League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie review
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League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
(2003)
This movie’s been getting a lot of bad press, from difficulties with the director to complaints about the casting and the supposed changes from the source material. Personally I think its worst misstep was being scheduled to come out opposite Pirates of the Caribbean, which looked stronger and had the House of Disney money and ad campaign backing it up. League, as most of you know, is adopted from a comic book, an admittedly excellent idea to round up a bunch of 19th century literary heroes and throw them together in a rousing story. Though there were some changes from the original line-up, the movie still throws together some very disparate characters, from Quartermain (Sean Connery) to Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah) to vampire Mina Harker (Peta Wilson) to the Invisible Man (Tony Curran). Also tagging along for the journey are Dorian Gray (Stuart Townshend), Dr. Jekyll (Jason Flemyng), and today’s Tom Sawyer (Shane West), who now works for the U.S. Gov’t. The group is assembled in London with the purpose of stopping international madman The Phantom, who is using advanced technology to set the nations of Europe at each other’s throats. After determining where his next strike will be, the band sets out on Nemo’s Nautilus submarine to try and prevent World War One. It’s obvious watching this film that the direction was weak, or at least severely lacking, While several of the actors give good performances, there’s never an attempt to bring them together into a cohesive whole or lend any unity to them. Instead of a group effort, we get a lot of individual performances that rarely feel connected. Luckily, most of them aren’t bad, or at least nowhere near as bad as you would expect given the character concepts and casting. Connery is still Connery. He might be ol d (and they mention that in the script), but he’s still got verve and he’s still a likable guy. He can still play the hero and he’s very good here as the gruff Quartermain. He’s the center of the film and that helps, because the next most active Gentleman is Nemo, and Nemo’s a mess. The Nautilus seems to be about a mile and a half long, and her crew, including her captain, all hail from India now. Nemo’s acting is all over the place – sometimes understated, sometimes loud – and he usually comes off flat and unappealing. Certainly he’s the weakest link. Shane West should have been annoying as Tom Sawyer, but he’s actually okay. That he spends most of his time playing surrogate son to Connery doesn’t hurt his role or performance, but he does acceptably. The same with Tony Curran; his Invisible Man is largely a special effect (and, ha ha, disappears midway through the film), but he’s still reasonably good. Stuart Townshend lends as aristocratic, smug air to Dorian Gray that felt right at home on a man who’s supposed to be centuries old. Gray isn’t supposed to be your best friend, and here, he isn’t. But he’s textured enough to make him interesting. Flemyng’s Jekyll is largely a neurotic mess, but I was quite surprised at how well Hyde was realized and played (Hyde is completely CGI, but you almost wouldn’t know it). Lastly, and a BIG surprise, Peta Wilson is actually good as Mina Harker. Harker is both mysterious and remote but also dangerous, and Wilson manages to imbue her with a subtle layer of menace. I was almost shocked by this, but Harker is quite good, probably second only to Quartermain. This is more of a pulp film than a modern action film. The bad guy has a huge lair and tons
of scientists and all of that, and he has turn of the century techno gadgets that challenge the ingenuity of our heroes even while mimicking their powers. In fact the film would have felt right at home being set in the 30s, though that obviously would have caused problems with the characters involved. It’s not a great film and at times it fails to come together (most notably anything to do with Nemo). There are holes here and there, and a few of them jerk you right out of the film. But overall I was pleasantly surprised how entertaining this film was. For the most part it’s a rolli cking adventure that admittedly takes its setting lightly but has fun with it. Some tighter direction and better casting with Nemo might have made this into a solid adventure film; as it is, it’s not bad at all (it helps a bit that the score is incredible, probably the best I’ve heard all summer). League is going to get a lot of badmouthing, probably, but in my mind it’s mostly undeserved. This is a film certainly worth catching on matinee, and definitely worth a discounted ticket at a second run theater (which, sadly, it will probably be flocking to all too soon). 13 July 2003
