The most twisted, deranged and blood-splattering film of the year has arrived at last, and it's every bit as wonderful as you might expect. Tim Burton and Johnny Depp reteam for the sixth (!) time to bring Stephen Sondheim's award-winning show "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" to the movie-going masses, revisiting their trademark gothic charm ("Edward Scissorhands") and canning the shticky tripe (
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"). It's safe to say — the boys are back in town.
"Sweeney Todd" is a break-into-song musical through and through, but "The Sound of Music" this isn't. The hills are not alive in this grimly electric picture of a once-happy man (Depp) unjustly sent to prison for 13 years so that the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) could move in on his beloved wife and daughter. When he returns to 19th-century London, which looks like something out of an Edward Gorey anthology, the legally-wronged man changes his name from Benjamin Barker to Sweeney Todd and decides that revenge is a dish best served now. The former barber recruits the help of his "friends," a cherished set of silver razor blades, and an instantly smitten local woman, Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), whose shop boasts the worst meat pies in the city.
Her "Times is hard" sentiment is echoed by Sweeney's now-adolescent daughter Johanna (Jayne Wisener) who is locked away in Turpin's home - still faring better than her rumored-to-be-poisoned mother - and sings out the window for a prayer. It is answered by a determined pretty boy (Jamie Campbell Bower) who won't let a few beatdowns by Turpin and his right-hand lackey (Timothy Spall) throw him off course. "I'll Steal You, Johanna" he sings to the blonde beauty, the type of creepy, stalker-inspired song that could only seem romantic in a Burton movie.
Everyone has an unshakeable mission in "Sweeney Todd," adapted to great effect by writer John Logan, and the film succeeds in making them all worth following. But the best scenes come from Depp, who has never been more dreary or menacing than he is here. Gone is that lively spark in his eye, replaced by a glazed-over stare that says "I want you dead … and oh, you will be soon." He is beyond frightening as a carried-away killer with a fondness for slashing - and in the more gruesome moments, stabbing - necks. And he never misses a beat. "First, sir, a shave," requests a customer. "The closest I ever gave," he promises.
There is nothing delicate or prissy about "Sweeney Todd," and the loud, no-holds-barred yet always captivating music complements the tone. It helps that the actors - including
"Borat's" Sacha Baron Cohen in a small role as a rival barber, sporting tights no less - can all belt out a tune without damaging unsuspecting eardrums. The envelope-pushing film, rife with scene after scene of comical depravity and squeamish brilliance, may even find itself worshipped by the most avid musical haters. The masterful "Sweeney Todd" is truly a cut above the rest.
