For the most part, the look and feel and sound of the movie kept me in the moment, two exceptions being the blatant CGI in the opening chain gang scene and the giant fake-looking dream-barricade of the finale. A few judicious excisions of verses help propel the action, but the movie still grows exhausting; it really could use an intermission, as the stage musical is designed to have. (I'm serious: One of those old-fashioned movie intermissions with nothing but music and a pretty picture on the screen would have been welcome.)
Too, as the student-led Paris Uprising of 1832 unfolds, Hooper shoots the brief battle scenes in the fashionable quick-cut chaotic style that leaves one unsure what's happening. On the one hand, this evokes something of the real confusion of war. On the other, it can make for frustrating movie viewing.
Those are quibbles, though. My feeling is that the film will please most of the stage musical's legion of fans while providing an entertaining and at times eye-opening historical-fiction experience to Les Miz neophytes.
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