Review

Review Date: 23-December-07
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

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

I have always hated watching a movie character give himself a shave, or worse, get a shave from somebody else. My whole body tenses waiting for the nick even when a Gillette replaces the naked blade. If you know what I am talking about then "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" might not be your best choice in entertainment. Then again, it might win you over as it did me.

Based on the Broadway show, "Sweeney Todd" is a dark and gruesome musical about a tragic hero who loses his happiness to the cruelty of mankind and becomes a serial killer en route to revenge. Once upon a time, a young and innocent barber named Benjamin Barker had a pretty wife and bouncing baby girl in Victorian London. His wife caught the eye of a ruthless judge (Alan Rickman) who contrived to imprison Benjamin so she would be left open to molestation. Fifteen years later, the barber returns to London under the name of Sweeney Todd, bitter but hopeful of starting over. Finding that his wife is gone and daughter held captive by the judge, he relinquishes his last bit of sanity and reopens his shop while waiting for a chance at payback. This time around he does not cut hair and whiskers. He cuts throats, and the red blood flows.

The movie version of this uplifting tale is told by Master of Macabre Tim Burton, so naturally the leading man is Johnny Depp. Other generations may have their Stewarts and Deans, Pacinos and Redfords; I consider myself lucky to witness the heyday of such an artist. Depp can sing rather well, it so happens, but more importantly he can make you ache for the tortured psyche of Sweeney Todd (looking hot when completely bonkers). He is matched in brilliance here by Helena Bonham Carter as Todd's partner in crime and would-be paramour, Mrs. Lovett. This lady is a delicious bundle of contradictions (also with decent pipes), a softhearted and romantic mother figure who nevertheless concocts the idea of using Todd's victims to fill her savory pies. Dare I say it? Yes, it is true: she stands out in the meatier role.

The music by Stephen Sondheim stirs the soul once you give yourself over to it, and both it and the leads are bolstered by an excellent supporting cast. Sacha Baron Cohen of "Borat" fame blusters amusingly as a rival barber and entrepreneurial quack. Jamie Campbell Bower and Jayne Wisener look like Broadway pros and Burtonesque dreamboats as budding lovers caught up in Todd's terrible and still-unfolding history. And for real pathos and a ringing note of lamentable corruption, look no further than the wonderful Ed Sanders as a world-weary urchin who becomes the son Mrs. Lovett never had and the retribution Todd never saw coming. Burton, Depp, and the whole lot create a world fantastic in its evil but mundane in its afflictions. Hear and behold, and it just might cut you to the quick.

Copyright © 2007 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.