Les Miserables

Do you hear the people sing? Singing the song of angry fans, it is the music of a people who will not be fooled again. When the beating of your fists echoes the beating of the drums, There is a review about to start when tomorrow comes! Will you join in my crusade? Who will be strong stand with me? Beyond 2012 is there a film you want to see?

It's like she's staring into your soul

Les Miserables has one hell of a history. It was written by Victor Hugo in 1862 and is considered one of the greatest novel's of all time. It has been adapted to a stage musical in 1985 that was immensely popular and spawned off a Broadway musical with an exceptionally long run and has also been adapted to film around 60 times. That is a metric ton of adaptations. This work is venerated, practically a monolith of fiction. In order to tackle it for yet another adaptation was no small undertaking.

Could they possibly have more epic expressions?

The story of this leviathan begins with Jean Valjean as a convict finishing his time as a slave laborer. He is set free but to be an ex convict is a badge of shame and he can never be a proper citizen again as he is reviled by the people and no work can be found.  A Bishop takes pity on him and offers him a nights rest and food. At night, Jean betrays the bishops trust and takes the opportunity to steal as many valuables as he can carry and slinks off into the night. He is caught and brought before the bishop who instead of turning him in, claims that he gave Jean the silver, thus absolving him. Valjean is moved by this action and makes the choice to work and aspire to a more noble cause. This is the first five minutes of the movie. This is a LONG story. 500,000 words plus in the book. So Valjean becomes a mayor and factory owner under a false name. Dozens more characters are introduced and several plot threads begin and that's before several years are skipped again and an entirely new conflict is begun. This tale is the definition of an epic. Since this is spoiler free, we're stopping there, so suffice it to say the main conflict is can Valjean live this lie of a life and how can that affect those he meets. Oh and there's some little french revolution or something. Not the big one, the one fifteen years after the big one.

No fun poking, this was a brilliant scene

This time, this is where the gripes creep in. On the technical side of things this movie is a very mixed bag. It was directed by Tom Hooper of The King's Speech fame, a very not bad movie. Hooper is a very not bad director. No flare, no passion. He does everything film school tells you to do and nothing more. The opening shot of the movie is a sweeping shot of a huge ship being pulled into dock by hundreds of convicts. This is the only visually interesting shot of the entire movie as practically every other shot just sits static five inches away from the actors. This is a musical and an epic one at that. This thing should be grand and sweeping, but instead it's tight and focused. The stage musical's felt far grander. In Valjean's first solo number, the staging is so poor that he simply paces back and forth in a hallway. Pacing back and forth is what bad director's make their actors do when they have no other idea for what to do. Yet another scene where the antagonist Javer is singing on a roof top in Paris is poorly done as well. If your shooting on a rooftop in Paris and the skyline is not once focused on you're doing it wrong! This is the movies biggest weakness. Another director would have improved this film greatly.
Acting wise, everybody does a smashing job. Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean sings and acts his heart out. You can really see the stage musical roots of the guy. Helena Bonham Carte and Sacha Baron Cohen as the innkeepers are fun and everybody else does a perfectly fine job. Special props go to Anne Hathaway's Fontine who is simply stunningly good. The weak link in this opera is Russell Crowe's Javer who unfortunately cannot sing. I know that's harsh to say of a man who has a band, but when everyone else is so brilliant, he really stands out. Javer is the archetype of the lawful villain. This is a man who spends his life hunting down a convict who broke parole and simply stole a loaf of bread. This is a passionate guy, and Crowe makes him sound completely disinterested. That brings up the point that this is not a pretty sounding movie. This is an acting singing type of musical. So the acting is great, but i wouldn't suggest getting the soundtrack.

Sexy and they know it

I'm open up right now and say I'm a fan of Les Mes. The book the musical and several of the films. So, i want to make it clear that for all the ripping up above, this is a good movie. The acting and the core story really bring it through all the missteps and poor directing choices. This is one of the most lauded works in fiction and just-fully so. No amount of mishandling could ruin this thing.

I didn't do it

So to sum up, great story, mostly brilliant acting except for gladiator up there, and all in all worth your time. Just try not to notice the director and give him no credit for the good things about it. If he gets an oscar than boo on the Academy.

See it if you love musical's or Les Miserables as it's a above average adaptation
Rent it if you can't sit in one seat for three hours.
Skip it if you can't stand cockney-ed singing in revolution period France

Next time things get Grimm.