Les Miserables

Hello readers! I hope you all had a happy and safe holiday season. To start off this post, I have some exciting news! I am now partnered with another blogger whose site you can find on the top bar labeled as J&J Productions. This site is phenomenal and has a lot of unique articles comparing movies to their books, giving opinions on popular franchises, and even countdowns of favorite cinema moments in history (i.e. top 25 lightsaber battles!). I strongly encourage all of you to check it out, explore the site, and follow him! You won't regret it!

Also, before I start the review, remember to vote in the side bar for your favorite 3 movies of 2012. I want to know what YOU think, not the snobby critics! Only a few days left!

Now, onto the review of Les Miserables...

I'm not going to lie. I didn't like it. And this isn't some trick where at the end of the post I'm going to say that I actually loved it...I just straight didn't like the movie. BUT, before you gather your torches and pitchforks prepared to burn me to the ground, I will say that just because I didn't like it doesn't mean that I don't appreciate it for what it is. I would say that compared to most straight men, I like musicals more than most. As much as I hate to admit it, I had a blast in Mamma Mia a couple years ago (except for seeing James Bond singing which made me die a little bit inside) and I really enjoyed Rock of Ages and Pitch Perfect (less of a musical more of a comedy) this year. But there is a VERY large difference between those movies and Les Miserables which was the huge difference in my appreciation for those films and this one. But more on that later.

Maximus and Wolverine on screen at the same time...
singing? Well color me disappointed. 

I have to give credit where credit is due with Les Miserables despite the fact that I didn't particularly enjoy it. The film is made superbly and is most likely to become the definition of how to adapt a pure musical to the screen not to mention becoming the defining version of the real life musical of the same name. The movie is full of emotion and that is a testament to the actors who bring their A-game and mostly their A-voices here. Jackman is absolutely perfect as the lead and is very talented at not only acting, but acting while singing. He is by and large the main character here and I couldn't think of anyone better to lead. Russel Crowe also does surprisingly well and I had no idea that he could sing, although his is probably the weakest of the bunch. Everyone else, including the children actors especially, are good and there is not a bad performance in the entire film. As far as entire cast performances go, this is probably one of the best of the year easily. But there are some scene stealers: Anne Hathaway and Sasha Baron Cohen/Helena Bonham Carter. Sasha and Helena play a devious couple who like to steal as much as they can from everybody and provide the much needed comedic relief for the majority of the film. There wasn't a scene with them in it that I didn't enjoy. And Anne Hathaway...my Lord can that woman act. The amount of raw emotion that she displays during "I Dreamed a Dream" is relentless and easily one of the best female performances of the year with those few minutes alone. Big kudos to her.

No she is not nude here and no she is not choking. My how far
Catwoman has fallen since helping to save Gotham...

Ultimately however, Les Miserables was just not for me. I mentioned a big difference earlier and that difference is the fact that the ENTIRE movie is singing. There are maybe 10 normally delivered lines and for this being a movie, I have a problem with that. In my opinion, musicals with live performances are much more personal because you are there; you can see the characters, feel the atmosphere they are creating, etc. In that setting, it is okay to have all singing. But in a movie theater where you are watching a screen and doing a faithful adaptation, it seems unnecessary. Dialogue is much faster than song and Les Miserables is over 2 and a half hours long. I checked my watch 7 times. You know how many times I checked my watch in The Hobbit (which is about 10 minutes longer)? None. Granted that is a somewhat unfair comparison, but whereas The Hobbit was a short nearly-3 hours for me, Les Miserables was LONG and when the entirety of speech is being dragged on by song, that's the clear reason for it feeling that way. 

Cohen is almost funnier in this movie than
he was in The Dictator!

Now, to many of my readers who disagree with me (mainly females), that's okay. This blog is my opinion and you have every right to disagree with it. It is my job to provide you with my review of movies with an unbiased attitude and I fear that in this film, I just cannot say that I enjoyed it. With that being said, that's because an all-singing musical is clearly NOT my type of film. I really must insist that if it IS your type of film, or if you have seen Les Miserables before that you go and see this movie. Because it's the people like you that will absolutely love it, quote it, sing along with it, etc. And there is nothing wrong with that.

But for anyone being dragged along who isn't a fan of the material or musicals, get ready for an extremely long trip to the movies. Bring the Sour Patch Kids and the Icee to keep you busy.

Pros:

• The performances are all phenomenal. Probably the strongest cast performance of the year
• It is really impressive that they performed the songs live rather than voicing over in a studio. Shows the talent of some of the actors, Jackman in particular.
• Anne Hathaway is incredible
• Cohen and Carter are pretty funny and helped me through some of the slower parts
• The story is intricate and often interesting, albeit a little extreme (two kids falling in love after staring at each other for 10 seconds? Really?)
• Great production values all around. Sound, camera, extras, scene set-up, etc. Well done

Cons:

• I thought I liked musicals...turned out I liked musicals that have at least a little bit of acting in them. Les Miserables suffers from not changing some of the more forgettable songs to script and moving it along
• Probably the longest near-3-hours I have ever spent at the movie theater
• Some characters felt swept under the rug. I'm not entirely sure about the source material but I felt as if Amanda Seyfried's Cosette was barely on screen

Rath's Review Score: 6.5/10