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Sweeney Todd (2007)

Reviewed by Matt
Posted on June 26, 2008 
Filed Under Movies, Serial killers, Slashers

In all probability this will be the first and last musical that I will review on the Black Lagoon. At the very least, I don’t expect to write about another one in such glowing terms, given that I can’t think of another film that so completely fulfills its duties as both a full-blooded horror movie and a musical simultaneously. I also can’t think of another film that has been burdened with such a condescending publicity campaign: that the movie is indeed a musical might come as a surprise to those who have only seen the trailer, which did an excellent job of completely disguising the content of a film whose only spoken dialogue occurs in the brief pauses between songs.

That said, it’s hard to gauge whether or not mentioning the musical aspect would help or hinder the audience’s expectations, given that the actual music is a world away from the West End fare touted by Graham Norton on Saturday night television. Composer and writer Stephen Sondheim’s CV includes an eye-opening number of top-bracket shows (including lyrical duties on the superb West Side Story) but the richness and complexity of the music here, first performed in 1979, is still startling. The score’s angular melodies and leitmotif structures are clearly more influenced by opera than by its Broadway peers, yet despite the lack of conventional showstoppers Sweeney Todd is characterised by a lightness of touch both lyrically and musically that infuses the grizzly story with a wickedly black sense of humour. In particular, his take on Todd himself is a triumph, maintaining a strong core characterisation whilst continually readjusting the audience’s position towards him; almost simultaneously he appears as a sympathetic victim, an irresistible maverick and an irredeemable villain, yet Sondheim never resorts to broad stroke when making these shifts. Such is the deftness of the writing that it seems entirely consistent that Todd spits invective about London’s depravity in one scene before cracking jokes in the next (such as his hilarious debunking of Pirelli’s miracle hair-growth formula).

Such strong source material gives director Tim Burton an enviable canvas with with to work, but despite the wider (and wilder) visual opportunities that film affords over the the stage, he bravely decides to focus more closely on the characters than their environment - even to the extent of trimming the chorus numbers so that the songs are performed solely by the main players. His take on 19th century London is beautifully atmospheric, but for the most part is only glimpsed at as the majority of the action takes place within the claustrophobic surroundings of Mrs Lovett’s pie shop. Inevitably this puts even more pressure on the cast; Johnny Depp and Helen Bonham-Carter are hardly surprising choices for a Tim Burton film, but their close relationship with the director means that they are completely integrated with his vision, and here they absolutely soar, tackling Sondheim’s challenging music with ease and never once letting the singing get in the way of their performances. Depp is absolutely mesmerising, and wholly convinces as the man whose soul has been almost completely destroyed by both the wrongs done to him and the urge for revenge. He is well matched by an excellent supporting cast, which includes Alan Rickman on fine form as Todd’s nemesis Judge Turpin, and both Timothy Spall and Sascha Baron-Cohen chew the scenery in a highly enjoyable fashion.

If the film falters at all, it’s in Burton’s slightly clumsy handling of twists in the plot that were never that surprising in the first place and require a more delicate touch. The identity of the mad homeless woman who watches over events is already a dramatic inevitability, but here it’s blindingly obvious who she is from the outset before we even know what role she is to play. Elsewhere, another promising setup which has Todd’s estranged daughter Joanna hiding in his shop dressed in boys’ clothing peters out without a really satisfying resolution.

These, however, are minor nitpicks in an outstanding film. The leisurely pace might give one cause to wonder whether the movie will live up to the story’s lurid reputation, but once Todd embarks on his killing spree in the final third it descends into an unflinchingly-framed bloodbath that could give most other modern gore movies a run for their money. Given the sorry state of mainstream musical theatre at present, it’s understandable that one might be inclined to give the film a wide berth, but to do so would be a mistake as Sweeney Todd admirably reaffirms the form’s potential. And although there is the niggling doubt that Burton is simply becoming a go-to guy for big-screen adaptations of quirky classics (this film is bookended by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and his upcoming take on Alice In Wonderland) it’s hard to dispute that the source material and director are well-matched here, and that Burton is once again at the top of his game. Highly recommended.

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