I always liked watching musical movies, from the abstract representation of events, to the artistic way of storytelling and scripting. Chicago has been one of my favorite movies and Hairspray(remake) is my guilty pleasure movie of all time. However, to be bombarded by a lot of colorful characters, each with their individual story-line that aren't really connected with each other, each with their emotional climax, I found Les Misérables very very very exhausting to watch.
Based on the musical of the same name, Les Misérables tells the story in 158 minutes of singing and dancing, each line with so much emotional investment from the actors playing their respective roles. The movie would surely fail if not for the acting. Jackman carries the entire movie and plays with conviction while Hathaway surely deserves whatever awards she'll get for the next few months. Redmayne and Barks and the rest of the cast give their minor characters their glory. Of all, in my personal opinion, the weakest would be Crowe as he struggles in comparison with the rest.
The cinematography is a little bit unfocused however, the close ups to the actors during their emotional performances is commendable. The direction seems unguided and looks to me that actors do alot of improvisation(which is good, if not too much). A shame, Tom Hooper(The King's Speech) used to be one of my favorite directors.
The musical numbers are stunning, especially if it goes full blast. While some musical monologue works(Fantine's, Marius' and Eponine's), many just fails(worst is Javert's). The wordings and lyrics are good(maybe thanks to the original musical). However they are scattered throughout a multitude of characters, each about different things, something that may work in a stage play but not in the movies, making the movie feel unfocused and disjointed.
Indeed, Les Mis is a superior musical movie. Many may sing high praises to it. I am just not among them. **1/2 out of four.
