I thought it was great. Yeah sure the ACTORS were not the best OPERA SINGERS.. but for what they committed to on screen I thought it was great! Russel Crowe did struggle, but I respect the guy for trying and taking a risk.
Hugh Jackman is a performer hands down...I will enjoy watching anything/everything he does on screen.
I could go on and on and on about this because I have long long attachment to this musical, but I'll keep it simple:
Some of the liberties with the lines I could have done without--in fact, some changes are tragic: "i have saved your soul for god," in place of: "I have bought your soul for god." :| Who is the fundy asshat that enforced this meaningless piece of evangelical turd into the central theme of the entire libretto?
Overall, the performances were horrible, competent, good, breathtaking. I like how many of the songs were performed at points, rather than simply belted out as if being performed on stage. This is the type of necessary quality that skilled actors will bring to this type of material, and it's refreshing.
break down:
Russell Crowe--holy dear mary mother of god what the fuck was that? please make it stop. D:
Jackman--surprisingly good...mostly. certainly not who anyone would think of for Jean Valjean, and while his voice was somewhere between terrible, and capable, to actually impressive on the big songs (Bring Him Home--to the point that I thought it was actually Colm Wilkinson singing that part), he did quite well. He performed the part very well, which is what one can hope out of a film version. I know he can sing..but he really can't sing this part, unfortunately. Overall, though, quite good. He will get an Academy nod.
Seyfried--Honestly...I've always hated the Cosette/Marius parts of the libretto (To me, it's about Valjean/Javert, Eponine and Fantine (whom I've never been fond of, either). I really couldn't care less about this role, and I thought she performed it as solidly and boringly as it has always been performed.
Barks--....wow! I actually had no idea that a real cast member would be cast in this (I did not follow any of the production up until seeing a recent trailor that this would actually be in theaters, heh). As Eponine, she was phenomenal. I'm still waiting for someone to match Ruffelle--Will probably never see this--but this girl is the best outside of that. I shockingly learned, afterward, that Taylor Swift was being considered for this role? D: Good to see that Hooper has some god damn common sense. Just, simply, brilliant. She's going to be getting a pile of attention after this.
Anne Hathaway--Simply, the absolute best thing about this film. I never really cared about Fantine in the musical, as important as she is, but Hathaway completely changed this around for me. I cried big baby man tears throughout the entirety of her performance. She is a phenomenal singer, easily the best of the primary cast. She is going to win the Academy award, and she deserves it. She might have just enough screen time to qualify for lead, and I hope she does. If there is only one reason to see this, it is because of her.
Cohen & HB Carter--Always liked the Thenardiers, but they were never that interesting to me. These two were perfectly cast, and for these roles, some of the best performances. would not be surprised to see either of them getting Academy nods, especially Cohen.
And, probably my favorite part:
Colm MOTHERFUCKING Wilkinson!
:awe: Here he is, early on, as the priest! I literally screamed like a little girl when I saw the one and the only true
Jean Valjean
getting a part in this flick, and he nailed it. Just, simply, awesome. Probably few of you or anyone will really care about this like I do, but this sort of thing just makes me happy.
This is going to be on the shortlist, probably top 3, of Academy winners, and deservedly so. It has major flaws, to be honest, if you judge it purely on musical skill, but the production is simply amazing. It's a staggering amount of content to put together in this type of format, and I think it was pulled together marvelously. If only the two leads were cast with more competent singers (but both performed the parts extremely well--even Crowe, despite the fact he can't sing a lick)
The original really was the London cast, good sir. The French libretto was primarily a concept album, and only an obscure stage performance that was shut down after 3 months of crapitude.
though as Raizin said, I was also close to walking out due to the horror that was Crowe, and Jackman's singing early on
I don't know which part of my ass I pulled that idea from, maybe it's cause I thought she was in phantom. Emmy Rossum might have been an interesting choice, on that note.
Your review was interesting, only slightly denigrated by the fact that you don't like mustard bbq sauce on your pig :sneaky:
It was my first le miz experience and I really liked it. Some of the voices sounded a little rough in some spots but it didn't really take away from the story once you got used to their style.I watched some of the 25th anniversary show on youtube and it make sense that professional singers are going to have more range than the actor's in the movie. I can see why they went with actor's instead of singers for the majority of the parts. It's a film adaptation and there was the singing but there was emotions displayed in the scenes that I don't think non-actors would have been able to produce. Anne Hathaways scenes for example. I thought Sasha cohen and Carter did a great job also. In the 25th anniversary show for the most part the singers are just standing there. Amazing performances, it's just a different medium.
