Movie Review: "Les Miserables" Is an Uneven Time Consumer

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Saturday, 29 December 2012 14:22

Written by Matt Oakes

"Les Misérables"
Directed by Tom Hooper
Starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, Samantha Barks

Tom Hooper's all singing, all dancing Les Misérables is in a word: long. Based on the musical of the same name by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, which was adapted in turn from Victor Hugo's 1862 novel, this massively scaled production features a whopping 49 musical numbers that fill the entirety of the film's 160 minute runtime.

Les Misérables charts the 33 year transformation of Jean Valjean from convict to factory owner to adoptive parent as he runs from the shadow of his former self and uptight lawman, Inspector Javert, in search of redemption.

Hooper experimented with the novel idea of recording all the songs "live." Instead of going the traditional route of pre-recording songs in a studio and lip-singing along for the feature, all of the songs were belted out in front of the camera and used for final cut. This unique approach to the feature film is surely original and allows the actors an unbound freedom to emote in the moment but the end result is extremely uneven.

The film starts strong with some outstanding acting and powerful musical numbers but immediately illuminates an obvious fact: some of the performers pipes aren't quite up to snuff.  

From the opening number, "Look Down,"  the vocal capacity of Hugh Jackman seems limited. Although he's no stranger to musical theater- he won a Tony for "The Boy from Oz" in 2004- he just doesn't possess the power and intensity to fit the bill of the trumpeting ballads of Jean Valjean. Don't get me wrong, Jackman is a terrific actor and has a palpable intensity burning behind his eyes but he's just not a terrific singer and that's all this film is about.

Most insulting however is Jackman's unorthodox handling of the revered tunes he's handling. It's one thing to adjust a piece of music in order to make it seem more natural and suiting for the silver screen but he so drastically alters the melodies and time signatures that few of the pieces he performs actually feel like songs. To call it butchery isn't a far stretch.

Another questionable bit of casting is Russell Crowe who fills the shoes of the least empathic law officer alive- Inspector Javert. Crowe again is a top notch thespian but his singing capabilities failed to impress. He didn't go out of a ten note range and everything from him sounded flat and spark-less. For a character  written with a drastic arc, he just wasn't very compelling and I felt little to nothing towards him for the entirety of the film.

On the other end of the spectrum is the stirring Anne Hathaway. It's no wonder why the trailer for the film features Hathaway's powerful rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" as it is both the emotional and musical climax of the entire film. She jolts life and chills into the number with an intoxicating finesse and has all but solidified her position as front runner for Best Supporting Actress.

However once her little ditty is over, no other piece of acting or singing ever quite reaches those highs again…and this is only thirty or so minutes in.

Entering it's second act, the film begins to drag on and by the final act it's running on fumes. Jackman's acting with the eyes technique grows tiresome and his apparent lack of musical timing becomes more and more egregious especially in light of Hathaway's triumph.

The final 100 minutes is rounded out by a number of supporting cast that are equally hit or miss.

Amanda Siegfried, who plays Valjean's adopted daughter Cosette, suffers from an egregious case of Snow White syndrome, peddling a grating soprano that wears thin in her mere introductory moments. Her lover counterpart Marius, played by Eddie Redmayne, however offers a moving performance and actually does his tunes justice as does his secret admirer, Eponine (Samantha Barks.)

The consistent saving grace of the film though is the delightful pairing of Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as a duo of slimy innkeepers turned sewer rats. Although their singing isn't top notch by any standard, they never were expected to be and they crank up the comic relief, offering it up in generous heaps.

What it all boils down to is a picture without a man at the reins. Hooper quite obviously had massive aspirations but I can't help but feel that they got away from him time and time again. If you're executing a strictly musical adaptation of a widely known piece go with actors who can kill it in the vocal department. Crowe and Jackman were quite obviously miscast as the leading men and largely lack the chill factor that makes these musicals actually work. Everything is cracked up to 11 but there is the no backbone tying everything together.

Ultimately, Tom Hooper's experimental Les Misérables is a jigsaw of performances with no central momentum that is both exhaustive and exhausting.

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