Les Miserables - Fight. Dream. Hope. Love.
I love how the movie stayed true to the musical (Ok I watched the 25th anniversary performance on Youtube haha) - no additional fluff, no additional scenes. What made the movie better (in this sense only), was the beautiful settings and majestic scenes as compared to just props on a musical stage. It does provide a more wholesome experience.
Anne Hathaway was amazing as Fantine, her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream made me tear. Her desperation as a mum who needed money for her child, her anger of being treated shabbily as the lower levels of the society and the painful disappointment of how life had turned out, were all beautifully played out in that single tune. It was so heartbreaking to hear it will be hard not to feel your heart wrench. Eddie Redmayne as Marius was terribly romantic and there were moments I wished he could walk out from the screen. Hahaha. He did an extremely emotional version of Empty Chairs at Empty Tables which left me in tears too (but let's not compare against Michael Ball's version at the 10th anniversary performance).
I guess I expected much more from Hugh Jackman (as Jean Valjean) so his performance didn't really surprise me. I did felt that he had some misses along the way (like a way too emotional Confrontation). It's an expectation thing I guess. Russell Crowe as Javert wasn't as bad as what most reviews wrote. He probably had the least musical background among the lot and I would give it to him for the effort.
Of course Masters of the House wasn't as playful as it was portrayed in the musical, but Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Carter as the Thenardiers were so cute they easily stole the show. Samantha Barks (who also played Eponine in the 25th anniversary performance of Les Miserables) made me cry again with her On My Own.
Just a really small nugget of information - the Bishop in the movie who saved Jean Valjean - is the first Jean Valjean in the 1985's West End production of Les Miserables!
Similar to the musical, the movie ended with a an extremely moving rendition of One Day More/Do You Hear the People Sing? (Okay fine the movie ended with Bring Him Home/Do You Hear the People Sing? lol). It gave me the chills man.
"Will you join in our crusades? Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricades, is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing? Say, do you hear the distant drums.
It is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes!
Tomorrow comes!"
Overall, I cried many a times, although silently. You know, just in case someone thinks I'm crazy. Hahaha. I wished I watched with a more appreciative crowd though, this dude sitting in front of me kept switching on his phone to play games and it was annoying the hell out of me. The conclusion is, while it is being brought into the cinema for the general public, it is still not the kind of movie that is a one size fit all. If you are not into musicals, the movie is likely to bore you to death. Like the above-mentioned dude. Hurhur.
It may be a film with the occasional flaw but this is such a difficult musical masterpiece to replicate for a movie setting. I'll still give it a perfect 10 and yes I will be back for seconds, and maybe thirds :)
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