Before he became the action hero we know today, Neeson was the master of playing tormented souls. His Jean Valjean isn't a singing saint; he is a desperate, physical man carrying the crushing weight of two decades of imprisonment. Neeson plays the character’s transformation with such subtle power. You can see the struggle in his eyes—the battle between the survival instincts of a convict and the conscience of a redeemed man.
Is the 1998 Les Misérables better than the musical? No. The musical has the soul of the crowd. But the Neeson version is superior in one crucial way: it understands obsession. The musical gives us the soaring lament of “Stars.” This film gives us Geoffrey Rush’s face as he sniffs the air, realizing his prey is close. les miserables movie liam neeson