DVD & Blu-ray review: Les Misérables (12)

Tom Hooper (158mins)

The arduous Fantine scenes – tooth extractions, hair removal and worse – are like being pummelled with a stale baguette in Tom Hooper's bombastic, sometimes breathtaking adaptation of the stage musical.

It's not entirely clear what copper Javert's boeuf is with ex-con Jean Valjean but he certainly makes his life a misery over the course of this fiercely religious spectacle. The tunes are dreary and haranguing, but you can't fault the commitment of Hugh Jackman as repentant sinner Valjean and Anne Hathaway, in particular, as tortured Fantine.