Lift Your Razor High, Sweeney!

The latest Tim Burton/ Johnny Depp film is a great achievement on the surface. Its visuals are gorgeous and signature Burton, pale faces, quirky characters, and drab settings. The acting is fantastic, and the music is super-catchy but not tacky, and sure to follow you home. But despite its strengths, Sweeney Todd never reached that higher plane of a great film. It doesn’t register emotionally and because of that the film was instantly forgettable. It was like one of Mrs. Lovett’s delicious meat pies, deceptively tasty until you start to wonder about that queer aftertaste.

Frequent collaborators Burton and Depp seem like the natural choice to helm the film version of the ghoulish Stephen Sondheim musical, Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Burton has a track record of moody, atmospheric films loaded with dark comedy, and he works wonders with the blood soaked script for Sweeney. The reprise of “Johanna” where Todd slits the throat of customer after customer is at once shocking, horrid, and unbelievably funny. Depp certainly looks the part of the tortured Sweeney, and even though his singing isn’t spectacular, he makes up for it with the conviction that he puts into his voice along with a touch of rock and roll.

Depp’s opposite Helen Bonham Carter is sensational as Mrs. Lovett. She steals every scene that she’s in and is the most sympathetic character. Mrs. Lovett is every bit as horrible a person as Sweeney, but Carter was still able to play that wretchedness along with a touching humanity. The best songs in the film were her duets with Depp like the hilarious “A Little Priest” where they imagine the possibilities of her meat pies and also her solo song, the show stopping number “By the Sea” a whimsical imagining of married life with Todd.

After a satisfying build up the film loses its momentum and ends disappointingly and anti-climactically. Burton spends so much time on the film working the revenge angle, that when Judge Turpin finally and gloriously takes his seat in the barber’s chair it feels like the natural ending point of the film. Depp’s performance is remarkable but there isn’t much there besides his captivating obsession with revenge, and because of that the next 20 minutes feel tacked on and slowly drain the excitement from the film. As with the stage version of Sweeney Todd, and for any good show or film, the audience needs to be emotionally impacted by the characters and should care about their fate. Even in a monster like Todd, there has to be a redeeming quality to keep interest high, especially in a title figure. Despite its flaws Sweeney Todd is one of the most interesting and enjoyable films of the year. It’s a must see if you are even a casual fan of musicals, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it nominated come Oscar season.