Les Miserables (2012) Movie Review

Les Miserables follows Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) after being released from prison for stealing a loaf of bread for his sister’s hungry child. Though he has been released he is given the label of being a danger to society and ordered to report to an officer after a certain period of time.  This results in Jean going on the run as he is unable to get any work due to being branded as a threat. After eight years pass he still has Javert (Russell Crowe) chasing him down.

Jean Valjean then picks up the duties of caring for the young child Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) and bringing her up as if she was his own. As all this is happening the heart of the French Revolution is taking place in the backdrop and the majority of the cast getting heavily involved in this fight for freedom.  

Yes this is a musical film, but Tom Hoppers musical adaptation of what is said to be one of the nineteenth century’s greatest novels is a breath of fresh air and also brings a tale of love, redemption and freedom to the table to create this very unique experience.

This musical is almost all in song apart from a few snippets that are inbetween songs. This is also a progressive tale spanning just under twenty years during the French revolution and you really do get attached to these characters as they are developing through time.

 Les Miserables has a fantastic cast made up of Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Cohen, to name a few, and their performances are truly great. They are all able to deliver the emotion of this tale though their singing very well and I don’t think it would have felt the same had it not been a musical film.

Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway are the two stand-outs in Les Miserables. The raw power and emotion you can see they provide is fantastic especially as this is delivered through song. Some have criticised Russell Crowe’s singing but I didn’t find that a problem and thought he did very well in this film.

The world and atmosphere is very beautiful, emersing you in this very realistic looking 19^th century world. You get the sense of conditions they lived in very well and why they are rebelling against the King.

But there a few problems with this film though. Being a film entirely expressed through song it can be hard to understand certain aspects, as you find yourself constantly having to analyse the words in each song to understand what is going on in the story. This is extremely demanding in a 2hr 40min film and towards the end it can feel that certain scenes could have easily been cut out without taking away anything other than an extra song. Yes I don’t think this film would have been that emotional if it wasn’t a musical, but I thought more dialog in-between songs could have helped you through this movie a lot smoother.

I have never read Les Miserables and I don’t think this film clearly delivers the motive behind Javerts relentless hunting of Jean either. It seems a little excessive for my taste as he goes to all these extreme lengths to catch a bread thief.

One of my favourite characters in this film is killed off very early on in this film as well, which I won’t spoil. I felt that certain characters presence, especially due to the performance they delivered earlier on, could have given an extra edge to the film at its later stages.

Saying that, this film is a great passionate tale and a must watch, all this coming from a person who in the whole doesn’t watch musicals. I truly enjoyed this film but found myself having to watch it twice to fully understand every moment of the film.

Still though this is a great movie and I’d happily watch Les Miserables again. If you love musicals then this will be one of the best you have ever seen and for those who don’t watch musicals I’d recommend you give this a try.  

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