Dark Shadows
Well, Tim Burton has kind of found his way back.
After a decade-plus of reboots and “reimaginings” with artistic quality being the exception to the rule, the singular visionary continues the “brand” filmmaking that gave us “Planet of the Apes,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and “Alice in Wonderland” with this darkly comic adaptation of the ’70s soap opera about a successful family with a vampire for a patriarch. However, unlike some of those films, Burton recaptures some of the off-kilter social satire that made several of his early films (namely, “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” and “Edward Scissorhands”) such a pleasure to watch. Still, we are a far way off from unquestioned artistic successes like “Ed Wood” and “Sweeney Todd,” although frankly, with this material, I don’t see how such greatness would have been possible.
Although I looked forward to “Dark Shadows” as much as I have just about any Tim Burton-Johnny Depp collaboration over the years, I’m not gonna lie– I’d like for them to start seeing other filmmakers. (And truthfully, I miss Michael Keaton. Think of what he and Burton could do together NOW.) Yes, Burton remains the director most capable of challenging Depp as an actor, but even Hitchcock knew when it was time to move on from tried-and-true collaborators like Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant. Still, kudos for the pair in realizing that in bringing the tale of Barnabus Collins, a 200-year-old vampire who is dug up after being buried for 2 centuries, to the screen, Depp was really the only actor for the idiocyncratic character, a man from a different age, uncertain of what has happened to the world as he’s faced with the 1970s and all its…quirks. It’s Edward Scissorhands all over again, and although Depp can’t match that character’s poetic beauty, this movie doesn’t require that. Barnabus is like Depp’s Ed Wood with the bizarre visage and mannerisms of Willy Wonka, without being burdened with the forced backstory that brought down his work in “Alice in Wonderland.” Personally, it’s Depp’s best work (outside of his haunted Sweeney Todd) for Burton since the criminally underrated “Sleepy Hollow.”
A big part of that, however, comes from the people Burton surrounds him with. I’ll admit, every character has one or two good moments with Depp, be it Jackie Earle Haley as the Collins family’s loyal servant; Bella Heathcote in the duel role of Josette (Barnabus’s former love) and Victoria, the troubled governess the Collins bring in to teach David, the son of Roger (Jonny Lee Miller); and, of course, Helena Bonham Carter as David’s live-in psychiatrist, who takes an immediate fascination with Barnabus. (For what it’s worth, Carter hasn’t been this, well, “normal,” in a Burton film since “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” although when she discovers Barnabus’s true nature, her typical weirdness starts to seep in.)
Still, whatever success Burton and Depp wring out of the tonally eccentric screenplay by John August and Seth Grahame-Smith (the author of such oddities as Pride & Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) comes down to three key on-screen collaborators: Michelle Pfeiffer as the Collins matriarch, Elizabeth; Chloe Grace Moretz as the sullen Collins teen, Carolyn; and Eva Green as Angelique, the witch who turned Barnabus into a vampire back in the day, and now has reduced the Collins legacy to ashes. The notion of Pfeiffer returning to the bizarre world of Tim Burton 20 years after she purred on-screen as Catwoman in his “Batman Returns” was exciting enough, but her ageless beauty, and natural talent, brings forth unexpected riches in Elizabeth, even if the performance lacks the electricity of her work in the earlier film. She helps anchor the film in a level of reality, which is important considering how bat-shit crazy the story gets. Chloe Moretz is becoming one of my favorite actresses, and part of it is because, I’m never completely sure what to expect from her; even her younger sister to the heartbroken Joseph Gordon-Levitt in “(500) Days of Summer” was remarkably mature for her age. Admittedly, Carolyn lacks the interest and depth of Moretz’s characters in “Let Me In” and “Hugo,” but when she’s allowed to show her teeth, well, it’s quite a sight to watch.
All that being said, however, Eva Green’s spurned lover is the standout performance. Even as a Bond girl in “Casino Royale,” Green has never been hotter, especially during a love scene with Barnabus which could qualify her office for natural disaster insurance. Of course, even the sexiest femme fatale is pointless unless she’s a compelling character, and Angelique is certainly that, as she’s successfully turned the town the Collins family founded on the remnants of the family in one of the best examples of social commentary Burton’s come up with in quite a while. True, it’s not the most subtle (Angelique is a servant in the Collins house of old before Barnabus jilted her), but when you have Alice Cooper in a cameo; a Gothic house in the middle of nowhere; vampires and werewolves and witches; AND you set it all in the decade of swingers and lava lamps, chances are subtle is off the menu. But who really WANTS subtle in a Tim Burton film? Okay, I love “Big Fish” and “Ed Wood” as much as the next guy, but even if those smaller, labor-of-love films, the former Disney animator was a chronicler of the odd and fantastical in life. And sure, “Dark Shadows” isn’t perfect, but I will say this: it made me hope that Burton and Deep don’t take TOO much time off from one another. Turns out there’s still some inspiration left in this team after all.