I don't know which part of my ass I pulled that idea from, maybe it's cause I thought she was in phantom. Emmy Rossum might have been an interesting choice, on that note.
Your review was interesting, only slightly denigrated by the fact that you don't like mustard bbq sauce on your pig :sneaky:
(but in all seriousness, no lovingly-prepared pork deserves the postmortem disgrace of being served with mustard; nor does the diner deserve this punishment of consuming such inferior meat.) ()
It was my first le miz experience and I really liked it. Some of the voices sounded a little rough in some spots but it didn't really take away from the story once you got used to their style.I watched some of the 25th anniversary show on youtube and it make sense that professional singers are going to have more range than the actor's in the movie. I can see why they went with actor's instead of singers for the majority of the parts. It's a film adaptation and there was the singing but there was emotions displayed in the scenes that I don't think non-actors would have been able to produce. Anne Hathaways scenes for example. I thought Sasha cohen and Carter did a great job also. In the 25th anniversary show for the most part the singers are just standing there. Amazing performances, it's just a different medium.
Check out the 10th Anniversary show--far, far superior to the 25th. Only real absence is Ruffelle as Eponine, but Salonga is still capable, just not emotionally interesting for that character. They are concert performances, so yeah--it is just people standing there. At least in the 10th anniversary, you get some scenes of the stage production being performed during the singing, but with different performers than those in the concert...so it might be a little confusing for those that aren't familiar with it.
I agree with using actors for the film, though. While I miss the way a trained vocalist will perform these roles, their medium is the stage, and has very different requirements than does a film. As linked in that 60min bit above^, it was interesting to learn, though, that the voices were recorded as performed on set, and not dubbed over from sound studio recordings. Pretty cool.
Les Mis ... bad singing... Crowe & Jackman are flat. I felt I needed to see this after seeing Django to get myself back to a cultural neutrality again. Didn't work.
Since Django was mentioned by someone else ... actually better acting although the special effects are a bit "over blown" ... referring to the gushes of blood. I have to admit that I have never seen anyone shot in the head for real, so my opinion here is not all that qualified. But the last scene when the woman is shot & she flies off AND in the wrong direction ... please.
Les Mis ... bad singing... Crowe & Jackman are flat. I felt I needed to see this after seeing Django to get myself back to a cultural neutrality again. Didn't work.
Since Django was mentioned by someone else ... actually better acting although the special effects are a bit "over blown" ... referring to the gushes of blood. I have to admit that I have never seen anyone shot in the head for real, so my opinion here is not all that qualified. But the last seen when the woman is shot & she flies off AND in the wrong direction ... please.
well, just getting back from seeing it. this was my first experience with Les Mis having never seen the play before. now, typically i can put up with musicals because i grew up watching hindian movies and all, but damn this movie was much more different than i expected. usually musicals have talking, then singing, then talking, but this had singing throughout the entire movie! what sort of nonsensery was that?
PROS:
-Anne Hathaway was excellent in this movie. When she sang Susan Boyle's song it was spot on and nearly put a tear in my eye.
-I kept trying to put a finger on who John Falcon was...after about 30 minutes I was like holy crap that's Wolverine! he was great.
-lots of powerful moments in the movie.
-great cinematography
-Cassette did a great job playing the role as the young girl
-Eponin was hot
-Sacha Baron Cohen was great. He's fit for these types of roles. Similar to his character in Hugo. better than the Borat and Bruno nonsense.
-Russell Crowe jumping off the bridge.
CONS:
-most of the singing sounded throaty and off balance. not just the main characters but even the extras. what's up with that? with such a high production value, i was hoping the musical score would have been better.
-I couldn't put up with Russell Crowe. Singing was not good
-90% of the film was in darkness
-movie was long. about 40 minutes longer than I thought it would have been. when Wolverine was giving his death speech, I was like 'Hurry up and fvckin die already!' sheesh
-weak ass love story between Cassette and Marius. like indian people in indian films... fall in love without getting to know someone. blah
All in all, I give this a 6.9/10. It was entertaining somewhat. wish I saw Django Unchained instead
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