Les Miserables kind of sucked

So, I'm a guy. There may be spoilers, so if you don't know the story, read the book.

I went to Les Miserables last night with the wife. I'm a fan of Victor Hugo. Toilers of the Sea was one of the best things I've ever read. I understand how great the Novel "Les Miserables" is. I get that. This isn't a knock on the story, or Hugo.

But, damn, that movie. First, not a fan of musicals, but this wasn't a musical. It was an opera. I think there was maybe one speaking part, near the beginning of the movie. So, opera.

First half, I enjoyed well enough. It wasn't too boring, and there was just enough action/character dev to keep me entertained. But then, it got boring, fast, real boring.

I understand, this isn't an action movie, I know, but you can't make a good movie that is nothing but exposition. Star Wars E. 1,2,3 did that and we all know how much those stunk.

Ok, so Hugh Jackman as JVJ was great, Russel Crowe was a spectacular Javert. I thought the character of Cosette was meh. But, the one I really loathed was Marius.

This character was utterly unlikable in the movie. He was irresponsible, selfish, wishywashy, stupid, reckless, and got damn near everyone around him killed. JVJ was the only reason this character had any kind of story arc. He did nothing for himself except for try to start a failed revolution.

By the point his character was introduced, though, I was completely bored, so maybe I'm being harsh?

Anyway, after what felt like 8 hours the movie ended. I thought another whole story arc was going to begin where the screenwriters added in the love and marriage of the happy couple.

The last scene though, heaven is just France, all over again, except a second revolution was successful. Ok.

Sorry for the rant, nobody cares, as you shouldn't. But I just kind of wanted to vent because ALL I've heard is how amazing and riveting and perfect and tear jerking it was. I got 0 of that. I understand, it's not a guy movie, that's fine, but good God.

Sadly your man card has been revoked until you see a Michael bay film...


Thank you
International brotherhood of men

Please leave your member jacket on the way out.

Thank you
International brotherhood of men

reply to post by oasisjack


Meh, she watches Ghost Adventures and slashers with blood and tits everywhere with me all the time. I owed.

Originally posted by oasisjack
Sadly your man card has been revoked until you see a Michael bay film...


Thank you
International brotherhood of men

Hey , I am a man card carrier, and I dig the real musical. (Les Mis and Fiddler On The Roof are the only ones I'll watch.) I have the tenth anniversary performance in DVD. My wife and I saw it in London a few years ago. I always choke up during A Little Fall of Rain.

AND I'M KEEPING MY MAN CARD, DAMMIT!!!!!!

The movie thingy was a bit of a letdown, but not more than I expected. Hey, they're pandering to a demographic that, typically, wouldn't bother to see a musical/opera.

I wasn't overly impressed with anyone, save Colm Wilkerson. He was the bishop in the movie, and sang JVJ in the tenth anniversary performance.

I thought the scene with Fontaine being violated was unnecessarily graphic. Not from a moral point of view, but from an artistic point of view. The lyrics and music did enough to tell the story and effectively communicate the pathos. Graphic skirt hiking was an insult to the art.

BTW, the 25th anniversary performance really sucked. Had teeny-boppers singing parts that should have been done by real singers.

Holy crap!

Thanks for the review/rant. Now I'm gonna have to come up with some kind of Jackie Gleason / Tim Taylor / Fred Flintstone scheme to avoid being dragged off to see this ... thing.

reply to post by Ex_CT2


Good, you'll be doing yourself a favor.

I'm not a big musical fan, I can take operas but not in english, they don't sound right to me. They're also exhausting to listen to because I actually have to keep up with what's happening rather than just listen (because I can understand the words).

I'm a guy, I like musicals and I wasn't crazy about this. Oh, and there's a SPOILER at the end of this post.

It was very, very long. I don't mind a long movie, but I don't like being aware of a long movie. If I'm playing games with myself trying to guess how much longer the movie is that's not good.

My big problem was just how boring everything was shot. With the exception of "Master of the House" most everything was set the camera down, watch the actor in a close-up. On one hand, that's cool, because on stage you can't really see an actor's expressions, but in a movie you can. But...it's a movie, you can have way more scope. You can build sets you can't on stage. The opening, with all the prisoners and the ship was interesting to look at. I got really bored just staring down singers' throats. It was really effective during Anne Hathaway's song. It had an amazing effect, but after that it was boring.

The music was great, though.

All in all, my favorite part was the INSANE sound Russell Crowe made when he hit the ground at the end.

I agree that this movie was overrated. I honestly don't remember much about it. It must not of been that memorable. I had to watch it in part of my film class in high school so maybe that's why I didn't like it.

reply to post by Sunglower


I'm talking about the one that was released like two days ago.

i can never suspend my disbelief in any movie where people sing...

no one does that! it breaks all sense of flow and reality for any story i watch.

i could handle an occaisional song (like the dwarves singing in the hobbit, fantasy!) but any movie on historical or realistic styled events, who the F*** sings???

can you imagine a soldier singing during a revolution?

reply to post by SaulGoodman


Pretty much my thoughts exactly. I really enjoyed the opening sequence, it was bad ass. Probably the best part of the movie.

reply to post by incoserv


Only one character in the 25th anniversary didn't belong there, everybody else was so great that it was worth putting up with him. Actually, I would say that the 25th anniversary was my favorite.

Originally posted by Sunglower
I agree that this movie was overrated. I honestly don't remember much about it. It must not of been that memorable.

I had to watch it in part of my film class in high school so maybe that's why I didn't like it.

edit on 7-1-2013 by Sunglower because: (no reason given)

Um... What? Les Miserable the movie JUST came out, I believe you're talking about the regular musical and if so, please either culture yourself or watch it again. I think that maybe you were too young to appreciate it at that time but now may be able to get a better picture and actually see its brilliance.

reply to post by Myomistress


Les Miserables is also a novel by Victor Hugo that's been adapted in non-musical form too. It's been a made a ton of times. It's possible they watched that in their film class.

en.wikipedia.org...

Of course it kind of sucked. But you're a man, right? It should have totally sucked.

I hope you were typing that out with a half-empty bottle of Maker's Mark on your desk to try to compensate for that faux pas.

I love the book and I went into the movie expecting that it would not be good. If I love the book I always do that because a movie will always fall short from the novel in my experience. I think because my expectations were low, I found the movie to be okay. I do enjoy musicals also, which was in my favor. It was long but I didn't find it boring. I did feel it lagged in parts, which I also expected in a movie of that length.

In short, lower expectations at every chance