The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, or LXG, brings together seven literary "heroes" of the 19th Century to defend the English Empire from a terrorist bent on starting a world war. The movie turns out to be a solid effort with some twists and turns. If you like a fun action movie and don't mind corny puns, then go ahead and see this movie.
Warning: Contains spoilers!
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is based on a series of graphic novels by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill.
LXG joins together seven characters derived from other literary works set in and around the late 19th century. This group is brought together by a British Secret Service agent named M. The main character is H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quartermain, played by Sean Connery. Quartermain is known as a sharp hunter who discovered King Solomon's Mines. The next member is Jules Verne's Captain Nemo, played by Naseerudin Shah. Nemo is known as the ruthless captain of the Nautilus. Next appeared Bram Stoker's Wilhelmina Harker, played by Peta Wilson. Harker was attacked by Stoker's Dracula and now is a vampire herself. Next character is based on H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man, played by Tony Curran. The actual character name is Rodney Skinner, who stole the formula before the original Invisible Man died. The next character is Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Henry Jeckyll, played by Jason Flemyng. Of course, he turns into the monstrous Mr. Hyde when he consumes his secret formula. The next character is America's contribution, which is Detective Tom Sawyer, played by Shane West. Where most other characters have one ability or quality that stands out, Sawyer seems to be an understudy to Quartermain. Finally, the last character we meet is Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray, played by Stuart Townsend. Gray sold his soul to the Devil for everlasting youth in exchange a picture of Gray grows older. Now that the characters are introduced, we can get on with the story!
LXG was formed to save the British Empire and indeed the world from a war that pitted each nation against each other: a world war. The villian, named the Fantom, is a gun dealer who would profit from a world war. The seven travel to Venice, Italy via the Nautilus to save a meeting of Europe's leaders, who have convened to discuss peace.
In completing the mission in Venice, LXG finds that one of it's members, Dorian Gray has turned against them and joined with M, who is actually Sherlock Holmes' arch-villian Professor James Moriarty. Just a sidenote, how could they put Professor Moriarty in the movie and not have Holmes in it himself?
The rest of the LXG hunts down Gray and Moriarty in their lair in Mongolia. Moriarty and Gray both get their due but in the process, Quartermain meets an untimely end.
The story itself was interesting but not necessarily executed correctly. The ction scenes weren't of Matrix quality, but they were solid. The characters are developed by showing their weaknesses, for example, the Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde compulsion and Quartermain's inability to get over his son's death.
The main problem I saw was the dialogue. The first hour of the movie was who could make the most/worst puns of the movie. By the way, Connery's character did with his "The Fantom?...How operatic" line.
I give the movie two stars of four, but would be two and a half without the corny dialogue. This movie would be a good one to wait for on cable.
Posted by Simkin at July 17, 2003 06:08 PM | TrackBack