SPOILERS WITHIN!
Johnny Bladehands is back with a vengeance, but this time, instead of carving topiary, he’s carving-throats.
When a director sets out to create a movie version of a popular stage work, fans of the original material are out for blood. With Tim Burton’s latest adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd,” audiences get blood, and then some. Getting past the inherent gore that comes when the demon barber slashes the throats of his victims may prove difficult for some viewers, but the riches beneath the surface are plentiful in this brilliant adaptation of the beloved stage masterpiece.
From the opening credits, where blood oozes through the pavement of London, Burton sets the eerie tone that has come to be expected from his films. Pairing his typical visual flavor, here, a drab, colorless, world to the soaring operatic structure of Sondheim’s masterful music seemed like a good fit on paper; on screen it’s close to perfection. Even though there are several noticeable cuts to the material (some may miss “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd,” that peppers the stage score on various occasions) Burton and his screenwriter’s choices never diminish the material, and instead keep it going at a very tight and emotionally compelling two-hours.
Perhaps most refreshing of all of Burton’s choices is how much faith he puts in the source material. There is no score in modern musical theater that is as complex in its scope, as that of “Sweeney.” The most invigorating thing about the film is hearing the lush orchestrations swell through the theater, which is all but impossible with a Broadway orchestra. It shows Sondheim at his best, encompassing simple ballads (“Johanna,” with its easy, poignant rhymes “I feel you Johanna/and one day I’ll steal you”) and some of his most clever and intricate lyrics (“A Little Priest,” where Todd and his cohort Mrs. Lovett search around London naming different types of people they’ll pop into pies). There is more singing in this movie than in any movie musical in recent memory, as it is practically an opera, which makes the casting subject to some ridicule.
As the demon barber himself, Johnny Depp sings with a voice more reminiscent of a Beatle than the baritone the role calls for, but acts the part with enough nuance to compensate for his shortcomings. He’s helped greatly by the fact that he knows how to act a song, squeezing as much variety out of his voice as possible. Surprisingly, he’s helped greatly by Burton as well, who while never helming a musical before, shows great craft in the genre. He keeps the theatricality intact, but also utilizes the advantages of filmmaking to maximum effect. Even when Depp is having the most difficulty with the score (in the point of no return “Epiphany”) Burton comes up with creative ways to mask his shortcomings that never feel like cover-ups.
The cruel dismissal of the world around Todd is set up perfectly in “My Friends,” where the barber is reunited with his razors. Scenes like this prove how effective film can be compared to stage, as Burton uses reflections of Todd and Lovett within the razor to hint at the cruelty to come. From this moment on, Lovett is but a piece of the background anxiously waiting for her moment to come into focus in Todd’s eyes; she never will.
Even though she is dismissed to the sidelines in Todd’s eyes, the musical is almost as much Lovett’s story as it is his. Casting Burton’s wife, Helena Bonham-Carter in the role of the mistress of meat pies was a controversial choice. She comes more from the Bernadette Peters class of coy sexuality, than the brassy comedian of the original Angela Lansbury. This isn’t much of a problem except in a few of her first numbers (“Worst Pies In London,” in particular) that require a defter comedian. When she’s called upon to be deadpan, she does remarkably well. Perhaps most surprising about her performance is how much it grows on the viewer as the film progresses. Numbers that could have been cut, like Lovett’s day-dreamy “By the Sea,” are instead utilized perfectly by the cast and Burton, to further the character development and bring a bit of comedic relief to the second half.
Regardless of the fact that most of the actors do well with their roles, it’s clear that Burton isn’t an actor’s director. Most disappointing of the actor’s was Alan Rickman (who I coincidentally sat next to the last time I saw “Sweeney” on Broadway), who underplays the part of Judge Turpin so completely, that any sense of pedophilia, or true terror is lost.
For all the swiftness of the camera work, there are moments where the staging of musical numbers stops so completely (“Not While I’m Around,” where an otherwise wonderful Toby stands still and sings), and therefore sucks any emotion out of the music. It would have been interesting to see a different director’s take on parts of it.
