Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street ~

Ladies & gentlemen, hobos & tramps, cross-eyed mosquitoes & bowlegged ants, I sit before you to stand behind to tell you something I know nothing about. At least that's how many may feel when I attempt to discuss director Tim Burton. For you see, the man has been labeled a genius on several occasions by some, but I have never viewed him thus. Frankly, I think some reviewers continually lavish praise upon him simply because they fear appearing out of sync with his unique vision and would therefore seem intellectually or artistically challenged in some way. But I'm willing to take the hits that I don't know where I am or what I'm talking about...mainly because it may be true that I don't.

You see, though the gentleman does have a unique vision (which I have always found very intriguing), to more honestly qualify as a "genius" I believe that he would need to have greater solidity and consistency within his works. Basically what I'm attempting to say here is that Mr. Burton-in my humble opinion-has a tendency to go off track somewhere within most of his films, he explores his own brand of humor and sense of quirkiness even at the expense of the whole of a given piece. Such personal indulgences can weaken what otherwise might be very strong wholes.

And simply having a vision that is one's own does not make for genius, especially when that look and feel essentially remains standard and predictable from film to film with little true variation. It makes a person consistent to themselves, but genius? He never really strays from certain types of subject matter and never really ventures from his own personality traits. This makes him...him, but it is not a true qualifier for genius.

Now, having said all that, I can say Mr. Burton's version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is one of his films that falls into his small group of content-consistent works. It remains true to what it is from beginning to end; it stays within its own sense of reality, its own world environment. But then, the subject matter is right up Burton's alley, so there is little need for him to stray too far. Some of the other films of his that I believe fall into this category of better Burton offerings are Beetlejuice,Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (I'm sorry, but I thought the likes of Batman, Mars Attacks and Sleepy Hollow turned out to be pretty much messes under the surface, even though I had high hopes for them).

Sweeney Todd's Burton-friendly plot follows a young, naive and pleasant-looking lad named Benjamin Barker, played by Johnny Depp (who's been in pretty much everything Tim Burton's done), who is most happily married to a beautiful young lady named Lucy ( Laura Michelle Kelly) and has a precious baby girl (later played by Jayne Wisener). Unfortunately, a certain judge of the law (Alan Rickman) covets what Benjamin has and so unjustly imprisons him, that he may attempt to make what Benjamin holds dear his own. Yet the beautiful Lucy will have none of it, choosing to poison herself rather than submit to the wishes of the judge.

In the meantime Benjamin Barker becomes so embittered that he literally physically changes in appearance, chooses the new name of Sweeney Todd and upon his escape from prison plans a most hideous means of vengeance with the aid of a widow named Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter). In other words, many will be left gruesomely dead in his wake...including a great multitude of innocents (though he has come to believe that all of mankind is presumably guilty of something horrendous and therefore deserving of death).

Oh yes, it's also a musical, based on a novel and Broadway play with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and starring as Mrs. Lovett none other than one of the grand ladies of stage & screen, Angela Lansbury (in a performance that revitalized her career).

It all kinda sounds Burtonesque, doesn't it? That it is, and because of a script by Josh Logan (Gladiator, Star Trek: Nemesis) that stays on track, the film manages to remain a cohesive whole for the most part. There is plenty of bloody gore that begins somewhere in act two and continues throughout, but unlike a film such as Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (which did have its own pluses), in which all the bloody, cruel violence appeared to have been perpetrated for little reason other than to propagate a sense that such is cool, hip & fun, there is a message within Sweeney Todd - that vengeance for vengeance'ssake is cruel, vicious & ugly and is ultimately all-encompassing in its destructive nature. However, I did find myself wishing for a true realization by our main character as to what he'd done. Instead, there seemed more blame laid at the feet of Mrs. Lovett and others.

Ultimately, there are only two characters that live to move past what has occurred and begin afresh. There is a third survivor of this tale, but I would argue (for reasons that I should not divulge here) that he does not really survive, for he goes through his own dark metamorphosis. And dark is a key word in relation to this version of the Todd tale. The Broadway play was certainly more gleeful and less vicious on its surface.

Because this is a Tim Burton film and carries with it his own unique, irreverent stamp it won't be everybody's cup of tea. In fact, I'm still debating in my own mind just how much I ultimately liked it because I admittedly did find some of the film's viewpoints and imagery a bit disturbing. But I can tell you that it is true to its course and all those involved gave well to the cause. Though I did feel that a couple of the musical numbers seemed a bit sluggish and lackluster, the performances by all were strong. So too was the production design by Dante Ferretti ( Gangs of New York), costume design by Colleen Atwood ( Memoirs of a Geisha), and the purposefully unsubtle original score by Paul Gemignani (which is intriguing because Danny Elfman has scored virtually every past Tim Burton film, but the choice was undoubtedly made due to Mr. Gemignani's Broadway background). This is one of the compliments I must give Mr. Burton though. His selection of cast and crew is always impressive; they are creative artists.

In the end, Sweeney Todd is a bitter, bitter tale full of anger and a macabre sense of humor - what little of it there actually is. But it is certainly intriguing to watch. So I may not know whether I'm sitting before you or standing behind and I may be trying to tell you something I know nothing about, but let me simply ask you this question so you can make an easier determination for yourself whether to go see Sweeney Todd: How do you like your shaves, straight-edged or electric? Or better yet, who's your daddy, Hitchcock or Wan?