The indelible stamp of director Tim Burton permeates every scene of "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," taking elements of all his prior films and combining them into a single production. Based on the musical by Stephen Sondheim, Johnny Depp plays the titular character, back in London after being incarcerated for years. He learns his beloved wife Lucy is (supposedly) dead and daughter Johanna the ward of a malicious judge, Turpin (Alan Rickman, Professor Snape from "Harry Potter"). When the former and future barber falls in with the slightly insane and immensely dirty Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), they concoct a plan to expand her flailing meatpie business: use only the freshest ingredients…
As with most movie musicals, it helps to know the source material before going into "Sweeney Todd." Know the songs and the storyline, the characters and the setting. Trust me on that. Nearly every piece of dialogue is sung (no surprise) and, most of the time, the instrumental score behind the lyrics takes center stage, making the audience fight for every single line. A slight volume adjustment in both the lyrics and score would have helped the film to no end. Surprisingly, even when the dialogue was hard to follow, Burton´s visuals conveyed the action enough to follow along.
It is, therefore, unsurprising, he chose to cast Depp in the lead role. After all, their five previous collaborations built to this moment. There´s the gothic noir look to "Corpse Bride;" the serious, morbid Depp of "Sleepy Hollow;" a character who looks remarkably like "Edward Scissorhands;" the feeling of not knowing what the man can do next, a la "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory;" and "Ed Wood"s camp sensibility. As Todd, Depp latches onto the man´s hurt, drawing from it the strength to become a cold blooded killer by the end of the story. He has, inarguably, the saddest looking eyes; strong, yet devastated, as if reaching out for someone to cling to. It´s a look Depp has perfected over the year: a wounded puppy in search of a savior.
As his foil, Mrs. Lovett is instantly smitten with him, even being delusional enough to think the pair can continue their deception in perpetuity. She´s equally love starved, hence a whimsical dream-like sequence which is so jarringly out of place, it fits into the context of the film. The main story, though, is that of Johanna-shockingly-considering how little screen time she gets. Johanna is the sole driving force in Todd´s life, the ultimate goal to which his murderous ways will lead. It´s a joke, then, to see the story play itself out with no real resolution. No, we don´t expect the joyous reunion between father and daughter some will want. There´s just…nothing.
There´s a similar problem with the Todd-Turpin antagonism. The two share a pair of scenes in the entire film, neither of which builds their relationship. Instead of showing the audience early on how happy Todd and Lucy are, we´re given a quick montage with sing-over (like a voiceover, get it?). Why does Turpin arrest Todd? He´s just a bad man. We get that and it turns out to be the simplest way to paint the character. The issue is Turpin doesn´t have a personality; he´s a one-note villain. Johanna is a one-note heroine and the ending turns into a giant mess because of it all. (No pun intended.)
The audience never develops the emotional connection to any of the characters, let alone the crazy beggar lady Lovett continually shoos away from the shop. And because of that, we never make the inevitable (and clichéd?) connection until its too late. Moviegoers should be crying by the time the credits roll; instead, we can´t help but roll our eyes, remember this is not an original production and enjoy it for what it is.
Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to rake screenwriter John Logan over the coals-even a little bit-for his role in draining the emotion out of the film. But I can´t. Not in any good conscious, anyway. The man may be responsible for "Star Trek: Nemesis," but he had to work with pre-existing material. As with "The Golden Compass" or "300" from earlier this year, any deviation from the source was going to be met by loud groans if not outright protests from the fans of the musical. That doesn´t mean, however, all the emotion had to sucked out of the picture, almost like the absence of color on the nearly black and white images on the screen.
One area that truly excels (besides Depp and Carter, of course) is the production design. Designer Dante Ferretti, doubtlessly in conjunction with Set Decorator Francesca Lo Schiavo, Burton and a cast of computer artists, has created a version of London which looks like Gotham City´s historical cousin. It´s a gritty, dirty place, mired in soot and despair. Doors look like they can come off their hinges at any time while a potential hazard could be waiting around every corner. The look of London feeds directly into the character of Sweeney Todd: dark, desperate, unrelenting, foreboding.
Even in the moments when the dialogue is obscured and we honestly don´t understand what´s transpiring on screen, there is always something to look at, to catch our attention, to focus on. In Mrs. Lovett´s introduction, it´s bugs. In Sasha Baron Cohen´s bit part as Adolfo Pirelli, a con man, it´s his facial expressions, his mannerisms. He has such a good time with the part what happens to him is almost a criminal shame.
At the end of the day, though, no film should rely on previous work in order for the audience to understand it. This issue feeds directly into the lack of emotional depth, which is the major downfall of the film. Any worries about the quality of the singing from non-singers is unfounded; each and every actor is up to the task (strangely Ed Sanders, a little boy, is the easiest to understand any time he opens his mouth). The look of the film is awe-inspiring in its depravity and Depp continues an excellent streak of non-mainstream roles.
"Sweeney Todd" rates a 6 out of 10. Based on the comments above, adjust your score accordingly. In all fairness, this may be a film which requires two viewings…or needs to come with a companion lyric book.