dyl’s review published on Letterboxd:
i did enjoy this. the main positives i have are the acting, the set/costumes, the cast! and ‘i dreamed a dream’ because it slaps. but this is....exhausting. reasons:
1) i get that it’s a musical okay, but some songs could have been cut. some were just filler in a 2h 30min movie! also because some were repetitive (javert) and or could be trimmed a little.
2) some of the singing was a little off. mostly it’s fine, hugh and anne are wonderful. like sure, these are actors and not singers but the singing could have been a little bit better? every time russell crowe opened his mouth i wanted nothing more than to push him off of a bridge.
2) DUTCH ANGLES. if you took a shot for every dutch angle you would die. like bitch the camerawork was in desperate need of work. this makes me so angry because there are some gorgeous and well executed shots, but then you get shaky shots or shots that hover over the actors that are not executed well at all. i do feel like this choice was to spice up the film and make it immersive at all times, but for me it just kept on pulling me out :/
3) disclaimer: this one is my fault. i put this on at 9.00pm. it’s now 12.16am when i’m typing this, so maybe watching it this late at night was a bad idea????
4) the emotional weight bitch! this is the positive side the exhaustion, and damn, i Felt Everything. that ending!!! bitch fuck!!!
after all that ^ i do want to rewatch it because i do own it & because i’m making it seem like this shit movie but i honestly really liked (most) of it!