Plot: What’s it about?
There are partnerships that work and those that don’t. Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks and of course Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. Depp and Burton first teamed up on “Edward Scissorhands” nearly twenty years ago and since then have made some of the more memorable movies in recent history. These range from the brilliant “Ed Wood”, the even darker “Sleepy Hollow” and the most recent “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” Whether it’s Burton’s morbid obsession with anything and everything dark or Depp’s undying talent for anything that’s not Jack Sparrow, it’s irrelevant. These two found each other long ago and there’s no reason for them to not keep making films together. “Sweeney Todd” does add a new layer to Depp’s facade in that he, well, sings. George Clooney did it in “O Brother, Where art Thou?” so why not one of the other sexiest men alive? The film gave Depp an Oscar nomination for Best Actor to boot, so what’s the allure with a barber that murders half of London, anyway?
Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) is happily married to his wife and they have a lovely daughter. Lucy, Barker’s wife, is so beautiful, that a corrupt judge (Alan Rickman) is so enthralled with her that he has Benjamin sentenced to jail for a crime he didn’t commit. After some fifteen years in exile, Barker returns to London under the guise of “Sweeney Todd” and seeks only one thing: revenge. Sweeney Todd, with the help of sailor friend Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower), opens up a barber shop just above a pie shop (known as “the worst pies in London”) run by Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter). Sweeney Todd goes on a murderous rampage giving people haircuts, only to slice their throats and Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop becomes all the rage. Will Sweeney Todd finally get his revenge on Judge Turpin or will he be doomed for a life without meaning?
I have to admit that I didn’t really care for “Sweeney Todd”. I’ll admit that Depp’s performance is top notch and certainly worthy of an Oscar nomination, but it’s the singing that really got to me. And yes, I realize that the movie was based on a Broadway musical, so I did see it coming. Certainly there are no two better actors to play these dark and troubled souls than Helena Bonham Carter (aka “Mrs. Tim Burton”) and Johnny Depp, but I just wasn’t feeling it. It’s nice to see Alan Rickman outside his “Harry Potter” garb and he proves once again that he’s one of the more talented actors around today. Love it or hate it, “Sweeney Todd” was a hit with audiences and critics alike, I’m just not one of them. But the film’s finally on Blu-ray after a long, long wait.
Video: How does it look?
Dark. Very dark. Dark as in hardly any other color brighter than red. This 1.85:1 HD transfer looks great, but the film is so dark in tone and style that it was really hard to tell what looked great and what just blended into the background. I saw no real signs of artifacting and the pasty white complexions of Depp and Bonham-Carter look good as well. The movie was a big budget Hollywood studio film so we can expect nothing but a top notch transfer. Paramount has been working really hard to give us on Blu-ray what they gave us on HD DVD last year and no matter how I feel about the film “Sweeney Todd” looks pretty good, if not morbid, on Blu-ray.
Audio: How does it sound?
“Sweeney Todd” has been blessed with a pretty robust Dolby TrueHD soundtrack that sounds very good. As we might imagine, all of the songs sound amazing coming out of however many speakers you have (in my case, 7.1) and the various little noises that creep up here and there only add more to the soundtrack. Surprisingly absent is long time collaborator Danny Elfman, but Stephen Sondheim’s music and lyrics sound positively amazing throughout. This is a great uncompressed track and fans should be delighted as to how it sounds.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The real treat here are the supplements and Paramount has done a great job at giving us most of them presented in HD. The main featurette “Burton + Depp + Carter = Sweeny Todd” gives us a behind the scenes look at the trio and what it took to bring the film to life (pardon the pun). We also get a bit of a history on the “real” Sweeney Todd as well as a look into Stephen Sondheim’s amazing soundtrack. There’s the obligatory “The Making of Sweeney Todd” as well as a featurette on “Sweeney’s London”. Even more featurettes showcase the blood on the set, the set and costume designs and even an unscripted Moviefone advertisement with Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. A photo gallery and theatrical trailer are also included.
