So I Saw Les Miz A Few Days Ago...

[espanolbot]

So I thought that I'd post this. :)




Short review: I enjoyed it a lot, Russell Crowe wasn't as horrible as people said, the Thénardiers were awesome, Marius sounded like Kermit the Frog prior to Empty Tables (he acted well enough though).

Comments

[indy2012]

Hmmm... I wouldn't mind seeing a Crowe/Jackman "duet".

Anyways, I still haven't seen the movie, but I hear it's incredible. Movies are just so expensive nowadays. :C

[akodo_rokku]

Having never experienced any version of Les Mis before I liked the movie quite a bit.

The big complaint I've seen about Crowe is that apparently Javert is supposed to be full of fury? But Crowe's portrayal to me seemed like someone full of *barely restrained* fury, and it made sense to me that a man so obsessed with law and order would hold his own emotions so tightly in check.

[blackruzsa]

I've been listening to Javert since I was a child, and his anger was more like the kind a guy who grew up in a prison and then went on to guard a prison. He was harsh and intimidating and not quiet and reserved because well, how else would you handle prisoners, especially in that time?

Anyways, the songs Javert sings are made for passion and harshness (except Stars) so I listened to Crowe and felt incredibly sad. ): (But not as sad as when I listened to Hugh Jackman I mean MY GOD MAN YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE AN EXCELLENT SINGER, WHAT HAPPENED?)

I haven't watched the movie yet but I've listened to all the leaked songs online. I may very well enjoy the acting but I will definitely hate 90% of the songs.

[angelophile]

I went in convinced I was going to dislike Crowe's performance, based on hearing the soundtrack extracts before, but found that not to be the case. Context is everything and it's all about the performance as a whole, in my view, and Crowe's performance (and Jackman's) is pretty good.

Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen were the real disappointments for me. Their whole performance smacked of desperation.

[blackruzsa]

Shame about the two of them, I was expecting so much.

I didn't hate Crowe's Javert (from the recordings), it's just such a different Javert! So different. Not bad, just not the one I'm used to and lacking the sort of thing that makes me love Javert (the passion). I'll just wait til the film, I feel like I'm gonna love his performance, if not his singing.

I mean, Ledger Joker was completely different (god rest his soul) but it was far from bad.

[espanolbot]

The weird thing, is that most people think that Cohen and Bonham-Carter among the best things in the film, and I kind of agreed them.

[angelophile]

Yeah, I might be in the minority, but in my view they were neither threatening nor funny, and I'd kind of hope for at least one or the other from them. My expectations may have been unnecessarily high because Alun Armstrong was just so good, but I just couldn't get behind them. Their performances just seemed desperate and essentially joyless. Neither of them seemed big enough for the roles.

I'm not alone in that view, but, yeah, it might be a minority one.

[espanolbot]

Hathaway ws fantastic though. Plus Marius and Cosette were better acted than I was used to, despite Marius (as I said) sounding like a Muppet for about half his songs.

[q99]

Speaking of good Javerts...

[blackruzsa]

Oh my god.
Ohhhh myyyyyy god.
OH MY GOD!

REALLY? :D

OH MY GOD!

[q99]

Yessss, I predicted this reaction!

[icon_uk]

I offer this alternative interpretation of Les Mis

[blackruzsa]

Ooh!

[blackruzsa]

I ADORE Beaton's Javert :)) So deliciously accurate.

"It is against the law not to pay rent." Oh Musical crossovers.

[espanolbot]

Wondering what Elpheba from Wicked would be like in a traditional Wizard of Oz musical now...

[lucky_gamble]

I'm guilty of thinking something along comic #4 while watching the movie. Damn the slash gods!

[janegray]

"Bread crimes division" XD

[turtlefu]

I've seen and there is absolutely no consensus on anything. I personally liked Marius's singing, but many hated it. Every single actor has detractors/fans. There wasn't really one that about the movie that was universally celebrated.

And yes, that includes Anne Hathaway.

[selke]

Yes. I agree on the last one. PAY YOUR RENT OR LEAVE. Ugh. I hated that movie.

[crinos]

I never watched Rent, or Les Miz, but I did watch Nostalgia Chick's review of Reality Bites, which mentioned Rent and her disgust for it.

Now I want to see Javert go after the smug assholes from Reality Bites.

[espanolbot]

Being an obnoxious douchenozzle sadly isn't a crime, so not much Javert could do to them, besides scowling at them menacingly.

Except, I dunno, charge them for vagrancy?

[auggie18]

Yeah, this is pretty much exactly why I stopped liking Rent when I got an apartment after college. Being an artist doesn't excuse you from being a person and doing stuff like PAYING RENT.

[selke]

I was stuck watching the movie at a friend's house. I was rooting for the "villain" the entire time. So obnoxious.

[ladymoondancer]

I thought about these comics when I saw the movie too!! Kate Beaton is the best.

I hated Russell Crowe as Javert. He came across as too much of "just a cop doing his duty", IMO. And that is not Javert at all.

Acting aside, he did not bring the voice needed for those songs. Not deep enough or powerful enough.

[espanolbot]

I thought that it was a valid interpretation of Javert, he is doing his duty, it's just his interpretation of what his duty is that makes him a villain.

I think that it's best described when someone was comparing Javert to Sam Vimes from the Discworld series, Javert is a man who interprets a policeman's duty is to uphold the law, while Vimes' opinion is that it should be to protect the innocent.

Both are right, but a policeman without empathy ends up being Judge Dredd (when written badly) at best or a member of the Gestapo at worst.

[mistervader]

If you would trust only one man to do Les Mis by his lonesome, then may as well be this dude: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9IWAxSpgKA