SWEENEY TODD (2007) | OnStreaming

“Come and visit your good friend Sweeney!”

Directed by: Tim Burton
1h 56minR

In 1992 I saw Tim Burton at a comic book convention in Los Angeles. He was there with Danny Elfman, and together they were promoting their new film, Batman Returns.

Movie fans always want to know what’s next for directors they follow so, before the latest Batman movie was even released to theaters, Tim Burton was asked about other projects he had in the works. He said his dream was to someday direct a film version of Stephen Sondheim’s musical, Sweeney Todd.

I mention this tidbit not to make you jealous of how cool I was last century, but because it illustrates how long Burton’s adaptation of The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was simmering in the pot. And because I think the long development period is one of the reasons why Sweeney Todd is among his most striking accomplishments.

You won’t be surprised to learn that Johnny Depp plays the lead role here, and Helena Bonham Carter plays his landlady / partner in murder, Mrs Lovett. This is a Tim Burton movie after all, and we still exist in the Earth-One timeline.

What might surprise you is how seriously the story deals with the all consuming, destructive nature of revenge. If anyone deserves revenge, it’s Sweeney Todd. He was thrown in jail for the crime of having his beautiful wife coveted by a powerful and downright unscrupulous judge. Fifteen years of his life wasted away in a dark cell, while his daughter was stolen away and raised by the very man who passed the sentence.

The judge deserves to die. Sweeney deserves to kill him. But the path to revenge winds through some dark places, and the innocent always suffer alongside the unjust.

There’s some uncomfortable truth tucked into the plot line as well. I was especially struck by a scene where Todd, endlessly obsessed with his plans for revenge, suddenly realizes that he can’t remember his wife face. Ouch.

Sweeney Todd is a shining example of what results when a director lives with a story until they know it inside out and then successfully translates their personal vision to the screen. It hits its themes with a sharp focus that has become less and less common in modern films.

The bloody good stuff:

Sweeney Todd is a moody affair with a dark sense of humor.
Blood splatters all over the place. Not even the camera lens is safe from arterial spray.
Music, music, and more music.
I don’t think a story has married so well with Burton’s visuals since The Nightmare Before Christmas.
The film’s great villain, Judge Turpin, is one more reason to miss Alan Rickman.

Sweeney Todd is my Halloween movie recommendations this year. Grab some candy, bake a pot pie, and settle in for some bloody revenge, Broadway musical style.
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