Contains spoilers for Les Miserables. Don't read if you want to be surprised.
Les Miserables Review from Sierra:
For starters and to be quite frank, I have not been to the play or have even seen the musical itself. I like to think that I had in a past life, or even in this one, to make my review one that is reliable and one that people think is valued; but alas, it is not.
To begin this review, I want to point out that I am a huge fan of musicals. I have followed quite a few and one of my favorites is the perfection that is The Phantom Of The Opera. Though I sound like a wounded bird when I sing along, it is quite a passion of mine to feel as if I am singing someone else's life problems as if they were my own. When I heard Les Mis was being turned into a musical franchise for the big screen (and with me being quite the movie fanatic) I set my sights on researching. I had known that it was a play and I indeed knew that it was a sorrowful one. The iconic I Dreamed A Dream had first blessed my ears when I heard Susan Boyle's version on the X Factor a long time prior. But I never paid much attention, or even for the matter, cared, what the story line was about.
A few months before the movie arrived, I had seen a clip of my (probable) favorite actress, Anne Hathaway, sing like a dove in her heartbroken version of I Dreamed A Dream. Having heard the song a long time before, my interest spiked, and the melodic mixture of Anne's voice mesmerized me. I would honestly play that 1:34 clip until it was worn out like my favorite jeans.
I have followed Anne's singing career, what little there is, and I knew the second that she would show her face on that movie screen as Fantine, my days would be complete. The earthly, true nature of it is what I love the most. Though I love Sierra Boggess and Lea Solanga and their versions of the ballad, I must say that sometimes power is not essential to portray emotion. Though Anne's voice is powerful, no doubt, the fact that she is literally half sobbing through the song and she is on key the entire time really brought me to tears. It takes a lot for someone to make you feel the emotions through song, but it takes even more for someone to do that while they are acting. I tip my hat to Anne for all that she could have ever done to satisfy me in her role. I am not picky and I have no favorites to compare her to. I just genuinely admire her ability and all of her talent.
Hugh Jackman was possibly (and through my brain, the only choice) the best pick for the role as the miserable-turned-honorable Jean Valjean. His performance was like fire in my veins. Though I was not partial to his voice in the beginning of the movie, I do believe I had the ability to become accustom. I learned that everything they had done, they did as actors, not as professional singers. That was more talent than I could ever bring. I felt his best performance was in the beginning, though he continued to surprise me throughout the film.
My darling Amanda Seyfried will always be a gem in my heart. Having first watched the film with Claire Danes as Cosette, however, I found fault with Amanda's portrayal. It was not that she did not give her best, I just found Claire a more fitting description of the beautiful woman Victor Hugo wrote. I wonder, yet, if I had seen the play first, if that decision would still stand. Fast paced romances make me sick to my core, but with this I had to adjust because I knew that the story was so complex and that was how he wrote it, but I felt that in the movie with Claire, the romance was more real and I got to see more of Cosette. However, with Seyfried's striking beauty and admirable voice, I had to consider her a best choice for the musical's version of Cosette. Though I have not seen much of other versions playing Cosette, I have to admit that Amanda's acting in the last scene with her father and Marius was indeed her best acting, and I have seen her act in a lot of movies.
Marius's judgement by me can not be trusted as I have found a soft place for him in my heart. Though Hans Matheson was a flawless Marius in the 1998 version of Les Mis, I really prefered Eddie Redmayned due to the fact that he did sing. Though his voice was not flawless and though there were a few moments when I was not very impressed with the song, he did do a marvelous job singing and acting the part of my dear Marius Pontmercy. Especially in his duet with Eponine. I can't tell you how that scene left me.
And as for Eponine, I wish I could describe how much I love her. Watching the roles switch as she was the prized child in the house of the Thenardiers' and Cosette was the dirty, poor one, to the point in the future where Cosette is well dressed and beautiful while Eponine is still the one stuck in the slums, was a prize to see. I found it hardening for Eponine, to watch that little girl who was an outcast now be the one that Marius has eyes for, and it makes it that much more heartbreaking. And he was not even hers to begin with. I had waited quite some time to hear Samantha Barks sing On My Own, because I had learned the song just to sing while I was in the theater and I have to admit that I did not utter a word as she sang. I felt that if I sang with her I would ruin it. It was much more amazing to see in theaters than hear over my iPod. And then as a character ending, for her to be so unselfish and finally realize that she could not hold onto Marius because she knew he would not love her that way in return, made me sob. Because that is her true love on its own. That was her final gift to him. I really love Eponine, okay?
I don't know much to say of Russell Crowe's part. I was unsure of him singing and though I liked his acting, I could not get over the fact that he was playing Javert.
Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen were perfection, hands down. Best of them all.
Watching the film and listening to the songs, I realized just how many were missing from the Highlights album and that made me deeply mad. I really am disappointed.
Every single extra and every single voice was loved, appreciated and heard. It was not only the big name actors that caught my attention. I was in love with each voice, each and every one. All of the costumes were well crafted. Though I saw many that were very theatrical, I imagined that they were aiming for a style very much like the musical's, so I paid less mind. I loved how dirty everything was. I liked that no one had white teeth and that they all had mud on their bodies. I loved the dirtiness of it all. That is something that lacks in most movies because it is not glamorous. I like the fact that it wasn't.
The very final scene was my favorite however (though I Dreamed A Dream was hard to beat) because there was only too much emotion and I am incapable of holding everything in. The voices. Fantine's return, her face beaming. Jean Valjean's proud look over the men and women. The people below, bellowing each note and singing with pride. Each and every sentence and every note. I could feel it all then and I have never felt so full and so amazed by the fact that music could do that. I was truthfully impressed. Far beyond what I was expecting and greater than I imagined.
I have seen a few versions, but none like that. I have seen many musicals, but none like that.
Les Miserables is a definite see. I would not give it a perfect score, but I would give it a pretty damn high one. It is one to see multiple times and buy on DVD and watch again.
It was beautiful, honestly. Now go see it.
