those of you who frequently read my reviews are not likely to be surprised by the fact that i have not read victor hugo's novel les miserables . 
i don't know if a lot of people have , though i imagine many are familiar with the popular musical based on the novel . 
i haven't even seen that . 
going into this film , i had almost no knowledge of the story or its characters ( i even expected the film to be a musical ) . 
walking away from it , i'm kind of glad i had no prior experience with the material . 
writer/director bille august's film version is a straightforward , beautifully told film . 
liam neeson stars as the miserable jean valjean ; in the beginning , he has just been released from a 19-year prison sentence . 
he is allowed to stay in a convent by a kindly priest despite his rude and destructive behavior . 
the priest's words of wisdom influence him , and he makes a vow to change himself . 
nine years later , we are informed that he is now the mayor of a town called vigo ; nobody knows his real name , and that he is wanted for skipping his parole nine years ago . 
conflicts arise when inspector javert ( geoffrey rush ) is assigned to vigo . 
valjean remembers javert as one of the prison guards who constantly beat him , and javert remembers jean to be a convict . 
javert is hell-bent on upholding the law , and he does everything in his power to bring jean to justice . 
along the way , valjean meets and falls in love with a peasant woman , fantine ( uma thurman ) , and vows to take care of her daughter , cosette ( played later by claire danes ) . 
les miserables is visually a solid and often striking picture . 
the production design by anna asp is authentic and vast , and the sets don't look like sets ( they look like real towns and villages ) ; gabriella pescucci's costumes are noticeably spectacular . 
basil poledouris' soundtrack is thick and usually well-placed ( though it does get a bit heavy at times ) . 
many scenes in the film have a memorable photographic quality , such as the climax , which takes place next to a dark river in the grey obscurity of early evening . 
augusts keeps the story simple ( which i hear is a good thing , since the novel is so complex ) and easy to follow . 
he manages to develop the main characters and most of the subplots adequately . 
i was also impressed that he didn't go overboard with flash and style , which is something so many directors seem to be doing to classic stories these days ( such as baz luhrmann's vicious tragedy william shakespeare's romeo + juliet ) . 
this film feels solid and whole , and each scene has a certain amount of importance and vigor that keeps the audience interested . 
liam neeson is terrific in the main role ; neeson is the kind of actor who does solemn desperation extremely well , and valjean is certainly a man who clearly fits that adjective . 
thurman , in her small role , is very good , and proves that she has a lot of range and can perform in a very non-glamorous role such as this one . 
rush is absolutely incredible as javert ; i don't remember ever feeling so strongly about a villain as i do here ; he adds depth and complexity with subtle glances and nuances , and effortlessly makes each of his scenes intense . 
i can't be as charitable for danes , however ; though i know she is a talented actress , here she tends to overact when it might have been better to underplay the character a bit . 
les miserables is , as i've said , a solid , intelligent motion picture . 
my only complaint is that it feels a bit too easy , and perhaps too staged . 
each scene is grand and huge , and exploding with poledouris' score , but i didn't always want them to be . 
for the most part , les miserables is not a subtle or deep picture . 
it's a good movie , and tells its story well , but august tends to hand-feed us themes and scenes that would have worked better had they been more subtle . 
however , in a film this exciting and well-produced , a few minor flaws are easily overlooked .