Les Misérables (1998)

For the people wondering like i did, this is not a musical version, Liam Neeson is not on a stage running around singing with his arms in the air with Uma Thurman "La La La*. It's a serious Period Drama, a love story. With solid Performances from all the Cast. Uma Thurman's excellent as always, as well as Geoffrey Rush playing the bad guy which you could really dislike which shows how good he is. Claire Danes looks awesome, really sexy in the old like fashion get up, really fit. & A good performance by Liam Neeson, Definitely one of his better films. As for Epic Action, there is a bit near the end, not massive amounts, but enough for me at least to be contented with, if you like older based films for action, this wont be for you, but it is a good epic tale of love, honor and obsession.

Fmovies: With no doubt this movie is an utopia. Never ever in my life I have been so mesmerized by a movie in the way this one did to me. This is the movie of my life, a masterpiece, a perfect movie that warms your hearth and changes you as a person if you allow it. In a good manner. This movie also made me read the books. I love this story so much that I will build myself with patience and even go to see the new musical, for which I don't have the high expectations everyone has right now but I'm not going to criticize either. I will go for the story. For the wonderful story of Jean Valijean and Javert. I don't care about the differences. There are always going to be differences, between a movie and a book, but that doesn't matter. The message matters. The message that carries what we all should do more in our life: be a better person than others, be able to forgive and give up hating. This is what really matters and a true "Les miserables" fan will notice and follow that. As for the cast I have no words. Liam Neeson IS Jean Valijean! He's the perfect Jean Valijean that the world will have on screen, no matter what some others say. Geoffrey Rush IS the one and only Javert. He IS and WILL always be the one and only person that could portray the fanatic, perfectionist and twisted Javert. He is the only person by now that could pull all this emotions together and give this perfect performance. If the Academy Awards wouldn't have been so blind at the edition and toss around the Oscars with no sense as they did and would have notice more carefully the wonderful performance of those two the Oscars would have been now at their rightfully owners. But I don't care. For me and for others as well they are the best from that year. Not "Elizabeth", NOT "Shakespeare in love", THIS! Uma Thurman and Claire Danes are the most talented (especially Danes) Fantine and Cosette. Claire Danes will always be Cosette for me. She was the most sweet person in the movie. With the most beautiful eyes as well. The score was perfect especially at the Revolution scene. Very powerful.

Watch it people. If you care about good movies watch it as soon as you read this! Otherwise you live in vain.

10* PERFECTION!

If you love the book, then you won't like the movie. You may notice that other people have noted this film as awful and stupid. All of their judgment is based on the fact that the film is not like the book. However, if you will watch the movie for what it is, NOT what the book is, you may find it is a WONDERFUL movie. The soundtrack is beautiful, the acting is great, and the message is heart-warming. I don't remember seeing such a fine drama in all my life. Not to be biased or discriminating, but if you are of the Christian faith, this movie is 10 times better. It is VERY good, even if it's different from the book. It is one of my favorite films.

Les Misérables fmovies. It is not possible to make a movie out of this marathon Victor Hugo novel (the original version I borrowed from library got around thousand pages and I had to settle for an abridged one) without leaving out some good portions. It is only to see what portions are left out and what are stressed. That depends on the director's or screenwriter's judgement. See Dumas' "Count of Monte Cristo" and you'll know what I'm talking about. That movie seemed to be based upon an already abridged version at the first place... such incoherent it was. What audience would appreciate is about making a good film, not following every bits of novel little by little. And that is why "Les Misérables" is a good film. It showed excellently what it showed. What is left out is left out, be it some characters that has no major relation to what the director thought to be the main story or some solitary incidents however interesting they might be.

It's got a nice star-studded cast. Geoffrey Rush is magnificent as Inspector Javert. If I am to stress one aspect of his totally excellent acting it would be his accent. I just loved it. Rush brought that vintage English accent instead of the expected French accent, that's I think became more suitable. Liam Neeson is an acting genius and I would place this one perhaps as his third best, behind "Schindler's List" and "Michael Collins" of course. He is definitely the obvious choice for such type of lead roles. The two main young characters of the film are played nicely by Claire Danes and Hans Matheson. Danes acted up to the standard of this film's allover acting level, which is quite good. Although somehow I feel Uma Thurman is a poor choice for Fantine. Her acting was not up to that level.

There are around 15-odd screen versions of Les Misérables including TV movies etc. The French production of 1982 by Robert Hossein was good and was definitely longer and more detailed than this. Many would disagree but I think this one by Bille August is better than that. Call it vulgar Hollywoodisation of old classics but still it's a worthy film on its own right, perhaps due to superb casting.

Even though there was no singing in the movie-version, This was my favorite. The film followed the Victor Hugo novel quite well with outstanding performances by Uma Thurman (Fantine) and especially Liam Neeson (Jean Valjean) I was moved to tears numerous times as I watched the story of a convicted felon who served serious time for stealing a loaf of bread and later becomes a mayor of a small town. He is suspected of being a former prisoner by the inspector Javert. With the confusion of the French rebellion and Valjean's adopted daughter Cosette's love, Javert realizes that he cannot kill Valjean, a man that saved his life. Javert's decision in the ending is powerful(although I will not give it away) this movie is excellent, and tear-jerking. this is a beautiful classic.

One could make the snobbish mistake and try to evaluate this movie in comparison to the book, play, or musical. If one were to see the movie as it is, a well acted and directed tale of love, betrayal and passion, then one would NEVER be dissapointed. Liam Neeson IS Jean Valjean, Geoffrey Rush IS the maniacal Javer. Paris IS the city for lovers and broken dreams. This is a movie that sweeps the cobwebs out of your heart and MAKES you feel empathy and warmth for the characters. You want to see them happy and experience some sort of peace in their world. This is a movie that one thinks about for years. A true gem.