Johnny Depp week at the movies

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May 18, 2012 | 8:05 pm

QUITE without meaning to, we ended up watching two new Johnny Depp starrers last week. Not that were complainingDepps movies ring our bells because they are more often edgy than trite and formulaic.

The first film, 21 Jump Street, we knew to be the film version of Depps first, big TV hit cop series a long time ago. What we didnt know was that Depp would make a surprise appearance in it, as an older undercover agent who was working on a big, top-secret drug bust that the two young cops in the film cluelessly botched.

Before Depps character entered the scene, the film starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill was doing well enoughbut it was the senior actors unexpected appearance that made the show special. Thats the effect Depp has on an otherwise standard productionhe puckishly twists and turns it on its head with his madcap take and edgy character riffs.

Surprise cameo

His surprise cameo turn came at exactly the right time, because the humor surrounding the movies central plot premise, about young cops masquerading as high school students to break up a drug ring on campus, was starting to wear thin. What with its excessively numerous jokes about crotches and stuff.

Since the movie was set in high school, some silly, adolescent and teen humor was called for, but not as much as the movie dished out!

In any case, the new action-comedy team of Tatum and Hill did catch fire, so we can expect it to quite profitably resurface in a sequel a couple of film seasons from now.

Our reaction to Depps follow-up starrer last week, Dark Shadows, was less equivocal, as Tim Burtons film version of another old TV series smashingly hit the spot with its extravagantly mordant take on t! he old v ampire yarn that inspired it.

Depp is known for his ogres gallery of cinematic weirdos, from Edward Scissorhands to Sweeney Todd, so hes exactly right for the role of Barnabas Collins in this new and creepy cinematic confection.

His performance balances pathos and black humor with great precision, and shyly invites us into the heart of the seemingly homicidal and heartless character he portrays.

Unrequited love

Amazingly, Eva Green (as the witch whose unrequited love for him has made her punish Collins by transforming him into a vampire) is able to match Depps prodigious performance with her own copious bag of thespic tricks. Most other actresses would have been left eating the actors dust, but shes able to hold her ownand thats no mean achievement.

Dark Shadows is an opulent treat from beginning to end. Its major flaw, in fact, is one of surfeitits loaded with so many yummies and is simply too long to be able to keep its appeal and excitement on an upward trajectory, as all memorable cinematic confections should.

Despite the feeling of satiety that eventually sets in, however, the movie is a great showcase for Depps unusual take on the darker side of human nature, and ends up as a gema blood-red ruby, no doubtto crown his latest superlative, bravura portrayal.

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Tags: 21 Jump Street , Entertainment , Johnny Depp , movie , Television

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