Beyond mentioning that this workmanlike version will surely see many years of duty in junior-high English classes, I have to point out a glaring mistake in the music.
The tragic march that plays over the scenes at the barricades was not written by Basil Polidouros (as though one could be unsure), but by Hector Berlioz. Nothing new in using and abusing the classics as mood music, of course, but the choice of this piece is completely muddle-headed. It is the first movement of the Funereal and Triumphal Symphony (Symphonie Funebre et Triomphale, if you want to go shopping), which was commissioned by the French government to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Paris riots of 1830, and thus falls well outside the time of our story.
If "temp track" music was needed, there is no shortage of orchestral music from all times and climes that has yet to be drained of its original meaning by being thrust into a movie. But out of all the possibilities why would someone choose from the tiny handful of works that were written about that different, much later set of barricades, also thrown up by angry Parisian youths? Because it's French? I hope the producer hands out thinking caps next time.
As for the acting, Neeson does a convincing job as a quiet and troubled Jean, Thurman is far better here than I have seen her elsewhere, Danes irritates more than slightly and Rush is positively magnetic in his coldness.
I gave it a 7 (scant).
The tragic march that plays over the scenes at the barricades was not written by Basil Polidouros (as though one could be unsure), but by Hector Berlioz. Nothing new in using and abusing the classics as mood music, of course, but the choice of this piece is completely muddle-headed. It is the first movement of the Funereal and Triumphal Symphony (Symphonie Funebre et Triomphale, if you want to go shopping), which was commissioned by the French government to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Paris riots of 1830, and thus falls well outside the time of our story.
If "temp track" music was needed, there is no shortage of orchestral music from all times and climes that has yet to be drained of its original meaning by being thrust into a movie. But out of all the possibilities why would someone choose from the tiny handful of works that were written about that different, much later set of barricades, also thrown up by angry Parisian youths? Because it's French? I hope the producer hands out thinking caps next time.
As for the acting, Neeson does a convincing job as a quiet and troubled Jean, Thurman is far better here than I have seen her elsewhere, Danes irritates more than slightly and Rush is positively magnetic in his coldness.
I gave it a 7 (scant).
