Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
A barber returns to London seeking revenge after being exiled by a twisted judge who wanted to take his wife for his own.
The dark and romantic themes of the former Broadway musical Sweeney Todd made it the perfect new project for Tim Burton to take on. Having never seen the play, I cannot comment on how closely the film followed it, but it certainly did not feel like it had been "Hollywoodized." The movie was about a barber who returned to London seeking to avenge his late wife and the judge who had him exiled so the judge could have his wife for himself.
In a way, this movie felt like a much darker version of Tim Burton's 2005 stop-motion animated film, Corpse Bride. Just like Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd introduces a potential relationship between Burton's favorite leading actors Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. The first sign of her feelings for him were apparent during a song that was primarily a Johnny Depp solo that she tried to join in but was mostly ignored by him. Her passion and longing during this song gave me goosebumps in the same way that she did as Emily during "Tears To Shed" in Corpse Bride.
Beneath its dark and dreary overtones, the story of Sweeney Todd involves every sort of love story. There is lost love, unrequited love, forced love, parental love, and fairy tale love involving a princess character locked in her tower who sings to the birds awaiting her prince to rescue her. There are so many rich love stories that it is difficult not to fall in love with the movie itself and the main characters, even after Sweeney Todd begins to take on some more villainous traits. He kills in the name of vengeance and begins to go mad only after his one opportunity for revenge slips from his grasp at the very last moment. His anger is understandable, and his only flaw is his lack of inhibitions.
As many people are aware, I appall senseless violence in films. Fortunately, this movie had none of that. It was a slasher film, but it was only violent during the times when it needed to be in order to advance the story and character development. I also found it easier to take because the blood looked extremely fake. It looked a lot more like red paint than blood, and this notion prevented me from feeling queasy at any point during the film. I did not feel that they overdid the gore in any way. There was a lot of blood in some scenes, but it was no more than was necessary for this sort of film without having people complain. At its heart, the movie is really a series of various love stories.
As a musical, there were a ton of songs to enjoy. Johnny Depp's opening line sounded a bit too much like his character from Pirates of the Carribean, but that may have just been because he was on a ship. After that one line, he began sounding more like the character he was supposed to be playing. The songs were done in the dark, alluring style of Phantom of the Opera as opposed to some of the bouncier Broadway musicals-turned movies such as Chicago or Hairspray. Each song was beautiful and passionate with an eerie undertone, always giving the feeling that something was not quite right. However the music was so entrancing that it often felt best to ignore this feeling and just give in and enjoy the moment, which helped to understand Sweeney Todd's motivation to kill, even if it was impossible to relate to. The songs involving the fairy tale love story were more pure and innocent and were simply a pleasure to listen to. There was one "princess" song about the longing to be free that I especially enjoyed.
In the usual Tim Burton style, the movie the movie had dark and dreary colors, costumes, and makeup. Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter were painted white with dark circles around their eyes, looking very goth. The colors matched the tone of the movie, but they were somewhat depressing to look at. The gray streak in Johnny Depp's hair, coupled with the "haven't slept in months" look around his eyes made him look more like a mad scientist than a mad barber, but it did make perfect sense with the story. He reminded me a lot of Dr. Frankenstein just as Helena Bonham Carter resembled Frankenstein's bride.
Sweeney Todd came out just in time to give us a true masterpiece for the year 2007 before it ended for good. Its timeless themes of love and vengeance are sure to make it a classic for years to come, and the beautiful, haunting soundtrack is well worth purchasing to tide one over while waiting for the DVD to be released. It is a deep and engaging story that knows no limits. Tim Burton has done it again.
