Les Misérables (the 2012 film)

[Sammy Boy]

My wife and I purchased the DVD and watched this last night.

Not generally a fan of musicals, but it has meaningful theological themes such as grace, forgiveness, and redemption.

My one disappointment was that had Gerard Butler been cast as Javert instead of Crowe, we would have had better singing from that character.

But the song in the final scene leaves one with such a feeling of joy, triumph, and hope that I would still recommend this film.

[bigsleepj]

I'm a fan of the book before the musical, but I liked it. It came closer than most adaptations into catching the epic nature of the novel.

[K. Ayato]

I've not seen the film, but either way, I'm not a fan of Gerard Butler's singing, even if he were cast as Javert in place of Russel Crowe.

[Davidizer13]

I enjoyed it; didn't love it, though. I expected it to be better, but that's what I get for thinking the book is the greatest of all time. Still. it was enough for me to pick up the soundtrack (from the 1995 10th anniversary concert).

The production was great, all the costumes and sets nailed the grungy 19th century look, and nearly everyone did great singing. Personally, I thought Crowe did a great job, one of the best in the film, but Jackman was a weak link as Valjean. I'm not sure Hathaway should have won the Oscar for her Fantine, especially since Samantha Barks as Eponine did such a good job, but Hathaway was still excellent. And that final musical number; that was incredible!

The part I really didn't like, though, was how it was shot. Nearly every shot was a close-up of the actors' faces, and not nearly enough of the pretty sets they built. The worst example was in Crowe's big number, about the stars. You only get a couple seconds' glimpse of all the awesome stars he's singing about. One of the reviews I saw said it felt like it was being shot on stage, the actors and camera working in front of sets sets on a wall, instead of existing in a full 3D space; that's the best way I can explain it.

Still, it's not too bad, but the best way to experience Les Miserables is definitely the book - not only do you get the story, but you get Victor Hugo's essays on pretty much everything, which are really great.

[the_wolfs_howl]

Basically, I liked everything about this except for the singing. The only people who could sing very well were Fantine, Eponine, and young!Cosette. Everyone else was a good actor, but didn't hold a candle to the amazing talent of the 10th anniversary, for example. But I think this version is a good introduction to Les Mis for those who might not be ready to dive right into the book or sit through a stage production of the musical.

[ForeverInspired]

The book was definitely better than the movie. Nonetheless, I did find the movie spectacular. The visuals were stunning and most of the actors played their parts very well considering the limitted amount of time given to the plot. I say most because the grown up Cosette and sometimes Marius seemed to be very weak parts.