Johnny Depp cuts off more than the hairs of his customers’ chinny, chin-chins in Tim Burton’s dark musical adaptation of SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET. Depp is Benjamin Barker, a dark and lonely soul, who returns to his native England with an alter ego following his banishment for a crime he didn’t commit. He assumes the identity of Sweeney Todd, a renowned barber. Todd lurks in the dark corners of downtown London, but is hell bent on seeking revenge against the local justice system who took his wife and daughter from him.
If there was ever a match made in heaven, its director Tim Burton and the darkly gruesome and tragic SWEENEY TODD. Burton’s films have always been dark, offbeat and funny, so the content, tone and humor of SWEENEY TODD are right up his alley. SWEENEY TODD falls right in the middle of comedy and tragedy, mixing the wry off-setting humor of Burton, the zany antics of co-star Sasha Baron-Cohen and two eerie, humorous and soulful performances by Depp and co-star Helen Bonham-Carter. This is the sixth Burton-directed film for Depp, and fifth for Carter, and it’s no wonder why they’ve been featured in many of his films. Each is appropriately somber eliciting moving musical renditions, yet both are abnormally humorous, bringing plenty comedic moments. Their performances are matched only by Burton’s wonderful eye for the material. He lavishes the use of blood in the picture, not as much for gore as for depicting the destruction of these two troubled individuals who are spilling the final remains of their humanity. SWEENEY TODD is not for the faint of heart, or weak of stomach, but for those who enjoy an original concept, and the wonderfully peculiar talents of Burton, Depp and Carter.
Grade: B+
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