Filed under: Arts, creativity, movies, music, Rants | Tags: anne Hathaway, les mis, Les MIserables, Tom Hooper, Victor Hugo
I’ve seen Les Mis twice on stage. It’s too long. Fact.
But I was interested in what would happen on screen and hoped that Tom Hooper’s horribly fussy direction of the King’s Speech would not follow him into this. I hoped but my wish was unfulfilled.
Tom Hooper puts the blown into overblown in everything he does. The Damned United wasn’t a patch on the book, The King’s Speech is simply the most overrated movie of the past few years and this, well put it this way, if Anne Hathaway hadn’t been in it I’d have been asking for my money back.
Let’s deal with the positives first (shouldn’t take long).
Anne Hathaway’s performance, as Fantine, is mesmerising, especially in her death scene at the end of the first reel. It’s a shame because the movie dies with her. And it’s all the more remarkable that Hooper will have two Oscar winning performances under his belt from two lousy movies. As I said; remarkable.
In places (Hathaway’s death scene in particular) the hand held camera work with a LOT of focus pulling (necessary because of the narrow depth of field and low light) works magically. It’s incredibly intimate, yet at others it’s just plain annoying (and repetitive).
Next the sound. I could hear every lyric from start to finish which meant that, unlike the stage play, it was easy to follow the (turgid and unlikely) story easily.
But the sound is actually one of my biggest gripes. Yes it was brave, and in parts very good (Hathaway) to make the actors perform the numbers for real, but by focusing on clarity of audio the incidental sound had to be dropped with the result that almost the entire movie sounded like it had been recorded in a recording studio and consequently appeared entirely fake.
Now the rest of the bad news.
The sets are horrible. Entirely unconvincing from start to finish.
Hugh Jackman is unbearable to watch (his singing voice is unlistenable).
Russell Crowe is appalling, but not as bad as the double act that is Helena Bonham Carter (surely her worst performance ever) and Sacha Baron Cohen who just plain sucks.
Eddie Redmayne left me totally cold but I’m sure the ladies will like his boyish good looks. But nah. He sucks too.
The direction is mawkish in the extreme which makes the child parts nauseous and heavy handed.
I could go on but I don’t want to bore you and I know that nobody will like this review on IMDB because nobody likes critical reviews on IMDB. Ah well.
8 Comments so far
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Excellent analysis of the film.
Comment by harrywrites January 13, 2013 @ 7:03 pmHave you seen it Harry?
Comment by markgorman January 13, 2013 @ 7:46 pmYes, although I quite treasured the fact they were all singing it “live”. It was a novelty, yes, but…hm, it was a novelty which stuck with you the entire way through.
Comment by harrywrites January 13, 2013 @ 9:54 pmGood! Means I don’t need to go see it now.
Comment by stephencosh January 13, 2013 @ 7:05 pmThis is the worst kind of “reviewing”; kneejerk reactions with nothing substantial to back it up. Worst of all, you cannae write for toffee
Comment by Bernie the Bolt January 17, 2013 @ 2:35 amYou’ll be a Les Mis fundamentalist then. thanks for the constructive feedback.
Comment by markgorman January 17, 2013 @ 7:32 amI predicted I’d get negative feedback on IMDB for my review because it isn’t fawning and sycophantic. I was right.
Comment by markgorman January 17, 2013 @ 7:33 amI also find it amusing that I am told I have nothing substantial to back my comments up. Well, first off, I saw it
Secondly I have backed my opinion , and it can be no more than that with considered (not kneejerk) opinion on
Camerawork
Direction
Sound design
Set
And I said Anne Hathaway was brilliant (and some of the camerawork).
Bernie…The Bolt!
Comment by markgorman January 17, 2013 @ 7:38 am