Les Misérables (2012)Movies

Too familiar from the get-go, unoriginally setting up the tensions escalating between various cultural groups, which we know will boil over later, through the eyes of a good cop’s first day on the job with a couple of less principled officers, none of whom are memorably unique. From there both major and minor plot points lack authenticity, from scenes like the circus owner yanking Issa into the lion cage (just silly) to the incendiary climax in which the kids bring the conflict to a head (contrived). What saves it is Ly’s efficient pacing and high-gloss vérité direction, which, as overzealous it can be, does a lot for the film’s scene-to-scene entertainment value. Five stars and a big ‘ol heart for the adorable lion cub.