Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) – Film Review

Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman
Certificate: 18

By Roger Crow

It’s more than a decade since I’ve seen Tim Burton’s conversion of the Stephen Sondheim musical, and now released on 4K UHD, those inky blacks, dark blues, and burnt siennas all pop. Not that you can see much else for the bulk of the movie, though there are moments of full colour nostalgia, such as the time the eponymous barber (Johnny Depp) is happiness personified with his beautiful wife, lovely baby and their whole lives ahead of them.

However, courtesy of jealous judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), our troubled hero is knocked unconscious and sent away.

“Blood-soaked”

With an ace team, including master editor Chris Lebenzon and genius production designer Dante Ferreti, Burton has a field day orchestrating the blood-soaked drama. Depp, audibly somewhere between Anthony Newley and David Bowie, is splendid as the doom-laden anti hero with a Mallen streak in his hair and a glint in his eye.

If memory serves, the film’s trailer didn’t mention it was a musical, so I can only imagine the hardcore Burton/Depp fans who were stunned when they found out in the cinemas in 2007.

The movie cost $50million, though I’m guessing most went on Deep’s salary and not on the lighting. However, despite the 50 shades of grey colour scheme, there’s a lot to be savoured here, not least Helena Bonham Carter’s deliciously seductive performance as twisted pie-maker Mrs Lovett, and of course the much-missed Alan Rickman in one of his final performances. Nobody has ever bettered those fabulous speech patterns.

An added bonus is a sublime performance from Timothy Spall as Judge Turpin’s lackey, Beadle.

Of course once you adjust to the muted colour scheme, when richer colours arrive, such as the blues of Sacha Baron Cohen’s rival barber costume, it’s quite the sight.

As a hardcore Burton fan since the 1980s, it’s great seeing this again in the context of his other films since. It’s a far richer experience than his risible Planet of the Apes reboot, and more recently the so-so Beetlejuice sequel.

“Superb turn”

Having recently rediscovered the classic movie version of My Fair Lady, that wouldn’t be a bad double bill with Sweeney Todd – the yin to the yang of period London-based musicals. Wouldn’t it be loverly, or wouldn’t it be horrible? You decide.

How much you enjoy the movie may depend on how much you like the Sondheim musical. Even while watching the film, I’ve forgotten the songs once they’ve played out, but as a mood piece, Sweeney Todd is a masterpiece, with a superb turn by Depp.

For the most part it’s a moody gothic drama, but when the bloodletting arrives, blimey it’s gory, pushing it well into the 18 certificate realm. With a few cuts, no pun intended, it could have easily landed a 15, but a musical about a killer barber is limited by its action scenes, so the visceral moments deliver much-needed thrills, especially as those songs are a bit meh.

However, there is one charming seaside fantasy scene which offers welcome respite from the doom and gloom.

Roger Crow( Writer )

Adopted Yorkshireman Roger Crow developed a passion for film and TV in the 1970s and 1980s. He has been a published film and TV reviewer since the 1990s; a world travel and restaurant critic since the noughties, and for the past decade has assessed the pros and cons of live gigs and theatre productions around the UK. His ideal day would involve reviewing a performance of Bat Out of Hell, followed by a Pad Thai while being serenaded by Texas on a cruise around Europe.
crowsfeat.com; nostalgiahhh film podcast

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