The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

-20^th Century Fox (2003)

Summary:

A group of 19^th century heroes kick some major ass in Victorian times.

My Thoughts:

Maybe I'm stupid, but I like this film. I like it a lot. I'd like to pretend that everyone bashes it because it’s easy to do. I’d like to pretend that all the film critics that went to private colleges and have spent years critiquing films as opposed to my education in a state university and collecting Star Wars figures are wrong, but who knows. I think the truth of it is that I like the concept so much that I overlook the problems that the film has. I also take the perspective that it’s a fun action adventure and nothing more. In that respect I'm not disappointed.

League originally started as a comic book written by the highly talented Alan Moore. I've read the first graphic novel and the film deviates greatly from the book, but I'm not going to knock it on that since the film should stand on its own. The basic concept is that a bunch of 19^th century characters from (mostly British) literature are all thrown together in a shared universe. The idea is an English major's wet dream, but for an average film viewer that knows NOTHING about 19^th Century literature a lot of the fun of this film will be lost.

One of the complaints I've read is that the film assumes that the viewer doesn't know who any of these characters are, and that it treats the audience like stumps. Sadly to say, a lot of people don't know who half or even more of the characters are. You can blame the American educational system for that. It's hard to believe (and nothing against this person), but I watched it with a friend who had no clue who most of the characters were supposed to be.

With that in mind, I'm forced to talk about each character in case you've seen the film and don't know who they are.

The head of the League is Allan Quartermain, played by the amazingly cool Sean Connery. Quartermain is the hero of the novel King Solomon's Mines among a few others by author H. Rider Haggard. The one thing I missed from the comic book was that Quartermain is not the hero that Sean Connery portrays him as in the film. In the comic he's a drug addict and disgrace that Mina Harker has to pull from the gutter. In this film, he’s a man’s man and a hero’s hero, a role that Sean Connery is no stranger to.

Speaking of Mina Harker, she's awesome. She's Jonathan Harker's wife from the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.  In case you don't know, she's the one that Count Dracula has a crush on. League fails to explain why Mina is still a vampire, but it makes her an even cooler character. Mina was actually the leader of the group in the comic, but I guess in any film that has Sean Connery as the lead, you really can't have him taking orders from anyone else…that and the fact that Connery is one of the executive producers.

Another member of the team is The Invisible Man. The Invisible Man is not the character from the novel of the same name, but a thief who stole that character’s formula. This guy is a cool cat, and its the best Invisible Man I've seen aside from Chevy Chase's character in the highly underrated Memoirs of an Invisible Man.  One of the coolest effects in the film is when the Invisible Man gets a little too close to a flamethrower, damn that looked painful!

Dorian Gray is another character who may not be recognized by a lot of people. He comes from the novel The Portrait of Dorian Grey. Dorian is an ass in that book, and he's an ass in the film, so it works well. One of the best scenes in the film is his immortal showdown with Mina, and one of my favorites as well.

I'd hope that anyone would recognize who Tom Sawyer is, but we do live in America so you never know. One of the things I disliked about this film is the development of the father/son relationship between Tom Sawyer and Allen Quartermain. It adds a little depth to the character of Quartermain, but it seemed so distracting to the main storyline. I didn't really care how these two felt about each other. Since I would have jettisoned the whole thing, the character of Tom Sawyer seems unnecessary. The addition of Sawyer is annoying on another level, because he's only included because he's both American and young. This is another occurrence of Hollywood believing (maybe rightly so) that the audience is too stupid to dislike a film without American characters.

The provider of the team's slick rides is Captain Nemo. Nemo is from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. His ship, the Nautilus, is an amazing piece of modern technology that mixes Victorian style with modern weapons like cruise missiles. The future/past technology is cool in the movie, but the Nautilus scenes take this a little far… I mean advanced rocketry? The car seems a bit far fetched, but the rockets take it a little too far for me. I think everyone has their limits of believability with this film, and for some crazy reason mine ends at cruise missiles.

The last of the roundup is Jekyll. Out of all of the characters, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are most likely the widest known. They are of course, from the story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Dr. Jekyll is the original Hulk, and he's got the great dynamic of a man vs. his inner demons.  I don't care that much for the portrayal of the good side of Dr. Jekyll; he just seems so deadwood compared to everyone else. I couldn't really believe the torture that someone with such a huge curse would have. Mr. Hyde is depicted very well though. (I also love his big ass top hat!) The visualization of the creature as being a gigantic apish brute is great for film, but is a large step away from the source material of him just being a complete asshole.

League's biggest flaw is that the villain's plot is a little too complicated for its own good. If you don't pay very close attention you may miss what is happening. In a summer action film targeted at a certain audience this is fatal, on the small screen perhaps more forgivable. The middle seems to missing from the film somehow, it's like all of a sudden there are two big events.

The style and the design of the film is (forgive me) extraordinary. The special effects are great, but at some points you can really tell that things are CGI. The armor and costuming on the baddies is particularly good, with a different style used for the different sets of soldiers. I loved the style of the head bad guy’s army, particularly the walking flamethrower guys. The Victorian style is followed very closely for the League, and is most evident in the Nautilus.

***Spoiler Alert!***

I'm a little torn on the surprise of who the head villain is. It's a nice twist and all, but it was a bit of a letdown. The villain turns out to be Professor Moriarty, who is of course, from the Sherlock Holmes adventures. 

***End Spoiler***

I loved the whole attack in the main villain's complex, except for the scene with Quartermain and the tiger before the League goes in. It was over obvious symbolism and detracted from the story rather than added to it.

The ending also left the possibility open of a sequel featuring the entire cast, but since the film was received so poorly I'm not going to hold my breath for an X-Men 2 type of high quality film. Overall this is a good movie, despite what many may want to say. If you watch it with the right mind frame as a fun action movie with a cool twist, then you shouldn't be disappointed.

Extras:

The version I've reviewed is the, "Less extras is cheaper" edition. There's a two disc version that's available that will be reviewed if I manage to come across it. This version's extras are comparable to a lot of other DVDs, there's enough to keep you satisfied, but not all that there could be.

"Assembling the League" is my favorite part of the extras. It's a collection of short featurettes that cover the behind the scenes making of the film. There's a lot of great stuff here including a statement by Sean Connery that he was offered roles in both The Matrix and Lord of the Rings, but turned them down because he couldn't understand them. This is coming from the same guy that made Zardoz, mind you.

There are a whole bunch of deleted scenes on the disc, but unfortunately they aren't all that great. I love deleted scenes because they preserve the extra part of the film you don't get to see, but it's a huge letdown when they all kind of suck.

One of the strangest inclusions in the special features section is called, "A Special Message." It's a short commercial advertising the dangers of Marijuana. Why is this here? Do potheads love action movies with 19^th century characters in them? I really don't understand the need, nor do I think it will compel someone to quit smoking dope.

There are two sets of commentaries on the DVD. The first has a couple of the producers and a couple of the actors. It's too bad that Sean Connery or director Stephen Norrington couldn't make it, but I'll live. It's a good commentary to watch, and it's worth it just to hear the golfing story with Sean Connery. The only downside to this commentary is that Don Murphy is the biggest nerd on Earth and he has an ultra annoying nerd voice. One of the greatest things old Don brings to the table though, are several explanations for the critics of the film. I love his idea that the film is a fantasy, and not a documentary so you should basically get over it.

The other commentary is a more "behind the scenes" type commentary with some production people.  It's nice when they share the limelight a little with the people who form the backbone of a film. I like it, but it’s also hard for me to sit and listen about costumes for over an hour.

Score:

Film:  8.5

Extras: 7.0

Edition: 7.0

-Paul