Les Misérables (2012 film)
Dec. 30th, 2012 08:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroThis musical was the second Broadway show I ever saw, the first grown-up cassette tape I owned, and the first musical I memorized every word of. I may have some biases. First and foremost, I did really like the movie. I have lots of criticisms and comments, but overall, I think this was a really well-done film. I pick because I love, as it were.
Anne Hathaway as Fantine: Blew me away. Seriously, she was amazing. She deserves all the awards.
Hugh Jackman as Valjean: Respectable, and generally where I disliked his performance my issue was with the directorial choices, not with him. My one big complaint was “Bring Him Home”, which they made the bizarre choice to have him push through his nose as a semi-belted covered tone, which was pitchy and problematic.
Sasha Baron-Cohen as Thénardier: Apparently he can sing, which the director did his very best to work around. I didn’t expect to like him, as I don’t generally like his movies, but he was a solid choice for the role. My complaint here was that “Master of the House” was insufficiently raucous. But I loved the “Collette/Cosette” running gag.
Helena Bonham Carter as Mme. Thénardier: Has this woman ever had normal hair? (I liked her take on the character, that she really does love Thénardier and they’re racing each other to the bottom in terms of corruption and greed.)
Amanda Seyfried as Cosette: The character is kind of one-note, but she did a good job with it. I hadn’t been worried about her singing chops (Mamma Mia! showed me she had a lot of potential), and she carried off the role well.
Samantha Barks as Éponine: She’s a Broadway star, not a stunt-cast Hollywood actor, and as such had the most standard and predictable performance from my perspective. Solid, on par with the good Éponines on any of the cast recordings. And she has an amazingly small waist.
Eddie Redmayne as Marius and Aaron Tveit as Enjolras: Respectable, not standout.
Russell Crowe as Javert: Weak point in the casting. Granted, seeing Terrance Mann live will bias you forever, but I think the rich baritone is integral to the character’s gravitas. Crowe came off as old and tired in scenes long before he should have; Javert should radiate power and authority.
Young Cosette, Young Eponine and Gavrosh: I would be very surprised if we didn’t start seeing all three of these kids in other movie roles over the next two or three years, before they age out.
Colm Wilkinson as the bishop: This was a delight bit of stunt casting that I didn’t realize until the credits.
Other bits of note: They added back some bits of the book that aren’t in the stage show, mostly for the better. The bit with Fantine’s teeth caught me off-guard and was really effective. Javert’s suicide, which is often a little cheesy in the stage show, was grisly and, I think, worked. Giving more of Marius’ family history (that he actually has wealth) meant the ending made more sense. Did anyone else notice that Valjean still has the candlesticks from the bishop when he packs to flee with Cosette before going to the barricades?
Overall: Go see it.
Anne Hathaway as Fantine: Blew me away. Seriously, she was amazing. She deserves all the awards.
Hugh Jackman as Valjean: Respectable, and generally where I disliked his performance my issue was with the directorial choices, not with him. My one big complaint was “Bring Him Home”, which they made the bizarre choice to have him push through his nose as a semi-belted covered tone, which was pitchy and problematic.
Sasha Baron-Cohen as Thénardier: Apparently he can sing, which the director did his very best to work around. I didn’t expect to like him, as I don’t generally like his movies, but he was a solid choice for the role. My complaint here was that “Master of the House” was insufficiently raucous. But I loved the “Collette/Cosette” running gag.
Helena Bonham Carter as Mme. Thénardier: Has this woman ever had normal hair? (I liked her take on the character, that she really does love Thénardier and they’re racing each other to the bottom in terms of corruption and greed.)
Amanda Seyfried as Cosette: The character is kind of one-note, but she did a good job with it. I hadn’t been worried about her singing chops (Mamma Mia! showed me she had a lot of potential), and she carried off the role well.
Samantha Barks as Éponine: She’s a Broadway star, not a stunt-cast Hollywood actor, and as such had the most standard and predictable performance from my perspective. Solid, on par with the good Éponines on any of the cast recordings. And she has an amazingly small waist.
Eddie Redmayne as Marius and Aaron Tveit as Enjolras: Respectable, not standout.
Russell Crowe as Javert: Weak point in the casting. Granted, seeing Terrance Mann live will bias you forever, but I think the rich baritone is integral to the character’s gravitas. Crowe came off as old and tired in scenes long before he should have; Javert should radiate power and authority.
Young Cosette, Young Eponine and Gavrosh: I would be very surprised if we didn’t start seeing all three of these kids in other movie roles over the next two or three years, before they age out.
Colm Wilkinson as the bishop: This was a delight bit of stunt casting that I didn’t realize until the credits.
Other bits of note: They added back some bits of the book that aren’t in the stage show, mostly for the better. The bit with Fantine’s teeth caught me off-guard and was really effective. Javert’s suicide, which is often a little cheesy in the stage show, was grisly and, I think, worked. Giving more of Marius’ family history (that he actually has wealth) meant the ending made more sense. Did anyone else notice that Valjean still has the candlesticks from the bishop when he packs to flee with Cosette before going to the barricades?
Overall: Go see it.