What Burton does accomplish perfectly, is the cruel, psychotic tone of the piece. It’s filled with dark humor, but is essentially a commentary on the cruelty of mankind. Depp shows true craft at displaying the slow unraveling of the title character that is clear from his opening lines “There’s a hole in the world like a great black pit/it’s filled with people who are filled with shit.” Scariest of all is how Burton builds to the tragic climax of the film, and he lets the proceedings snowball to a devastating end.
I love the score from Sweeney Todd, and I have Angela Lansbury's performance on DVD, and I saw the tour in Boston in October. But there's no way I could see the movie in the theater. From everything I've read, it's way too gory and I'm way too squeamish. I'll have to wait for the DVD and watch it from the safety of my couch!
Posted by: Esther | January 21, 2008 at 10:08 PM
I've seen it 3 times since its come out. Not because I necessarily loved it that much (even though I did love it almost that much) but because I was seeing it with other fans and my friends who didn't grow up with it as I did. I went into the theatre ready to be disappointed with all these big names in the casting especially by Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. With Johnny, I was so far from disappointed, although he does not have a voice that's even comparable to Len Cariou, he acts the part so well and I agree uses his voice to its fullest potential. At first I was disappointed with Helena Bonham Carter's somewhat monotone,flat performance as the movie progressed, (even though her singing was in my opinion very weak) the way she acted her character by the end of the movie was brilliant. There were so many great moments I loved in the movie, for instance great visual moments like during "Pretty Woman" that build up to the moment where Depp is preparing to make the kill, though no dancing was involved it was a choreography in itself done quite well utilizing the shape and the grace of Depp's arms deftly winding around Rickman's neck followed by that moment where the camera zooms out to show the full pose of the couple that to me seemed as if it were some beautiful statue. As for the the score, I did not miss the songs cut and through seeing the movie I noticed subtleties in the orchestration that I had never noticed before, most prominent being the strings in the background during Mrs. Lovett's verse of "Nothing's Gonna Harm You" that, through their eerie strained wail, better characterizes the tension and the emotional strain of the moment. Sorry this got so long. Summery: Loved it!
Posted by: Sarah | January 21, 2008 at 11:22 PM
yeah, shit...sorry that was really long...
Posted by: Sarah | January 21, 2008 at 11:23 PM
Great review!
I agree with what you said about Johnny - his acting more than made up for the fact that he's not a singer - even so, his singing was fine, just not Broadway caliber.
A lot of people I talked to were disappointed by Helena Bonham Carter's performance, though I thought she did a good job. I really want to see the Angela Lansbury version now though, and I wonder if I wouldn't have been disappointed too had I seen Lansbury before HBC.
Posted by: sophie b | January 22, 2008 at 10:50 AM
I thought I would hate the movie since it wasn't cast with singing actors (singers who can act, actors who can sing—however you want to phrase it), but I loved it.
I have to admit, however, that I do wonder what the film might have been, had it been cast with people who could really sing their roles. On the other hand, perhaps the film would not have been made without Johnny Depp, Tim Burton and Helena Bonham-Carter ("HBC").
The only singing performance that really bothered me was that of Johanna, but then she does have a song in which she's supposed to be imitating birds. Her barely intoning on pitch didn't cut it.
As I wrote about Johanna, it dawned on me that Anthony and Johanna's "kiss me" duet does not appear in the film. I didn't miss it at all.
I loved the scene where Mrs. Lovett realizes that Toby's figured out what happened to Sig. Pirelli. I thought HBC was wonderful. Although I did not care for her singing initially, I grew to love her performance. Depp was great throughout, but I especially enjoyed his performance in "By the Sea".
Top vocal honors go to Jamie Campbell Bower (Anthony) and Ed Sanders (Toby). As for Rickman, I thought he was sufficiently creepy as Judge Turpin. And Timothy Spall was excellent as the Beadle. (He was great in Enchanted too.)
Posted by: Peter | January 23, 2008 at 05:22 AM