I am going to try and get to the point a lot quicker than one of my friends who turned in 3,473 word rambling essay (yes, that's the correct count- I checked) to voice their displeasure.
Expectations are a funny thing. If you cherish something enough, it is hard to see it interpreted outside your narrow scope of vision. If you absolutely love the musical "Les Miserables" you may want to think twice about seeing this as it will in no way meet any of the lofty expectations you put on it. Every little change will irk you. Every voice that does not sound like your favourite performance will grate. Every piece of direction that does not match up to what you saw on stage will make you ill.
Stage and screen are two incredibly different mediums- what works on stage does not translate very well to screen for many reasons. many of the classic movie musicals seldom match their theatrical source material (see "West Side Story", "The Sound Of Music" or, more recently, "Rent"). Very occasionally a film will surpass the source (see "Grease" or "Chicago"). Even more occasionally a film will match the source material by a successful adaptation to the screen (see "Sweeney Todd"). This film falls into the final category.
Director Tom Hooper, by and large, has picked an outstanding cast and has made a very clever choice to have the actors sing live and "in the moment". It works for most of the film, but not all of it. The most comfortable with this is Hugh Jackman. He exudes everything that Jean Valjean is about. His inner conflicts and turmoils are beautifully rendered by him and, of course, he has an amazing set of pipes on him. That being said, his "Bring Him Home" was more of an exclamation (or demand) rather than a reverential prayer.
I will join in the throngs of people praising Anne Hathaway's outstanding performance as Fantine. It's a brutal performance that left many-a person in tears in the cinema. The placement of "I Dreamed A Dream" where it was in the film was superbly done.
Amanda Seyfried and Eddie Redmayne as Cosette and Marius respectively turn in solid performances (although Seyfried's vocals were not the greatest around). "Empty Chairs At Empty tables" was certainly a vast improvement on the version by Nick Jonas inflicted on us a couple years ago....
Samantha Barks as Eponine is effective although, perhaps, not as successful in her interpretation as she was in the 25th Anniversary concert (despite the better Marius here).
The Thenardiers, as played by Sasha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter, are nowhere near what they should be. Their singing is lacklustre (Cohen struggles with his accent and Carter seems to have mixed Bellatrix Lestrange and Mrs. Lovett into one) and a lot of the darker nature of the characters is missing.
Russell Crowe presents Javert as extremely wooden. He wrestles with his singing and seems more worried about getting the notes right rather than getting the character right. I found it very hard to connect with his character at all. His set piece of "Stars" was woefully under-cooked. His suicide was almost laughable with the added "crunch" at the end of it.
Aaron Tveit is a great Enjolras with gusto and bravado as befitting such a great little role.
Hooper's decision to film a lot of the intimate songs in extreme close-up bugged me for a while but eventually I resolved myself to it being how the director wanted us to see the guys working. The battle scenes were extremely well shot and poignant and the finale had me choking back the tears.
It was also extremely awesome to see Colm Wilkinson (the original Jean Valjean) in the pivotal role of the Bishop. It was a mesmerising performance.
Changes from the stage show to the movie, I felt, worked for the most part. Additional scenes helped fill annoying plotholes in the narrative from the stage show as well as underline certain emotions and characters more.
The orchestrations for the music seemed less keyboard oriented, although I personally would have liked the orchestral track a little higher in volume than it was.
There are some brilliant set pieces throughout. The opening takes your breath away, the trek through the sewers works a treat, the climactic battle (and the bloody aftermath) work incredibly well and the final 20 or so minutes will leave you shattered.
Despite the flaws, I still enjoyed this movie immensely. Go and see it on the big screen.
