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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
(R)

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The vengeful Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) finally gets his hands on the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman).
The hills may be alive with the sound of music, but the streets of 19th century London are a-gush with rivers of blood in director Tim Burton's movie version of composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim's stage musical masterpiece. Longtime Burton favorite Johnny Depp plays a falsely accused barber newly sprung from prison and out for bloody vengeance, and Helena Bonham-Carter co-stars as an impoverished, hot-to-trot pub owner who may be as crazily dangerous as the ex-con. How this ghoulish twosome marries their separate agendas -- by stuffing and selling meat pies with highly suspicious ingredients -- is the stuff of rich, dark comedic horror that has been delighting and chilling audiences, in various stage and film incarnations, for three centuries. Burton's version, with its baroque caricatures, spectacularly grim production design and over-the-top throat slashing, should disappoint few.

The vengeful Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) and his willing accomplice Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter)
True, it is based on one of the greatest musicals of all time, one featuring a monumentally complex original score that has challenged many a well-trained singer-actor. That score has been slashed and simplified for the big screen. The singing voices of Depp and Bonham Carter won't give any trained singers sleepless nights, although Depp handles his musical numbers with dexterity and nerve enough to compensate for his lack of vocal prowess.
Still, when he lets loose, he delivers his best screen work in years.

Also stellar are Alan Rickman as a diabolical judge shadowed by his toady Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen as a flamboyantly egotistical Italian barber, and Ed Sanders as a pitiable young urchin. Although this tamer screen Sweeney doesn't have the slashing savagery and brilliant inventiveness of the Broadway production, considering the state of movie musicals these days, it still makes for bloody fun screen entertainment.

by Stephen Rebello

photo credit: 2007 by DreamWorks LLC and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

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