The word-of-mouth of "Les Miserables" suffered a Waterloo, unexpected, but reasonable.

Tom Hopper started shooting TV series, he is an excellent TV director, and his capture of actors' performances is worthy of recognition, but the scheduling of shots, the creation of atmosphere, the use of light and the extension of images and other necessary elements of the film are not his strong points.

"The King's Speech" has been hailed as the most watery work for the Oscar Best Director since the millennium, which is not groundless; similarly, "Crash" defeated "Brokeback Mountain" to win the Oscar for Best Picture has always been controversial and criticized, also because the former's TV sense is too heavy, and the director's control of the film is almost invisible.

"Les Miserables", directed by Tom Hopper, strictly follows the context and pattern of the stage play, which means that Tom's shortcomings are further magnified and completely exposed to the audience;

It's like putting multiple cameras in the Queen's Theatre, recording an all-star version of Les Misérables, and then releasing a DVD that becomes a cinematic version of the movie. Such a drama is enough to amaze and praise, but such a movie cannot make people empathize.

After the London premiere, the first reviews of "Les Miserables" ushered in a nightmare, and 14 media outlets published reviews, and the overall media evaluation was only 59 points for the time being, and it did not even fail.

In fact, such a terrible score is not the end of the world, there is only one critical review, and there is only one praise review, and the remaining twelve reviews are all bad and bad, and among the middle reviews, the scores are generally concentrated between 50 and 70 points, which leads to the average score not being able to pass.

Among the first reviews, the film review of "Empire" magazine is undoubtedly the most representative.

"Cameron Mackintosh's version of 'Les Miserables' is undoubtedly a wonderful masterpiece, with a good script, excellent characters, and excellent connotation, but Tom Hopper's problem is:

This work gathers a group of talented actors, and the wonderful performances once again give life to the characters, but it is always separated from the film itself, as if you have just enjoyed the performance of another play, but there is no texture of the film and the interpretation of the director.

What's even more terrifying is that the passage of Hopper's grasp of the details has led to a fault in the plot, and the characters have become simpler, and the original magnificent and profound theme has not only not been improved, but also weakened, and finally evolved into the current version-

A film built purely for the Oscar season, above the passing line, but there is no more. Will it win an Oscar nomination? That's a probability, but is it a good movie? The answer is yes and no. ”

"Empire" magazine gave sixty points, just passing, no less, but no more, which also represents the opinion of most film critics.

People are praising Anne Hathaway's performance, with the Wall Street Journal even declaring, "Hathaway is now ready to prepare her Oscar acceptance speech, with a stunningly stunning performance that deserves the best of her career, as well as performances by Sasha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter." ”

There was also a dent that Hugh Jackman was not given more space to perform, with Variety magazine saying, "He was completely confined to a framework, and all his talent could not be shown." In front of Lan Li-Hall's glittering version, it suddenly seemed overshadowed. It's unfair to Jackman, but it's true. And Tom Hopper is the one to blame. ”

People are still condemning Russell Crowe's terrible performance, with 10 out of 14 media outlets lashing out, "Bad singing, bad acting, bad positioning, and bad character, Crow's stiff and clumsy, stupid and boring performance completely ruined the whole character." ”

There is no doubt that among the cast members, Russell Crowe has received the most criticism, the winner of the 73rd Oscar, completely unsuitable for the performance style of the stage play, from beginning to end, he has been subjected to countless criticisms on the night of the premiere, and now it is ushered in a carnival of complaints.

It is worth mentioning that the Times wrote a special report comparing the Almeida theater version of "Les Miserables" with the film version and analyzing it in all aspects, and at the end of the article, they summed it up.

"Why was the six-hour version of the Almeida Theatre so successful, or further, why did the three-hour version of the Queen's Theatre last so long?

The reason is that they gave the most wonderful performances in the most appropriate way, full characters and solid scripts, and under the wonderful interpretation, gave Victor Hugo his own version of the original understanding and sublimation. This is the reason for their success, and at the same time the reason for the failure of the movie version.

