Les Miserables (Film Review)

Russel Crowe singing in a movie. I'm impressed.

Les Miserables is the latest film by 'The King's Speech' director Tom Hooper and has a fantastic cast ensemble including Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russel Crowe, Sacha Baron Cohen, Amanda Seyfried and a whole lot more to mention. It tells the story of Jean Valjean, he's an ex-slave who just released in prison. He decided to make a brand new life for himself to run against the ruthless Inspector Javert. When he met a working class mother turned prostitute named Fantine, Valjean promises to take care of her child, Cosette. The film is set in the midst of the French Revolution era, wherein it depicts people singing of their anger to fight upon the barricades.

Les Miserables is very hyped from so many levels. And if you've read my past contents, i'm a big musical fan. My expectation for this movie could never been much higher since it was based of the coveted novel by Victor Hugo. The fact what made the film so interesting is that 95% of it was all singing.

And not just that, all singing and performances by the entire cast was done live. No pre-recording nor auto-tuned, it's all pure talent. There were 2 persons whom I thought was standout in the movie. Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway. Hugh Jackman was the most perfect actor ever to play Jean Valjean. Liam Neeson tried once but Jackman is the fit actor for the role. Anne Hathaway as Fantine. She made me cry. Just to spoil a bit, there was a scene where she sings 'I Dreamed a Dream' and it was fantastic. Oh, who'll not forget about Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter for bringing the joy and wit to the film.

The movie looks beautiful. There's a lot of close-ups and steadicam shots in this movie that really works. And there were certain aspects used here where there's a 3 minute continuous shot of the actors singing. The first act of the film was surprisingly impressive. However, there's scenes in the movie that wasn't necessary. But it's not a big problem anyways, some songs used in the film was unforgettable. I might even get the soundtrack myself just to listen to the 'Do You Hear The People Sing?' track which was amazing.

Performances were great. The songs were amazing. Cinematography was far beyond amusing.

'Les Miserables' is one of the most heartfelt, touching, brilliant musical I've seen. The performances by Jackman and Hathaway alone were something to be amazed.

The geek rates it 9.2/10. I'll be back for my reviews of Zero Dark Thirty and The Impossible.

Special thanks to the guys of Solar UI-P for inviting me to the advance screening at SM Megamall.

Les Miserables is PG-13 and will be showing nationwide starting January 16.