- From the first crescendo of the overture, a combination of rumbling voices and stunning visuals of sublime waves, until the final resonating note, there were persistent tears in my tears. I cannot remember the last time I've experienced the sensation of goosebumps in a cinema.
- Russell Crowe's Javert was a weak link. He was too portly and his voice too bulbous. Perhaps it is my preconceived mental image of him or my close familiarity with the Original London Cast Recording that makes me feel Crowe's portrayal was somewhat two-dimensional. He lacked the fanaticism, the dogged tenacity driven by self-righteousness and the tunnel-vision supported by his narrow sense of morality. He should be on par with Valjean in grit and elicit a comparable level of pathos (although of a different kind) from the audience at the moment of their deaths but that just wasn't the case.
- The film adaptation seemed too fast, with an accelerated sense of rhythm that does a disservice to the movie overall. The constant procession of songs works well in a staged production context but it felt noticeably relentless in film as the use of camera cuts invariably projects a jump in time, even if the action itself is continuous. There was simply no time for the audience to rest their eyes and ears. The long duration shots used in the renditions of I Dreamed a Dream and On My Own are exceptional because they allow for the film to slow down to a kind of "real time," in contrast to most of the film. I also felt there was a little bit of over-orchestration. The use of simpler musical arrangements at parts or even longer stretches of silence between scenes may add to the texture of the film whose rich vocabulary already includes expertly timed snippets of unsung dialogue, overwhelming choruses, layered multi-perspective harmonies and a cappella vocals (there's no denying the aching poignancy of Empty Chairs At Empty Tables).
- Master and Mistress of the House (played by Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter respectively) were perfectly cast. Their, let's say, eccentricities were underplayed in all the right ways; it's black humour that offers the most fleeting of reliefs.
- The final scene was a miss. There were barely any shots of the characters-who-are-now-with-God all together; there were only isolated shots of them on different parts of the allegorical-barricade. The final visual image before it to snapped to black and the credits was disappointing compositionally. While "iconic" isn't what I'm yearning for in that last image, but memorable would be nice.
- The "in-camera" recording of the singing made the film very immersive and while I had reservations going in, they were very quickly dispelled.
- All that being said, it's a very, very solid movie with wonderful performances by all (admittedly, Crowe had a few moments of glory as well).
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