Engaging ‘Ebenezer’ Finds Johnny Depp Looking to Christmas Past for His Hollywood Future

Ti West’s “Ebenezer” is being released, perhaps unwittingly, one hundred and twenty-five years after the first cinematic adaptation of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol.” At a bare five minutes in length, Walter R. Booth’s “Scrooge, or Marley’s Ghost” (1901) steamrolls its way through Ebenezer Scrooge’s fateful night of the spirits, owing much to the so-called “trick films” associated with George Méliès. The special effects are, of course, rickety by 2026 standards, but contemporaneous audiences must’ve been wowed by its recounting of ghostly goings-on.If the Internet Movie Database is to be believed, the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge has seen close to 300 variations, some of them looser or more tangential than others. The big and small screens have seen players as diverse as Yosemite Sam, Dolly Parton, and Vanessa Williams dedicate their talents to Dickens’ chestnut, but notwithstanding valiant efforts like Edwin L. Marin’s “A Christmas Carol” (1938), Richard Donner’s “Scrooged” (1988) and Brian Henson’s “The Muppet Christmas Carol” (1992), the gold standard remains Brian Desmond Hurst’s “Scrooge” (1951), with a career-defining performance by Alastair Sim in the title role. Arguments otherwise will not be entertained.‘Tis the season for not one but two variations of “A Christmas Carol.” The first of which, “A Christmas Cop,” stars Norwegian bodybuilder Daniel Stisen as a rogue police officer named either Nino Scroogelino or Nils Scroogesen — the production credits are indecisive on the character’s nationality — with an appearance by Blaxploitation legend Fred Williamson as The Ghost of Cop Present. Mr. West’s “Ebeneezer” has the higher profile, not only because of the director’s recent spate of sleek horror movies, “MaXXXine” (2024) most prominent among them, but because of its lead actor, Johnny Depp. You may remember the name.As my Sun colleague, Alexander Larman, pointed out, Mr. Depp has had his fair share of dubious publicity in recent years, enough that the powers that be in Hollywood have held him at arm’s length. “Ebenezer,” then, is the actor’s comeback in a role that transforms a one-time matinee idol into, if not a character actor, then a suitably obscured leading man. Truth be told, Mr. Depp acquits himself well in the role of Scrooge, though he seems more at ease as a curmudgeon haunted by disappointment than as the redemptive figure who’s seen the error of his ways. Armchair psychoanalysts can read biographical particulars in the actor’s performance should they choose, but, for my money, the beleaguered celebrity disappears altogether within minutes of the film’s beginning. It helps that Jacob Marley —that is to say, Ian McKellen — makes his exit early on as both a corporeal and noncorporeal being, thereby depriving “Ebenezer” of some well-schooled ham. After that, Mr. Depp scuttles, scowls and humbugs his way through the contours of a story that remains, notwithstanding the stray tweak to contemporary tastes, true to Dickens’ novella.If anybody prevents “Ebenezer” from being a yuletide classic it is Mr. West, who introduces some seemingly appropriate but nonetheless gratuitous and oddly dated horror movie tropes to the proceedings. Andrea Riseborough’s Ghost of Christmas Past is a wraith worth taking seriously, but Tramell Tillman’s Ghost of Christmas of Present is saddled with CGI effects that are a distraction from what is otherwise a full-bodied and boisterous performance. But all those wannabe zombie-like apparitions that look to have lost their way from George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968) and its innumerable offshoots? You can keep ’em. One-time Ron Weasley, Rupert Grint, does all right by Bob Cratchit and Sam Claflin is funny and dashing as Ebenezer’s nephew, Fred. The ladies with whom I was in attendance thought Mr. Claflin would be a good choice as a potential James Bond, a role whose casting has lately caused an internet kerfuffle. The audience with whom I attended the picture seemed, on the whole, pleased by “Ebenezer” and, for that matter, a night out at the movies. They applauded when the Paramount logo announced the beginning of the movie and, more so, its culmination. As Times Square moviegoers go, so goes the nation? We and Mr. Depp shall see.

Engaging ‘Ebenezer’ Finds Johnny Depp Looking to Christmas Past for His Hollywood Future

Engaging ‘Ebenezer’ Finds Johnny Depp Looking to Christmas Past for His Hollywood Future

More from the New York Sun

The Making of a King: Prince George’s Promising Artistic Debut Extends a Hidden Royal Tradition

The Logic of Somaliland

Hegseth Pins Medal on Soldier Who Yelled at Him at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

David Schwimmer’s ‘Friends’ Throwback Ad Sparks Antisemitic Fury Online

A Glittering, Defiant Political Party

Carney’s Israeli-Born Pick To Head New Sovereign Wealth Fund Has Few Ties to Canada, Raising Eyebrows

The Munk Who Knew Too Much About New York’s Art Scene

New York Crime Drama ‘Paper Tiger’ Fails To Cut Deep

More from the New York Sun

The Making of a King: Prince George’s Promising Artistic Debut Extends a Hidden Royal Tradition

The Logic of Somaliland

Hegseth Pins Medal on Soldier Who Yelled at Him at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

David Schwimmer’s ‘Friends’ Throwback Ad Sparks Antisemitic Fury Online

A Glittering, Defiant Political Party

Carney’s Israeli-Born Pick To Head New Sovereign Wealth Fund Has Few Ties to Canada, Raising Eyebrows

The Munk Who Knew Too Much About New York’s Art Scene

New York Crime Drama ‘Paper Tiger’ Fails To Cut Deep