Les Mis (movie)
Dec. 29th, 2012 06:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysobelSo, I went to see Les Mis today.
Speaking as someone who a) is familiar with (and fond of) the show, b) has not seen it for a while, and c) is not currently involved with the fandom or any kerfluffles relating to the movie (and does not at all miss the drama from e.g. the movies for Phantom or Evita, augh) ...
Overall, it was not as awesome as it might have been, but it was pretty good.
Casting was good except (IMO) for Russel Crowe, who didn't really have the voice to pull off Javert. (Acting-wise he was fine, although I didn't really read in him the whole law==good mentality that I kind of like about Javert. But his voice wasn't really strong in *any* of it, and Javert needs to be, idk, powerful. Though at least he didn't look like Buzz Lightyear.
(sorry, there was just one stage production that traumatized me in multiple ways)
But the others all made me happy; even liked Cosette, who usually is in danger of coming across as shrill and brainless. (in which context "with all the years ahead of us, I will never go away and we will be together every day" is amusingly creepy). Marius is adorable and freckledy, Eponine is awesome, the kids are all amazing, Anne Hathaway is incredible.
I like the fact that the singing was done live rather than pre-recorded. But I felt that the director -- or whoever -- was way too fond of Intense Closeups Of (Often Grimy) People Singing. Which, okay, yes, it is a musical, but --
Well, okay, example. Empty Chairs at Empty Tables? Is way better in the stage choreography. Which is kind of sad, but. The thing where, while Marius is singing, Enjolras and the other students come up and stand there and then turn and face into the darkness? Powerful as hell. In the movie, it was just ... Marius sitting in the cafe singing. Nothing else, no flashbacks, no cuts to other things, no overlay images of people not quite there, just one person singing to himself.
Things like that.
(I am also a little miffed that they vagued up Valjean's reasons for deciding that it must be Javert that finds him right before One Day More. Standard staging, Cosette is out in the garden, Eponine gives the warning scream, Valjean comes out all worried about her, Cosette says she just saw figures in the shadows being all suspicious, Valjean makes a paranoid but reasonable assumption that Javert is the most likely person to be hunting him down. Movie version, Valjean comes out and takes Cosette inside, Eponine screams, and Valjean decides ... that a random woman's scream means Javert found him what?)
(plus I am not entirely sure how I feel about replacing Eponine with Gavroche as message bearer... But ehh.)
There was also a bit less talk-singing than I expected from the clips I'd seen, which is yay.
In sum, idk. Slightly didn't meet my expectations, only slightly -- but only because I'd lowered my expectations from my initial "YAY LES MIS" reaction. I will probably acquire it when it comes out on DVD, but not likely to see it again in theaters.
However I am still cranky about wheelchair seating in movies. For this theater, the space I usually sit in (wide enough for two chairs) was taken by someone in a scooter and someone with a walker -- so I was stuck in the other wheelchair seat that the theater offers, which is in the fourth row from the front at the very left edge (well, there is one companion seat left of it). Way closer than I like, way side-er than I like, and the two in combination were especially bad. Had to tilt *back* so I could see the screen, and fairly far sideways so that my brain wasn't panicking at the weird-ass angle.
Grr.
Speaking as someone who a) is familiar with (and fond of) the show, b) has not seen it for a while, and c) is not currently involved with the fandom or any kerfluffles relating to the movie (and does not at all miss the drama from e.g. the movies for Phantom or Evita, augh) ...
Overall, it was not as awesome as it might have been, but it was pretty good.
Casting was good except (IMO) for Russel Crowe, who didn't really have the voice to pull off Javert. (Acting-wise he was fine, although I didn't really read in him the whole law==good mentality that I kind of like about Javert. But his voice wasn't really strong in *any* of it, and Javert needs to be, idk, powerful. Though at least he didn't look like Buzz Lightyear.
(sorry, there was just one stage production that traumatized me in multiple ways)
But the others all made me happy; even liked Cosette, who usually is in danger of coming across as shrill and brainless. (in which context "with all the years ahead of us, I will never go away and we will be together every day" is amusingly creepy). Marius is adorable and freckledy, Eponine is awesome, the kids are all amazing, Anne Hathaway is incredible.
I like the fact that the singing was done live rather than pre-recorded. But I felt that the director -- or whoever -- was way too fond of Intense Closeups Of (Often Grimy) People Singing. Which, okay, yes, it is a musical, but --
Well, okay, example. Empty Chairs at Empty Tables? Is way better in the stage choreography. Which is kind of sad, but. The thing where, while Marius is singing, Enjolras and the other students come up and stand there and then turn and face into the darkness? Powerful as hell. In the movie, it was just ... Marius sitting in the cafe singing. Nothing else, no flashbacks, no cuts to other things, no overlay images of people not quite there, just one person singing to himself.
Things like that.
(I am also a little miffed that they vagued up Valjean's reasons for deciding that it must be Javert that finds him right before One Day More. Standard staging, Cosette is out in the garden, Eponine gives the warning scream, Valjean comes out all worried about her, Cosette says she just saw figures in the shadows being all suspicious, Valjean makes a paranoid but reasonable assumption that Javert is the most likely person to be hunting him down. Movie version, Valjean comes out and takes Cosette inside, Eponine screams, and Valjean decides ... that a random woman's scream means Javert found him what?)
(plus I am not entirely sure how I feel about replacing Eponine with Gavroche as message bearer... But ehh.)
There was also a bit less talk-singing than I expected from the clips I'd seen, which is yay.
In sum, idk. Slightly didn't meet my expectations, only slightly -- but only because I'd lowered my expectations from my initial "YAY LES MIS" reaction. I will probably acquire it when it comes out on DVD, but not likely to see it again in theaters.
However I am still cranky about wheelchair seating in movies. For this theater, the space I usually sit in (wide enough for two chairs) was taken by someone in a scooter and someone with a walker -- so I was stuck in the other wheelchair seat that the theater offers, which is in the fourth row from the front at the very left edge (well, there is one companion seat left of it). Way closer than I like, way side-er than I like, and the two in combination were especially bad. Had to tilt *back* so I could see the screen, and fairly far sideways so that my brain wasn't panicking at the weird-ass angle.
Grr.
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Date: 2012-12-30 10:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-31 02:03 pm (UTC)