When one mentions the six-hour version of the Théâtre de l'Almeida, one remembers every character, every detail, and even the ability to gush on and on about one's own understanding and reflections, whereas when one mentions the cinematic version, there seems to be nothing left but Fantine's 'I Had a Dream' and the Denardiers' 'The Lords of the House'.

People are debating whether Hall is better than Jackman's Jean-Jean, whether it would be a better choice for Hall to play the movie version of Marius, and whether it would be wiser for Hall to abandon the film in favor of drama.

Judging by the results so far, all the answers are yes. ”

The Times review is undoubtedly interesting and representative at the same time, and in addition to the fifty points of evaluation, they really make a side-by-side comparison of the two different versions, which also represents the mainstream view in the industry.

There is an eternal law in life, there is no harm if there is no comparison;

There is no doubt that Hugh Jackman is a well-known actor, although in the field of film, the image of Wolverine has restricted his acting path, but in the field of theater, New York, London and Melbourne and other major cities, he has left his own legend, which is recognized by industry insiders.

This time, playing the important role of Jean-Argent, Hugh once again showed his solid skills, excellent singing skills and outstanding expressiveness, all of which have also been objectively affirmed by film critics, but in comparison, there are too few breakthroughs, which can only be said to be decent.

If there is no side-by-side comparison, Hugh may have received more praise, after all, he is the most important core of the film, successfully completing his mission, but there are no ifs in real life.

Now, industry insiders generally believe that in contrast, Lan Li's performance immediately stood out, and the excellent quality shown by Hugh was all possessed by Lan Li, and further, the quality and level of Lan Li's performance presented more possibilities, especially the tension and explosiveness on the theatrical stage, which gave Jean-Argen a new vitality.

One of the most widely discussed scenes, unsurprisingly, is the highlight of "Take Him Home" – where Jean-Argent goes to the barricade to try to save Marius.

There is no need to say more about Hugh Jackman's excellence, but the fact is that his performance in this scene and this song is completely inferior, just presenting the content of the song in a straightforward manner, with no emotion, no background, no echo, dry and tasteless, and even to some extent, detached from the plot, the bland and boring performance completely loses its soul.

What's worse is that Tom Hopper's camera scheduling completely misunderstands and distorts the meaning and soul of the original song, and even the core of the theme passes inexplicably, without Marius, without Angela, without barricades, not to mention sublimation, people even begin to wonder, who should be brought home?

After the London premiere, one of the critics was so surprised and surprised that he couldn't believe his eyes, so he simply went straight to Hugh and asked what was going on in that scene, what went wrong, and why was the effect so disastrous?

Later, neither party responded to the incident, as if it had never happened. But rumors in the industry said that after hearing the problem, Hugh spread his hands and shook his head to express helplessness, "I'm sorry, I don't know what happened." His face was full of confusion, his eyes were full of regret, and he seemed powerless, "Maybe, my ability is limited." ”

No matter how good an actor is, when he encounters a mediocre director, then he is helpless. In the final analysis, in film, the actor's performance needs to be captured and presented through the director's lens, unlike on the theatrical stage, where the actor has what he or she presents.

However, Hugh is a gentlemanly and polite personality, and never likes to talk bad about others behind his back, even if he is helpless, he does not blame anyone, but modestly takes the fault on himself, thinking that his strength is still insufficient and he has failed to live up to the heavy responsibility of this scene. But the sighs and chokes between the lines are still regrettable.

In contrast, Lan Li's "Take Him Home" has been regarded as a classic and has been praised by industry professionals, and some people even believe that Lan Li has re-endowed this track with soul and faith, and the wonderful performance is definitely worth cherishing.

From the lyrics to the tune, from the figure to the eyes, from the posture to the aura, Lan Li truly shows the essence of the performance, even the most discerning critics and directors can't find faults.

It is rumored that many veteran actors of Jean Jean, including Claude-Michel-Schonberg and Alfie-Boe, have arrived at the Almeida Theater to watch Lan Li's performance, and have given quite excellent reviews.

There is no high or low art, everyone has their own understanding and their own interpretation, but the quality of the performance can be distinguished from the good and the bad, as the Times said, the answer is "yes".