Ethan Savel ’14, Staff Writer

Adapted from the stage musical, the Les Miserables feature film begins instantly as prisoners heave on giant ropes pulling in a massive ship.  They sing with each pull, and it’s here where we first meet Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), head shaven and scarred.  He was sentenced to nineteen years of prison for stealing a single loaf of bread, but now his sentence is coming to an end.  Yet, a strict parole has been established, limiting his freedom under the watchful eye of inspector Javert (Russell Crowe).

The opening moments take place in the year 1815, and the film covers the next 33 years as the public takes rebellious political action, an ex-con and ex-mayor becomes a father, and a young girl falls in love.  Fans of the stage musical will love all one hundred fifty-seven minutes of this film, where hardly a word is spoken without being sung.  The words that are sung are fairly well done, with seasoned veterans Jackman, Anne Hathaway (playing the role of Fantine), and Samantha Barks (playing the role of Éponine), doing their best to keep this lackluster story moving forward with their voice.  Sadly, Russell Crowe proves to be the worst singer of the group and detracts from the rest of the cast’s performances.

Les Miserables is fantastic for its first sixty minutes, with the emotional investment rising with every turn in the story.  We see Valjean transforming from a convict to a mayor to an adoptive father in a mere hour.  We are also introduced to Hathaway’s Fantine, who resorts to any means necessary to provide for her daughter, Cosette.  Hathaway has since garnered major Academy Awards buzz for her performance, and it is truly deserved.  Her performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” really showed off her immense acting and musical talents, and Tom Hooper’s close-up direction really highlighted the emotional vitality of this song.

This movie plummets in quality and entertainment after Valjean takes Cosette from her adoptive parents, and we do not get to see anymore of Fantine. From here the story jumps forward in time again.  Nine years have passed and we are introduced to 1832 Paris.  Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) is all grown up, Javert is still on the hunt for Valjean, and we meet a slew of new characters like the rebel Marius (Eddie Redmayne), and Epinonie, the daughter of the innkeepers (Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter), who cared for Cosette before Valjean adopted her.  It is here that the film begins to fall apart.

Les Miserables reaches such a climax with Hathaway’s show-stopping performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” that simply nothing that comes afterwards can live up to its excellence.  Barks’ performance of “On My Own” is the only part of the second half that stands out and excites.

Hooper’s handling of such a massive story is a mixed bag of tightly woven storytelling in the first half to dry, dull and tiring in the second. Perhaps that’s just the nature of the story, but everything about the introduction of Marius and all that leads up to the rebellion felt clunky, ill-conceived, and unrealistic. The love between Cosette and Marius is supposed to blossom out of thin air and there is no relationship background.  I could watch the first hour of this film over again, but once Cosette grows old, Les Miserables grows old and in my opinion, not worth watching.