?Sweeney Todd: The
Demon Barber of Fleet Street?
D: Tim Burton
S: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman and Sacha Baron Cohen

MANILA, Philippines?How far would you go to avenge the loss of your family? For Sweeney Todd, the answer is easy: Till the last drop of his blood?literally!

With ?Sweeney Todd,? this year?s worthy recipient of the Golden Globes? Best Picture in a Comedy/Musical, visionary director Tim Burton expands his foray into the movie-musical genre?which began with 2005?s acclaimed animated gothic romance, ?Corpse Bride??and delivers a brilliantly realized albeit compressed big-screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler?s popular 1979 stage musical. The darkly brooding, unapologetically bloody musical couldn?t have fallen into better hands!

Set in 19th century England, the production follows the story of barber, Benjamin Barker (played to tragic perfection by Johnny Depp, who also won Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy at the Globes), who, with the help of young sailor, Anthony Hope (Jamie Campbell Bower), returns to London 15 years after he?s banished to Australia by evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) for a crime he didn?t commit.

During the barber?s exile Down Under, Turpin rapes Barker?s distraught wife, Lucy (Laura Michelle Kelly)?who consequently poisons herself with arsenic, leaving daughter, Johanna (Jayne Wisener), in the care of the opportunistic judge.

Thirsting for revenge, and with the help of his former landlady, Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), and her loyal errand boy, Toby (the talented Ed Sanders), Benjamin?now called Sweeney Todd?opens a barber shop, where he lures and kills his victims, whom he considers ?conspirators? of London?s corrupt aristocracy (among them arch rival, Signor Adolfo Pirelli, played with over-the-top gusto by Sacha Baron Cohen)?and makes them the ?main ingredient? of Mrs. Lovett?s? most scrumptious meat pies!

Burton creates a maleficent world swathed in gothic gloss and cruel beauty. In his clever hands, Sondheim?s quick, syncopated music, acerbic wit and adult humor become an intimate, expository medium used to ?explain? character motivation?without compromising the power of Sondheim?s discordant notes and dissonant musical beauty.

Depp?s voice may not be suited for the stage but, on the silver screen, his full-bodied baritone makes Sweeney Todd?s unfortunate fate and vitriolic craving for vengeance throb with life and terror.

If you loved Adam Shankman?s marvelous film adaptation of ?Hairspray? for its verve and show-stopping savvy, ?Sweeney Todd? is at the other end of the musical spectrum?its gore and violence will remind viewers that the world is no playground. And that the film?s protagonist is a man who doesn?t seek redemption, he just wants retribution!