A thrilling ghost story set in Dickens’ London, following one man’s supernatural journey to face his past, present and future as he fights for a second chance at redemption.
Johnny Depp’s last big Hollywood movie was 2018’s “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.” Too long ago, if you ask me. Thankfully, he returns in top form as Scrooge in Ti West’s “Ebenezer,” just in time for the holidays. There are well over 100 filmed adaptations of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” and the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, spanning feature films, short films, television specials, and recorded stage productions since the first silent version in 1901. Every iteration tells the same story, so every time you watch a new interpretation, you basically know what to expect. Here, though, what makes this adaptation work is Depp’s performance.
We all know the story starts with Ebenezer Scrooge as a cold-hearted, greedy, solitary businessman and moneylender who despises Christmas and treats those around him with harsh indifference. By the end of the film, however, he is transformed, embracing generosity, helping the Cratchit family, and becoming a symbol of redemption and holiday charity. But not every actor who plays the role successfully gives a performance that delivers, because while the story demands that Scrooge transform into a new man by the end, the challenge for any actor playing that part is to make that change convincing. And Mr. Depp most assuredly does.
On Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge (Johnny Depp) is visited by the ghost of his late business partner, Jacob Marley (Ian McKellen), and three ghosts – the Ghost of Christmas Past (Andrea Riseborough), the Ghost of Christmas Present (Tramell Tillman), and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (Robert Strange). He is taken through his lonely childhood, his lost love, the squalor of the poor (including his underpaid clerk Bob Cratchit (Rupert Grint) and the sickly Tiny Tim), and his own bleak, unfeeling future. He is left utterly shaken and repentant, and on Christmas morning the next day he is a completely different man – a man of generosity and goodwill and the spirit of Christmas.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Ti West directed the film. I never liked his X trilogy—“X,” “Pearl,” and “MaXXXine”—but “Ebenezer” makes strong use of its cast and setting. With top-notch performances, especially from Depp, it utilizes real-world practical sets and actual historic locations, rather than purely CGI environments. West captures the essence of Dickens’ 1843 London, complete with oppressive industrial gloom, biting winter cold, and the sudden, radiant warmth of human compassion.
You can almost feel yourself breathing in the thick, yellow-gray Victorian fog that dampens the stone and creeps into dark alleyways. You feel the sheer brutality of 1840s industrial London. It’s a city of noise and congestion, horse-drawn carts clattering through the streets, grimy merchant shops everywhere, and the working class in the most destitute of circumstances trying to get through the winter. West captures all of this perfectly, and his use of real-world sets instead of CGI makes everything feel more realistic.
The cast shines in their respective roles, but this film belongs to Depp. Starting as a grasping, covetous moneylender who hoards his wealth, his transformation by the film’s end is truly earned because he believes he can change if given the chance. Glimpses of the man he was before grief and disappointment hardened him go some way toward explaining his present life, without in any way justifying it. When he finally decides to change, it’s the culmination of all he has seen and remembered rather than a sudden volte-face, required by the plot. Depp gives one of his finest performances in years.
“Ebenezer” tells a familiar story and fills it with stellar performances and deft direction. The restrained use of CGI supports the practical work rather than drawing attention away from it—and, above all, Depp makes Scrooge’s redemption worth believing.
In Theaters Friday, November 13th
