In preparation to write this review we spoke to as many people as we could who had seen the film to canvas popular opinion as well as personal.

All we can say is that you should be wary of the reviews that are being thrown around saying that this is one of the best films ever. It isn’t. In fact, we haven’t found anyone that claimed to have REALLY enjoyed it.

Perhaps we at FAULT live in a world full of musical hating duds or else, more likely, the buzz surrounding Les Misérables is just artificial, Award season hysteria. On a personal note, this reviewer found Tom Hooper’s latest film to be good. Not great – and certainly not extraordinary – but good. A strong three-out-of-five star movie.

Hugh Jackman is great as our hero, Jean Valjean, but is not helped by a rushed first twenty minutes which destroys the emotion of his situation. Russell Crowe is not much of a singer but fills the screen as any movie star should.

FAULT Favourite Anne Hathaway is a delight, and extremely impressive, although it is difficult to believe for a second that she is a single mother/French peasant.

Overall, this is a fun film that does not stand up to much scrutiny. It is far too long and has clearly been helped by some seriously misguided critical hype.

Les Misérables opens in theatres throughout the UK on Friday 11th January

Review by Peregrine Kitchener-Fellowes