Les Miserables review

OK, sorry for no review last week...that was mostly due the fact that I didn't have anything for that week...BUT this time I do. (And I own NONE of their images on here just so you all know) Here it is:

Theatrical Release Poster

PLOT: Hugh Jackman plays Jean Valjean, a convict who gets a second chance of life thanks too a kindly bishop (played by Colm Wilkinson), who gave him shelter after so many made him leave. But fate takes a second chance at him as he inadvertently ruins the life of a young woman named Fantine (played by Anne Hathaway), who dies of a disease because she went into prostitution soon after she was fired from her job at one of Valjean's factories. Now he must raise her young daughter, Cossete (played as a child by Isabelle Lucy Allen and as an adult by Amanda Seyfried) while worrying about his long-time enemy, Inspector Javert (played by Russel Crowe) and a group of university students taking the charge of their own french Revolution.

Thoughts: I'll be completely honest...I Loved every single second of this film. I am NOT joking. Seriously, the mood, the atmosphere, the acting, all of it was great. While I have some very minor gripes like the order of the songs being weird and what not, but those are kind of small compared too all the good in this film. I don't know why some people didn't like it. I'll go to the cast of the movie when I get there, but in all, I believed the film as a whole was good.

But before I get to the cast, I'll talk about the songs: The best ones, by far, are I Dream a Dream (played by Hathaway), Stars (Played by Crowe), Do you hear the People sing (By the ABC Club people), Master of the House (By Helena Bonham Carter & Sacha Baron Cohen as the Thénardiers) and the movie's original song, Suddenly (By Jackman). All the songs as a whole are good, but these were the best portrayed and the best sung out of all of them. They created the right tone for each of them.

NOW...for the Cast!

OK, when I first heard about Jackman as Valjean, I was a bit curious at first since THIS was what I remember about him:

Jackman as Wolverine

BUT...after looking up the fact that Jackman was an experienced theater guy, I could see it starting to work out. And...it did. He showed all the right emotion and struggles of a man who has literally been through hell and back and showed a caring side when he was taking care of Fantine and showing kindness to Marius and Cossette. BUT I'll have to admit...it was kind of distracting seeing him go from...

This... 

To this in under 5 minutes

But in all, Jackman proves again his great ability as an actor with this role. But since we started with the hero, lets now go to the villain...

OK, I heard a LOT of people say this guy was bad as Javert, but this is where I have to disagree. Crowe brings his own version of the famous villain, not by intimidation, but by how he takes the role of a cop seriously. Plus, while his tone is a bit softer than most Javert's performances, it shows that he is playing a different Javert and shouldn't be mocked by it. Besides, his versions of Stars and Javert's Suicide are okay by themselves, so if you don't try to compare him too other Javert's, it's okay.

BUT I will admit too one thing I was kind of bugged about now that I think about it...Crowe didn't change his tone when speaking in different songs. In his solo songs, it's fine because it's just him, with others it's kind of distracting. But that's all I got for Crowe's performance.

OK, I was sort of surprised that Hathawayy was brought in too play Fantine, until I saw her in the trailer, singing 'I dreamed a Dream'.

Hathaway on the set of Les Miserables

Hathaway's portrayal of Fantine showed a lot of strength and struggle throughout this, and the ending song with her in it was tear jerking, as was her version of I Dreamed a Dream. In all, Hathaway was good.

Now...for the other members of the cast...since I got the Big three down:

Cossette: I think both actors that played her adult and child forms did a good job, so Amanda and Isebelle did a great job. But...the adult form seemed too be a bit too depressed at times, and I didn't really believe the two were the same person at first since they didn't look a lot alike. But that's my only gripe.

Marius: The main love interest for Cossette is portrayed rather well by Eddie Redmayne, as he shows the right amount of characterization and personality too the role. Heck, he does better at the singing part than Nick Jonas from the 25th Anniversary Concert (Though Jonas was surprisingly good in that). But it seems that some of the novel's version of him came into being in this character, so maybe he did his homework for the role? I'm not sure, but I enjoyed it.

The Friends of the ABC Club: Yeah...there are a LOT of these characters including the leader Enjolras and the street boy, Garvoche. But all of them were played rather well and they did show a genuine friendship in the barricade, watching each other's backs even when they were close to death. Seeing them get killed off was actually a tear-jerking moment for me, especially Garvoche in 'When the Pup Grows up'. THAT was heart breaking...

Epione: Samantha Barks from the 25th anniversary showed her stuff in the concert, and really showed it here. By combining both versions of the character (Book and Musical), this amalgamation makes it more interesting as

The Theinderes: Both Helena and Sacha brought the RIGHT amount of humor and attention that one would need in this kind of role.But what I liked the most was that that they were a bit more subtle than in the versions I've seen in other versions of the characters. The play more on the fact that these two are skilled thieves more so than goofball comic relief villains, and they show of VERY Well in the 'Master of the House' part of the movie, where they literally take all they can without anyone noticing. now That is true skill.

AND...of course...

THE ORIGINAL JEAN VALJEAN HIMSELF: COLM WILKINSON!

For those that don't know, Colm Wilkinson was in the original English version of Les Miserables when it first came into Broadway, where he played Jean Valjean and made the role very famous because of it. Here, he plays the kindly bishop that saves Valjean from being imprisoned once again. Colm shows off all of his skills in this role, and brings the right amount of warmth and kindness the role always showed. Heck, I evened liked how they brought him back int he ending, such as it should have been...

RATING!

In all, this film is great. Sure some moments are fast and others are slow, but it's mostly well paced and the story telling is superb. The songs are well written and well sung, and the characters were likable. So, in that sense, I'll give this film ***** out of 5 stars!

I hope you enjoyed the review, folks. and sorry for the long wait.

I don't own any of the pictures on this, it belongs toot he original owners and the film in question is owned by Universal Pictures and Working Title Films.