8) Sweeney Todd
The second of five Depp/Burton collaborations over the course of six years is undoubtedly their strongest. Sweeney Todd was Tim Burton’s return to form according to many who felt he hadn’t made a truly great film since Edward Scissorhands. I suspect this is because his unique skills play much better, or at least more universally impactful, in tragedy than comedy. The film also benefits from some seriously grotesque violence, and Tim Burton is of course the master of the strange and grotesque and curiously unnerving.
The beauty of Johnny Depp’s work in Sweeney Todd can essentially be boiled down to his simultaneous portrayal of singular rage and quest for vengeance, and his deep pain and understanding of his fate. His pessimism is contrasted nicely with the Jamie Campbell Bower character, who remains young and hopeful. Sweeney’s face is kept in a constant scowl, his voice in a constant angry rasp. He is almost completely physically unrecognizable in flashback scenes as Benjamin Barker. It’s a dark film, and it’s a wonderfully dark and stylistic yet complex performance by Depp. Yeah, I like it a lot.