Rating of
2/4
Review: Les Miserables
MikePA - wrote on 01/15/13
Tom Hooper's version of the insanely popular Les Miserables is a huge disappointment - ineffective, overlong, and occasionally flat-out boring. It left me wondering whether or not Tom Hooper will fall into mediocrity. Well, he did make The King's Speech, that fantastic crowd-pleaser from 2010. Better luck next film, I guess.
Let me start by stating what makes Les Mis at least watchable. The performances are undeniably outstanding, especially Anne Hathaway as Fantine. The sequence in which Hathaway sings "I Dreamed a Dream," filmed in one long take, is a remarkable piece of film-making. It all relies on the acting and the emotions Hathaway presents in that scene, and she makes it riveting through her mesmerizing performace. It certainly gave me the chills. Everybody else - including Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen - does an admirable job portraying their characters. Even if nobody else besides Hathaway blows you away, you have to give them immense credit due to their live singing and how well they do it.
However, this is just not a good film. I was hugely let down by it. Hooper's murky execution is what rolls the film downhill. It's sloppy and convoluted in plot and characters. There are consistent introductions to new problems and characters as Jean Valjean and Cosette grow older, and none of it is developed well. I never found myself caring about anyone or anything that happens in this film (except, of course, Hathaway's character - due largely to the performance). The most entertaining part of the film, for me, was in the final act - waiting for it to end.
Hooper creates and enormous spectacle. It's grand and epic in scale. But it's just so ugly and visually un-engrossing. The camera work is somewhat of a disaster, as it consists of mostly tight close-ups on the action and tons of shaky-cam. To me, it just did not fit in with the overall mood of the film.
Now, I obviously understand that this is a musical, so there is a lot of choreography and songs to be had here. But the singing gets extremely irritating. It's virtually non-stop. It never, ever, ever ends. If I had to estimate, there's about 0.5% of dialogue in the film, and that remaining 99.5% consists of singing or a preparation of something big as loud music blasts in the background. It's loud and obnoxious. There are 2 or 3 great moments, including Hathaway's big scene and one with Jackman towards the end, but so much of it is just noise coming in one ear and out the other.
As much as it may sound like I hated it, I really didn't. The performances and a couple fun moments between Bonham Carter's and Baron Cohen's characters saved me from hating it. It's not bad, but it's overrated as hell. If you love the musical (or musicals in general) I doubt you'll dislike Les Miserables.
2/4