(2003)
This movie’s been getting a lot of bad press, from difficulties with the director to complaints about the casting and the supposed changes from the source material. Personally I think its worst misstep was being scheduled to come out opposite Pirates of the Caribbean, which looked stronger and had the House of Disney money and ad campaign backing it up. League, as most of you know, is adopted from a comic book, an admittedly excellent idea to round up a bunch of 19th century literary heroes and throw them together in a rousing story. Though there were some changes from the original line-up, the movie still throws together some very disparate characters, from Quartermain (Sean Connery) to Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah) to vampire Mina Harker (Peta Wilson) to the Invisible Man (Tony Curran). Also tagging along for the journey are Dorian Gray (Stuart Townshend), Dr. Jekyll (Jason Flemyng), and today’s Tom Sawyer (Shane West), who now works for the U.S. Gov’t. The group is assembled in London with the purpose of stopping international madman The Phantom, who is using advanced technology to set the nations of Europe at each other’s throats. After determining where his next strike will be, the band sets out on Nemo’s Nautilus submarine to try and prevent World War One. It’s obvious watching this film that the direction was weak, or at least severely lacking, While several of the actors give good performances, there’s never an attempt to bring them together into a cohesive whole or lend any unity to them. Instead of a group effort, we get a lot of individual performances that rarely feel connected. Luckily, most of them aren’t bad, or at least nowhere near as bad as you would expect given the character concepts and casting. Connery is still Connery. He might be ol d (and they mention that in the script), but he’s still got verve and he’s still a likable guy. He can still play the hero and he’s very good here as the gruff Quartermain. He’s the center of the film and that helps, because the next most active Gentleman is Nemo, and Nemo’s a mess. The Nautilus seems to be about a mile and a half long, and her crew, including her captain, all hail from India now. Nemo’s acting is all over the place – sometimes understated, sometimes loud – and he usually comes off flat and unappealing. Certainly he’s the weakest link. Shane West should have been annoying as Tom Sawyer, but he’s actually okay. That he spends most of his time playing surrogate son to Connery doesn’t hurt his role or performance, but he does acceptably. The same with Tony Curran; his Invisible Man is largely a special effect (and, ha ha, disappears midway through the film), but he’s still reasonably good. Stuart Townshend lends as aristocratic, smug air to Dorian Gray that felt right at home on a man who’s supposed to be centuries old. Gray isn’t supposed to be your best friend, and here, he isn’t. But he’s textured enough to make him interesting. Flemyng’s Jekyll is largely a neurotic mess, but I was quite surprised at how well Hyde was realized and played (Hyde is completely CGI, but you almost wouldn’t know it). Lastly, and a BIG surprise, Peta Wilson is actually good as Mina Harker. Harker is both mysterious and remote but also dangerous, and Wilson manages to imbue her with a subtle layer of menace. I was almost shocked by this, but Harker is quite good, probably second only to Quartermain. This is more of a pulp film than a modern action film. The bad guy has a huge lair and tons
of scientists and all of that, and he has turn of the century techno gadgets that challenge the ingenuity of our heroes even while mimicking their powers. In fact the film would have felt right at home being set in the 30s, though that obviously would have caused problems with the characters involved. It’s not a great film and at times it fails to come together (most notably anything to do with Nemo). There are holes here and there, and a few of them jerk you right out of the film. But overall I was pleasantly surprised how entertaining this film was. For the most part it’s a rolli cking adventure that admittedly takes its setting lightly but has fun with it. Some tighter direction and better casting with Nemo might have made this into a solid adventure film; as it is, it’s not bad at all (it helps a bit that the score is incredible, probably the best I’ve heard all summer). League is going to get a lot of badmouthing, probably, but in my mind it’s mostly undeserved. This is a film certainly worth catching on matinee, and definitely worth a discounted ticket at a second run theater (which, sadly, it will probably be flocking to all too soon). 13 July 2003
