He kept a shop in London town
Of fancy clients and good renown
But what if none of their souls were saved?
They went to their maker impeccably shaved
By Sweeney
By Sweeney Todd
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Starting life as a penny dreadful, Sweeney Todd was expanded upon and brought to the stage as a musical in 1979 by Stephen Sondheim. Now in 2008, Tim Burton brings us his much anticipated film based on the stage play, making this Burton’s second direct adaptation* and third musical.** Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is also one of Burton’s best films to date.***

Telling the tale of a murderous barber on a quest for revenge, the film follows the story of the play fairly closely. Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) returns to London with the intent to murder Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who used his power to falsely imprison Barker and take his wife and child from him. After fifteen years of incarceration he has returned to exact his revenge under the name of Sweeney Todd. It’s a dark, gothic character study that in some ways is similar to Johnen Vasquez’s most excellent comic, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. Sweeney is a disillusioned, violent and misanthropic man and the film does a brilliant job at making the audience empathise with Sweeney.

Despite that Sweeney ends up slitting the throats of just about every man who sits in his barber chair, Sweeney has a certain charm to him. It’s not just because it’s Johnny Depp, but also because Sweeney has a genuinely wicked nemesis in Judge Turpin. No matter how many people Sweeney kills, he always appears more righteous than the Judge. The intriguing thing about Sweeney’s mentality is the way in which he turns his feelings about humanity in literal actions. London is hell. Sweeney is just acting accordingly.

The film creates a version of London that is both extraordinary and vile at the same time. The way Tim Burton’s iconic gothic art direction melds with the grime and grit of the London slum setting makes for a very dark, but beautifully detailed film, The visual style compliments Stephen Sondheim’s music perfectly. The music of Sweeny Todd is just incredible and makes use of a curious structure that mixes staccato talk-singing and drawn out, emotive singing. The entire cast does a surprisingly excellent job at singing and as well as acting. Praise goes not just to Johnny Depp, Helena Bonam Carter and all of those whom you would expect to be brilliant, but also to relative newcomers’ Ed Sanders and Jamie Campbell Bower. While not all of the songs from the play have made it to the film (The Ballad of Sweeney Todd quoted at the start of the review is one such song that has been cut), Tim Burton’s adaptation remains quite faithful to its roots – even down to the Broadway storytelling structure.

While there is a plot, the film is essentially a dark and bloody character study. It’s quite theatrical and does have a tendency to indulge in moments for the sake of it, devoting minutes of screen time to sing about pies and razor blades. However, this Broadway structure is all part of its charm. It’s also quite genius that this film is both full of singing and tension. This is due to both the dark melodies of the music and the way the film delivers excitement with Hitchcock-esque precision. As the film progresses, things get increasingly complex and morality decays further. However, the audience maintains both their morality and complete awareness of the situation. At all times the audience has knowledge of just about everything that is going on. This makes for some incredibly tense scenes where you are completely aware that death is imminent.

Sweeney Todd is a film that is beautiful to both look at and to listen to. Every element is working together to create an experience that is involving, exiting and atmospheric. While it does subscribe to some Broadway clichés, it is still absolutely fucking brilliant.

*Corpse Bride was based on a folk tale, but only loosely and Batman wasn’t a direct adaptation. Only this and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are direct adaptations.

**Yes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had music, but it wasn’t a musical. Only Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas were. If you want to be picky we could say that this is Burton’s third and half-th musical.

***Feel free to email lengthy arguments for or against this. I thrive on debating, especially debating opinion – because you can argue opinion forever.