All the complaints about actors of color playing main characters that historically would have been white are getting tedious. Has anyone seen "Hamilton?" It does the same thing, and it succeeds brilliantly. The only problem I have with the casting is that the two antagonists are played by Black and South Asian men, while the (albeit flawed) hero and romantic lead are White. Also, enough with the petty villains, like the prison guards and Madame Thenardier, having Cockney accents. The class bias is deep and pervasive, and it really gets under my skin.
That said, some good acting is wasted here because of the way Javert is written. It isn't the actor's fault, but his Javert is made to be very flat. This invention that he has a sexual attraction to/obsession with Valjean is beyond unnecessary and undermines the whole theme of the novel, the theme of slavish devotion to the word of the law over basic human decency.
I thought Lily Collins was actually very good as Fantine, sweet and strong and moving. Including the backstory of her and her lover was a good move, for me. It really underscored her heartbreak. Josh O'Connor was an interesting choice as Marius. He seemed perpetually morose, very internal. Marius in the musical is such a dull character, a real cipher. At least this one had a personality, even if it wasn't a dynamic one. Cosette got on my nerves, but then she always does.
I didn't mind Marius being attracted to Eponine. It makes sense. I haven't read the book, so if this strays from the book I can understand why it bothered some viewers, but it didn't bother me. To me it showed that Marius, who is a Bourgeois, religious young man at heart, can be attracted to Eponine but not love her. She's poor, uneducated, impure, unlike the convent-bred Cosette in her pretty clothes walking in the park with her respectable-looking father. He falls for both of them, in different ways, so the privileged Cosette gets the man and poor Eponine gets nothing but lust and a sort of respect.
The pacing is slow and uneven, which would have been OK if that had been due to character development, but it's really not. Fantine has a journey, but how could she not? So does Valjean, but he's a bit too dark for me. I don't need him to be all virtue all the time, I just didn't care for his lingering.....meanness.
I think producers need to look to new, younger, talented writers. Sorry, but sometimes it's just enough with the old white guys like Davies. I didn't see War and Peace but I understand it was not great either, so why hire him again? Let someone else take a shot at it. It's such a clubby world. Open some windows and let in some air.
That said, some good acting is wasted here because of the way Javert is written. It isn't the actor's fault, but his Javert is made to be very flat. This invention that he has a sexual attraction to/obsession with Valjean is beyond unnecessary and undermines the whole theme of the novel, the theme of slavish devotion to the word of the law over basic human decency.
I thought Lily Collins was actually very good as Fantine, sweet and strong and moving. Including the backstory of her and her lover was a good move, for me. It really underscored her heartbreak. Josh O'Connor was an interesting choice as Marius. He seemed perpetually morose, very internal. Marius in the musical is such a dull character, a real cipher. At least this one had a personality, even if it wasn't a dynamic one. Cosette got on my nerves, but then she always does.
I didn't mind Marius being attracted to Eponine. It makes sense. I haven't read the book, so if this strays from the book I can understand why it bothered some viewers, but it didn't bother me. To me it showed that Marius, who is a Bourgeois, religious young man at heart, can be attracted to Eponine but not love her. She's poor, uneducated, impure, unlike the convent-bred Cosette in her pretty clothes walking in the park with her respectable-looking father. He falls for both of them, in different ways, so the privileged Cosette gets the man and poor Eponine gets nothing but lust and a sort of respect.
The pacing is slow and uneven, which would have been OK if that had been due to character development, but it's really not. Fantine has a journey, but how could she not? So does Valjean, but he's a bit too dark for me. I don't need him to be all virtue all the time, I just didn't care for his lingering.....meanness.
I think producers need to look to new, younger, talented writers. Sorry, but sometimes it's just enough with the old white guys like Davies. I didn't see War and Peace but I understand it was not great either, so why hire him again? Let someone else take a shot at it. It's such a clubby world. Open some windows and let in some air.