As people who walked into the cinema without any expectations (we made it a point not to Google the musical), we must say that Les Misérables is perhaps one of our most unique moviegoing experiences to date. Of course, the thrill was in watching how a musical can be translated onto an extravagant big screen.
Set against the beautiful backdrop of the 19th century France, the movie adaptation begins with, yes, singing. A lot of singing. And who better to open Les Misérables with than Jean Valjean (played by Hugh Jackman) himself? He sweeps you away with his heart wrenching pouring-out-of-soul song about the bitterness of slavery.
The first scene also features Inspector Javert (played by Russell Crowe), who sings back and forth with Valjean.
The introductions are pretty quick though, with the characters developing less than half an hour into the movie. Well, most of the characters. Fantine (played by Anne Hathaway) is especially short-lived although her singing was sensational, especially while she was singing “I Dreamed a Dream”.
We simply couldn’t tear our eyes away from the screen during her scenes!
Also, Javert kept returning off and on again to annoy us – but not because he couldn’t hold a note. In one word, his character frustrated us till no end. Will he leave Valjean alone already? Oh, and we also loved Eponine (played by Samantha Barks) to bits. Much more so when she sang, “On My Own” solo:
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You could almost feel her heart shattering in the rain.
Yes, Cosette (played by Amanda Seyfried) sings like a nightingale in the film:
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Enough said.
Best of all (and we know that this would probably hold true for those of you who are planning to catch Les Misérables in the cinema), the most mind-blowing performance came from the most unexpected character. Marius (played by Eddie Redmayne) stole our hearts when he belted out at the top of his lungs in memory of his friends.
You can’t put a price tag on the kind of facial expressions that he managed to pull off – so many broken dreams, so much regret.
Catch Les Misérables when it’s released in a cinema near you on 25th December 2012 (Tuesday). Brace yourselves, prepare Kleenex!
For more information, visit the movie’s official website.
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