Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
4 stars (out of 5)
Review by Gregor Richardson
Sweeney Todd is not a happy man.
The wicked Judge Turpin, who coveted Sweeney's beautiful wife, has had him convicted for a crime he did not commit.
Transported to a penal colony for fifteen long years, Sweeney is irrevocably changed.
Upon his return to London, he learns his wife is dead and Judge Turpin holds his daughter as a prisoner - until she comes of age, and the judge can marry her.
Sweeney is unhappy - and vengeful.
With his feet back on the dank cobbled streets of London, he is reunited with old friends - a selection of silver cut-throat razors, two of which he takes to wearing tightly around his hips, in holsters, like a dandy gunslinger might wear his guns.
They are his muse, and he promises they will drip rubies . . .
As you would expect, this film is a visual treat.
Director Tim Burton's monochromatic vision of Victorian London is a grand canvas for this screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's stage musical.
Johnny Depp does an admirable job of playing Sweeney, as does Burton's wife Helena Bonham Carter, playing the opportunistic Mrs Lovett, baker of the worst pies in London.
Sacha Baron Cohen, yes Ali G, is menacing as a primping and preening Senor Pirrelli, the King of Barbers.
It is a ripping yarn with some good twists and turns.
