Regarding Les Miserables:MovieBob said:Worst Movies of 2012
See which movies MovieBob branded as the worst films of 2012.
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There's a fundamental issue here, and it's that most of your criticism is aimed at the story itself. For that, we must blame Victor Hugo. And to do that, you'd have to go way back in time... to a different place in literature. The whole story borders on allegorical, so of course Javert seems like "the only cop in France." He's meant to represent that entire way of thinking. Each character is basically an archetype. Good writing? Bad writing? Hard to say... but also irrelevant.
The other problem that stems from the fundamental issue is that this is not "a movie adaptation of the story of Les Miserables." It's a movie adaptation of the musical Les Miserables. As such, it's not designed to showcase the story, but to showcase the songs (which, on their own, can do a wonderful job of capturing the emotion of the story).
Soooo, yeah, I get it. You're in the unfortunate position of having to criticize this as a film, when that only tells half the story. But realizing that might have been enough for you to save that spot for another, more deserving "worst film."
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Also, complete agreement that Russell Crowe was poorly cast. It's obvious to everyone, except whoever cast him. Biggest mistake of the movie.
Second biggest? Keeping the camera planted squarely up the nose of every singer, rather than using the wonderful medium of cinema to show what can't be shown on stage. But again, this comes back to a misunderstanding of what the film is: It's not showcasing the story, it's showcasing the (very deserving) music.
And Anne Hathaway needs something gold for bringing more life to "I Dreamed a Dream" than any previous singer.