept away in song. The film is peppered with dialogue, but rest assured the next Sondheim symphony is never far away. Can Depp sing? Well, yes he can (not surprising really, seeing as he fronted a grunge band for years), his gravelly tone lends itself perfectly to the twisted soul of the demented barber. As for the rest of the stellar cast, they all manage to hit the right notes. Bonham Carter delights as the gloriously devilish Mrs Lovett, Rickman oozes evil as Sweeney’s nemesis and Baron Cohen almost steals the film with an all too brief appearance as a rival barber. If you strip away the horror and vocal warbling, you are left with a really fascinating character study. Sweeney Todd is a man so consumed with revenge he barely notices the other characters. Mrs Lovett’s affections are never acknowledged by Todd, he doesn’t even show any desire to retrieve his own daughter who’s being kept under house-arrest by Judge Turpin. One of the best songs in the film (My Friends) sees the demon barber proclaiming his love for his only remaining friends - his razor blades: it's truly chilling. Todd exists only to exact his vengeance on Turpin. Move over Death Wish, this is the ultimate revenge movie.
As with all Burton films, you’re guaranteed a visual feast. His idiosyncratic vision transports you to a cityscape styled more on Gotham than 19th century London. Burton’s palette remains monochrome for the most part, with rare outbursts of candy-like colour gloriously framing moments of flashback and fantasy. When Sweeney starts his slashing marathon (in a clever musical montage) the profuse claret spray engulfs the screen, offering up a striking contrast to the colour-drained environments. Todd and Lovett are monsters in every sense of the word and offer little in the character likeability stakes, but you’ll struggle to take your eyes off them. In a film where everyone gets their comeuppance, Sweeney Todd remains dark to its very core. This is the film Tim Burton was born to make — his masterpiece, his way. The Phantom of the Opera this ain’t.
EXTRAS *** The entire second disc is taken up with special features, the bulk of which are featurettes: Burton + Depp + Carter = Todd; Sweeney Todd is Alive: The Real History of The Demon Barber; Musical Mayhem: Sondheim's Sweeney Todd; Sweeney's London;Grand Guignol: A Theatrical Tradition; Designs For a Demon Barber; A Bloody Business; and Razor's Refrain. Plus there's a photo gallery. Noticable in its absence, though, is a director's commentary. And some deleted scenes and a gag real would also have been nice.