Upfront I’ll admit that I like the branch of science fiction known as alternative history. So even though I haven’t read Alan Moore’s graphic novels, I was still looking forward to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. And I wasn’t disappointed–this movie was a blast.
The alternative here is that quite a few fictional heroes are real people. Except for the ones who are vampires, although there’s only one in the movie and she’s a longtime hottie, Peta Wilson. There’s Sean Connery leading the way as a very old yet still spry Alan Quartermain, Jason Flemyng as Dorian Gray (his famous portrait not only prevent shim from aging, it prevents him from being damaged or killed as well, except…), Captain Nemo, Jeckyll/Hyde, and the Invisible Man. Plus the bad guy is from one of the all time great detective series–there seems to be some effort to keep his identity underwraps as even IMDB does not properly credit him, so I won’t spoil that revelation here.
Connery is essentially the same age as my Dad (who, have no doubt, I love very much) and even though I realize that judicious editing, stunt doubles and other bits of movie magic were employed, he still kicks butt! LOL. I mean, Connery is the League member who in the end must face off with the prime villain in manual combat at the end and he gets the job done. We saw the movie with Lord B (who did not enjoy it, silly man) and he pointed out that Jeckyll/Hyde essentially serves as a primordial Hulk without the green (or the ability to leap three miles in a single bound, though that wouldn’t have been useful here anyway).
I like the work director Stephen Norrington has done, good pacing, good framing, just dark enough (though at times the action moved so quickly that the darkness got a bit in the way). James Robinson wrote a nice adaptation and compared too many bloated action films (why is The Hulk well over two hours long?), this one ends well before your ass is in pain. Watch out for a sequel, if the box office take is strong enough, as the ending certainly left that as the clear expectation.
Recommended
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