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All Movie Info
Starring:
Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Head, Peter Bowles, Jamie Campbell Bower, Jayne Wisener, Jamie Campbell Bower, Laura Michelle Kelly, Ed Sanders, Michael N. Harbour, Ian Burford
Directed By:
Tim Burton
Written By:
John Logan, Stephen Sondheim, Hugh Wheeler, Christopher Bond
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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
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Movie Review by Jarrod 
December 23rd, 2007
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'Sweeney Todd' is a work of genius. It flawlessly blends the unique vision of Tim Burton with the music of Stephen Sondheim and the acting talents of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. This is Burton's best film since Ed Wood. Sweeney Todd originated in English literature and urban myths, maybe a serial killer like Jack the Ripper, but not quite as infamous. Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler turned the story into a musical, which debuted in 1979. Their version was essentially an adaptation of a play by Christopher Bond. Burton's version is a feast for the eyes and ears, dark and vividly imaginitive, with perfectly macabre performances from his dependable regulars Depp and Carter. Benjamin Barker (Depp) is a barber in London, who is shipped off to a penal colony in Australia by the vile Judge Turpin (Rickman) on false charges. Barker's daughter, Johanna (Wisener) becomes Turpin's ward, much against her will. Barker escapes and returns to England, where he goes by the titular pseudonym, and he reopens his old shop, above a store owned by Mrs. Lovett (Carter), who sells meat pies. Barker is consumed and corrupted by a thirst for vengeance, and he develops an odd and disturbing relationship with Lovett. He slits his customers' throats with a straight razor; she takes their bodies, chops them up, and uses them as ingredients in her pies, which quickly become the hottest food item in London. Timothy Spall is Beadle Bamford, Turpin's piggish henchman. Sascha Baron Cohen is Pirelli, Sweeney's flamboyant business rival, who seems like a character from Da Ali G Show, with his lispy Italian accent. Jamie Campbell Bower is Anthony Hope, a young sailor who falls for Johanna.
This is the goriest musical ever made, and likewise, the goriest film musical ever made. Its R rating is solely for violence, and is well-earned, with half a dozen or more arterial sprays, and extended shots of Depp covered in blood. Depp and Carter have truly excellent singing voices, though his is better than hers most of the time. It is wickedly and dementedly funny, and depicts London as throughly unwholesome and unappealing, not a site to see on postcards, drab and colorless, much like the London seen in a previous Depp film called The Libertine. Depp chillingly gives us a character who can sing as he methodically commits a murder, and then sends the body off to Lovett by way of a chute. He seems to enjoy it, but it is easier to have sympathy for Todd than for Turpin, absolutely and irredeemably evil in his actions, and more so in his intentions, especially in regards to Johanna. But, Sweeney's madness is also joined by his heartbreak, and there comes a moment of unexpected sadness when he discovers the true identity of one his victims.
Admittedly, 'Sweeney Todd' is not for all tastes, it is bound to alienate some viewers, particularly those who don't like musicals, but maybe those who are not overly familiar with the source material, or maybe those who are, those who refuse anyone other than Angela Lansbury in the role of Lovett. I found this to be a refreshingly original surprise.
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