Welcome
Back to Rated D!
This week we
put on our musical theater pants, realized those aren’t real things, put on
real pants and went to see the highly-anticipated movie "Les Miserable".
SPOILER ALERT: The saintly ex-convict Jean
Valjean is pursued by the unyielding Inspector Javert during the Student
Revolution in France in the 1830s.
“The musical is back!” Hugh Jackman
proudly declared while hosting The 2009 Academy Awards and he was right to do
so. In recent years Hollywood has been
pouring millions into adapting popular musicals from the stage to the
screen. Some with success, some with
suck. Now… I love theatre, I love
movies, and I think “Les Miserables”
is a great musical, alas, this one Les Misa-robbed me of a good time. Nailed it!
To sum up, the
bitter, jaded Jean Valjean, played by Tony Award winner Hugh Jackman (The Prestige, X-Men), reinvents himself
after being unfairly jailed for 19 years, but in doing so breaks his
parole. He is then doggedly pursued by
the obstinate Inspector Javert, played by the Pub Band singer Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind, Virtuousity), who will
stop at nothing to prove Valjean is a dangerous criminal who needs to be
punished. After becoming rich and
successful, he accidentally destroys the life of a struggling single mother,
played by Anne Hathaway (Love and Other
Drugs, Alice in Wonderland) and agrees to rescue and raise her daughter,
but still must flee from the law. All paths
eventually intersect years later amidst the backdrop of the “June Rebellion”,
an antimonarchist revolt in Paris comprised of mostly students. Light musical theater fluff, right?
Just to
clarify, my dislike doesn’t stem from a sanctimonious ‘stage vs. screen’ or ‘purism
of the show’ place. In fact, even if it
is almost to a fault, the fidelity to the story and songs is impressive. Also, I applaud the unconventional device of
having the actors not only do their own singing, but also perform it live (as
opposed to prerecorded lip-syncing). But
still, these cool efforts didn’t outweigh my disappointment.
Director Tom
Hooper (The King’s Speech) employs a
unique, technique in which he decides to shove the camera in the actors’ faces
and track them, often in one continuous shot, for entire songs. From some, I’ve heard “It’s almost like live
theatre!”, but to me I felt like it put the scenes in a poor limbo: not as good
as seeing it live is, and not as good as seeing it cinematically should’ve been.
I’m the first to admit that acting in
live theater, especially musicals, is often over the top and it’s not an issue,
but most of the time in movies, especially one like this that is trying to be “real,
gritty, and true”… er… (as much as you
can make a virtual opera that is)… the over the top facial expressions and extreme-melodrama
doesn’t work. This is especially true
when you feel like you could reach out and slap the giant face taking up half
of the screen. And I guess, now is as
good ‘a time as any to go “On My Own” to say “I’ve Heard the People Sing” and I
honestly don’t know what all the excitement is about Anne Hathaway. Decent voice?
Sure! Beautiful? Yes!
Talented? Of course! But no offense to her (because I know she reads my Rated D reviews regularly), but I just saw the same level of
over-exaggerated emotion that everyone else had already or would apply later on
in the film… only then some.... What I’m
saying is that when a car’s maximum speed is 60, if you say it goes 0 to 60 in
2 seconds flat, that’s impressive. But
if I say a car can go to 0 to 60 in 2 seconds and then stay there… like… all
the time!!!... that’s a little less impressive.
I’ll leave it at that. I like
her… I do!!!
Now… sometimes
you just have to accept the fact that you can be really good at some things and
not so great at others. If Tom Brady
played for the Red Sox, he would probably suck.
Therefore, just because Russell Crowe is a great actor, it does not mean
he should be in musicals. Though he
never goes off key, there’s just nothing going on that is interesting and the
more his songs build to passionate solos that simply rest in the back of his
throat while he walks back and forth on rooftops, it only makes those around
him look even further over the top and him further out of place.
It’s not all
bad. Sometimes Hooper nails the shot and
the costumes and sets and everything looks great. Eddie Redmayne (My Week with Marilyn, Powder Blue) surprises with a pleasant voice
and powerful emotion in “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables”, Samantha Barks belts a
solid rendition of “On My Own” and Helena Bonham Carter (Fight Club, Sweeney Todd) and Sascha Baron Cohen (Bruno, Hugo) as scumbag innkeepers
provide some fun antics and comic relief (even
if it does wear thin by the end of their first song).
So as you’ve
gathered, this review is about as long as “Les
Miz” (at 157 minutes… if you were
wondering…), and I was not its biggest fan, but I’m glad that so many
others are still filing into movie theaters to watch a three hour musicals and
not just dorky theater people like me.
D's
Recommendation – 2.5 out of 5 – Hey, it was still better than Breaking Dawn:
Part 2.
D's LIST
"Musicall It Quits!"
Musicals that Failed as Movies
1.
Nine (2009) –
Rob Marshall tried to get lightning to strike twice after he brought us “Chicago”…. but alas his separation of
music and plot didn’t fly in this one. One Thing Worked: Fergie’s “Be Italian” number. Most of the songs in the musical are not the
catchiest, but this one does have a hook that does the trick. And yes, I do mean Fergie from the Black Eyed
Peas.
2. The
Producers (2005) –
It’s a flop movie-musical based on a musical which was based on a movie about
putting on a flop musical. Though the
songs are clever and everybody gives it there all, that same problem of the
extravagance of live theater doesn’t translate well to film. One
Thing Worked: “Springtime for Hitler”, the musical that
they put on is hilarious.
3. Rock
of Ages (2011) – It’s
a juke-box musical that uses popular 80s rock songs, mashing them up and
putting them into context. Most of the
musical numbers aren’t nearly as fun as you want them to be and the writing in
between isn’t any better. One Thing Worked: Tom Cruise gives a surprisingly good vocal
performance as Rock God Stacey Jaxx.
4.
Mamma Mia! (2008) – I didn’t like this one when I saw it live, I didn’t like
it on film. It’s a pop-musical told
using the songs of ABBA starring Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried as mother and
daughter… and best friends. Yeah, I don’t
think I was the target audience for this one.
One Thing Worked: I’m not quite sure what, but it is the
highest grossing musical film worldwide… so something must’ve worked…
5.
Phantom of the Opera (2004) – It just seemed like this shouldn’t have been so boring and
dull to watch. Emmy Russom voice is
pretty, but boring, Gerard Butler, as the Phantom, is intense, but just not
right for the part, and the rest of the movie is forgettable. One
Thing Worked: Mrs. Gorilla says
that the dancing was beautiful!
Rated DVD -
Savages-
Long story short, I wasn’t happy about the dollar I spent or the two
hours I wasted.
Next
Time on Rated D...
The Hobbit:
An Unexpected Journey – You
guessed it!
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