Sweeney Todd

The take of a barber who cuts the throats of his customers and his landlady who turns them into meat pies is, lets face it, rather strange territory for a musical. Which is maybe one of the reasons why Sondheim's musical has never been amongst the most popular - it combines elements of very dark humour with an arc that dates back to traditional tragedies. It exists somewhere between the fantastical and the downright nasty. Which probably makes it just about a perfect fit for director Tim Burton.

And if you have Burton, its a fair bet Johnny Depp won't be far away. To be fair, Depp is superb in the title role - coming across as a wounded, malevolent Edward Scissorhands. He brings both the pathos and the touches of humour to the part to keep the audience interested. Helena Bonham Carter as the pie-maker Mrs Lovett is equally superb, conveying the unrequited love behind her seemingly cruel choices. Both manage admirably with both the acting and the singing.

Of the rest of the cast the most pleasant surprise is Sacha Baron Cohen in his strongest performance to date. An underplayed Alan Rickman as the evil judge and overplayed oily and obsequious Timothy Spall (and nobody does oily and obsequious better) as his henchman do rather better with the acting than the singing. Whereas you suspect the younger members of the cast were picked more for their singing than their acting. But as a whole, the cast work well.

Burton's vision of Victorian London is more fantastical than real, but hey, it is a musical so realism isn't high on the agenda. His direction is less a straight forward filming of the stage version than certain recent musicals (Chicago for instance). He includes some decidedly cinematic flourishes from the get-go - the camera speeding through the streets and alleys, etc... and trims off sub-plots and songs as unnecessary. However, even this can't mask the theatricality of the plot in the closing stages with characters coming and going in limited locations.

However, overall it works as a cinematic spectacle - visually it looks great, shot in moodily atmospheric muted tones, this is a dark vision of London with the only contrast coming in the bright colours of fondly remembered pasts or imagined futures or the blood that flows freely. It is very gory - but strikes a tone somewhere between Monty Python and the Holy Grail and genuine horror which seems to fit just right. There are also some great set pieces - the shave-off, the "Try a bit of priest" sequence (on of the few comic delights). Burton also manages to create great tension leading up to the first killing - you know its coming, but its a surprise when it comes and shocking in its brutality. Bizarrely though the pace flags just as the killings really start, but its pulled back for the finale.

Overall - 4/5 It's neither Burton's nor Depp's best and is probably to gory for some tastes, but its still an impressive cinematic spectacle.