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Sweeney ToddStarring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall and Sacha Baron Cohen |
IN SHORT: just plain bloody. [Rated . minutes]
Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp), who "shaved the heads of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard from again". A Broadway musical phenomenon reaches the big screen nearly thirty years on and, to be quite honest, had us going nuts with anticipation for days before our screening, probably because we saw the original (on July 4, 1979 -- yeah, we remember the date. That's how good the Angela Lansbury/ Len Cariou starring Harold Prince production was. Oh, yeah, July 4 helps . . .) and have never gotten the "title song" out of our head. Said song has been deleted from director Tim Burton's adaptation, which disapponted us more than you could imagine . . . and we're straight, so no snide comments from the peanut gallery. Then again, the song isn't appropriate for an adaptation that focusses on the main characters since the song was written for the overall chorus of the musical and, that out of the way, we remind our self that always been rule one of this site not to compare to Source Material so, properly chastized...
Sweeney Todd is a full plate and, given all the other award worthy releases that come out at this time of year, it can be a difficult sit. We'll give you what you need to know and we won't spoil the plot surprises -- and there are more than enough of those to go around <g>. Stephen Sondheim and Tim Burton & Co disguise an opera with blood and guts and stories dealing with revenge and romantic obsession. It's tragic story of is that of barber Benjamin Barker (Depp), his beautiful bride Lucy (Laura Michelle Kelly) and baby daughter. The bride is coveted by judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) whose law enforcement henchman, the Beadle Bamford (Timothy Spall), frames the barber and has him shipped off to an Australian penal colony -- the setting is nineteenth century London, and the Brits used the aforementioned continent as a disposal ground for t he Empire's most notorious criminals. Whether they were guilty or not.
Fifteen years later Barker returns to London with the new identity of "Sweeny Todd" to seek revenge and to find his (stolen) family. He finds that his old lodgings, above a meat-pie shop owned by Mrs. Nellie Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) are vacant, and that Lovett has preserved certain elements of his old life -- his barber razors. What he doesn't see is Lovett's longing looks as "Todd" is told that his wife is dead from self-inflicted arsenic poisoning and that his daughter has been raised as a ward of the aformentioned, and despised, Judge Turpin. Daughter Joanna (Jayne Wisner), who has never seen her father, has been confined to her residence for most of her life, which is why she gazes longingly out the window and steals the heart of a sailor named Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower), whose acquaintanceship with Todd on the long float home from Australia, completes the character connections.
Barker/Todd's former position as top barber inn town has been supplanted by the flamboyant Signor Adolfo Pirelli (Sacha Baron Cohen) whose assistant Toby (Edward Sanders) whips up a crowd of customers with tales of Pirelli's speed and close shave. A challenge to the motley crowd gathered by Toby is the key to everything and gets the main story started. Accept that a good shave is key to a higher class of standing in this community and you're off to the proverbial races as Todd defeats the Pirelli in said challenge and steals that barber's business. Pirelli doesn't take kindly to the new competition, whom he eventually recognizes. Seeking blackmail income instead of calling the local police leads to his demise -- Todd's determination to murder those who done him wrong is established early in the "dialogue" so we haven't spilled anything plot-wise equivalent to the amount of blood that will be spilled on the big screen. There, you've been warned if you didn't know.
What to do with the Pirelli's corpse? Well, Mrs. Lovett does sell meat pies...
The new and improved pie wows the London populace and brings fame and fortune to the shop. Of course, there is the problem of suppy, solved by a pact between the pair to despatch aging and/or otherwise single clients of the barber shop. Pirelli's kidlet barker Toby assumes a similar gig for Mrs. Lovett's new and improved pie shop when his boss seemingly abandons him there. Heh heh.
Short of the Sondheim approved musical edits, Burton's production is dead on. Star Johnny Depp sound remarkably like David Bowie and all other actors provide their own vocals, remarkable given Hollywood's previous determinations to overdub singing voices. Can't really do that when the play is close to opera, folks.
Ignore that we used the "o" word and let yourself be surprised. Either way -- meaning you'l love it or flat out hate it -- this Todd is remarkably unlike anything else that will tempt you this season. That's a good thing.
On average, a first run movie ticket will run you Ten Bucks. Were Cranky able to set his own price to Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, he would have paid . . .
$6.50
Those seeking slice 'n' dice thrills may be put off by the near-operatic format. Those who know the format should be prepared for the blood, which flows to near distraction. On many levels this is the best of the year and on just as many levels Sweeny Todd is an equally difficult film to sit for. We knew what was coming and, strangely enough, were only thrown by the logical elimination of the best song from the original. That's where the bit about ignoring Source Material becomes important to what we do.
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