Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd Review

The problem with "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is that it contains two competing movies. On the one hand, you have an interesting game of devil's advocate taking as its subject one of the most notorious, albeit fictional, serial killer characters in English literature, done in Tim Burton's inimitable fairy tale way. On the other hand, you have a Stephen Sondheim musical.

It's tempting to say that if you like musicals (this reviewer is not a fan of the genre), then you'll like this. However, I suspect that this will challenge the most ardent of fans' tastes. Of the songs, there are only two or three rhymes witty enough to justify half of the film being in verse. Both Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter acquit themselves well as singers, but are continually forced to hold notes for longer than any Hollywood A lister should have to. It's as if Sondheim doesn't have enough music to go around and is trying to stretch it out as much as possible. Having said that, there are a few songs that are completely surplus to the requirements of the plot. For example, Mrs Lovett's song about how she'd like to take a holiday at the seaside.

So what of the other half of the film? 19th century London is recreated beautifully and then skewed to fit Burton's vision and reflect Depp's dark, brooding Todd. Both Depp and Bonham Carter are always watchable and this movie is no exception. Alan Rickman plays Judge Turpin and Timothy Spall plays Beadle Bamford, so the film's villain credentials are all in order. Sacha Baron Cohen is hilarious as rival barber and Italian stereotype, Signor Adolfo Pirelli. The gore (and there's a lot of it) is very well done. However, the most effective shock comes not from the throat slitting, but from the high impact method Todd develops for delivering the corpses down to Mrs Lovett's bake house to be made into pies.

Burton's style could perhaps best be described as "dance macabre" and it's easy to see why he would be attracted to a musical about a serial killer. Burton actually approached Sondheim in the late 80s about making a movie adaptation of Sondheim's stage musical, so in 2006 jumped at the chance after Sam Mendes dropped out of the project. However, whether it's self-imposed or not, throughout the film you get the same impression you get watching Burton's remake of "Planet of the Apes", that he is an individual talent and does not play well with others. As in his previous film, "Corpse Bride", the matrimony of Burton and Sondheim is an unholy one.

Sweeney Todd Review

There were a lot of things to be brought together in Tim Burton's adaptation of Sweeney Todd, not least of all his distinctive directorial mark. Based on the Stephen Sondheim musical about a young 18th century barber, taken from his wife and child, by a corrupt judge, and sent to Australia for a crime he didn't commit.

With Burton at the helm it's no surprise then that this is a gothic fantasy, set in a suitably grimy 18th century London.

Johnny Depp stars as Sweeney Todd the barber who returns after fifteen years to get revenge. Depp is singing for the first time and manages to find his voice and embody it with all the bitterness and bile that the character requires. Todd's accomplice is Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) also singing for the first time and though her voice is not strong, it seems fitting for a lonely widow, with a fetid pie shop and a tentative grip on reality. As Todd's old landlady, she has kept his beloved barber's blades. Todd's new business is murder, and it isn't long before he decides that anyone who comes to his chair deserves to have their throat cut. Mrs Lovett, sees it as a way to boost her flagging business. After all times are tough and meat is expensive.

Running alongside the plot for revenge is a story of forbidden love between Todd's teenage daughter, in the care of the judge who wronged Todd, and a young man who knows the barber from the journey back to London and appeals to what is left of his good nature. Alan Rickman is superbly despicable as the self-serving judge aided by a perversely creepy Timothy Spall. Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen makes an enjoyable comedic cameo as an Italian barber, using a young boy to sell his miracle elixir. The boy adds yet another dimension to the plot and is an uneasy innocent in the care of murderous duo.

This big screen adaptation could have gone wrong in so many ways but happily it's almost perfect. The only thing that goes against it is the ghoulish nature of the story, which is at times unsettling.