If you listen closely, you can hear the sound of the death knell approaching. Yes, the trend of turning comic books and graphic novels into big-budget movies is slowly dying. The first nail in the coffin was the recent movie The Hulk, which was pretty darn forgettable and just strange. Making a huge dent is The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, an equally forgettable foray.
The idea, based on the graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, is intriguing: the year is 1899, and a motley crew of famed fictional characters fights evil. Some of the extraordinary gentlemen (and woman) include adventurer Allan Quatermain, the Oscar Wilde creation Dorian Gray, the Invisible Man and Mina Harker, one of Dracula's many victims. The problem with this movie is that the filmmakers' idea never pays off.
It's all about origin in the first of any comic book movie, and this film is full of it. A mysterious man named M (Moulin Rouge's Richard Roxburgh) rounds up the fictional characters to stop the evil Phantom (straight from the Opera) from starting a world war with Britain and Germany. Although some are reluctant to join at first, all of the extraordinary gentlemen and woman, also featuring Captain Nemo, Tom Sawyer (now he's a secret agent, for some reason) and Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, go to Venice to save the leaders of some European countries from getting killed.
Before we get to the main character, let's talk about the supporting cast. As Tom Sawyer, Shane West is just adequate in his part; Sawyer is meant to be mentored by Quatermain, who treats him as the son he lost years ago. This relationship is well-developed, but there's a distant, cold effect that the entire film gives the audience; this made me just not care about Sawyer's and Quatermain's relationship.
Then there are Peta Wilson and Stuart Townsend as Mina Harker and Dorian Gray, respectively. These characters are both intriguing, and have had a romantic relationship, but nothing is developed in the movie about them. As Captain Nemo, Naseeruddin Shah is as adequate as everyone else, but his character gets nothing to do but fight and yell nautical directions to his crew. Jason Flemyng's Jekyll and Hyde is just goofy. The special effects during his transformation reminded me of the transformation of Bruce Banner into the Hulk, if Play-Doh had been involved. Tony Curran, an English character actor, gets very little to do as the Invisible Man except for some comic relief.
But you're probably not interested in this movie (if at all) because of these actors. You want to know about Sean Connery. Although I read many reports of dissidence between Connery and director Stephen Norrington, it doesn't show in Connery's performance. It's nothing special, but it's not bad. The ex-James Bond does a fine job as Quatermain, painting a sympathetic portrait of a man who's had many great adventures but lost many close family members. Still, most people will only come away with the few one-liners that Connery spouts. (The No. 1 silly line is "That was naughty.")
The screenplay and direction are nothing to cry home about. Norrington seems to move his camera so fast that the audience can't tell what's going on. The special effects, which are numerous, are the biggest problem; they just look too animated and too fake to be believed. In a movie with tons of special effects, it gets boring after an hour to point out the problems in the special effects.
If The Hulk was forgettable after a few days, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is instantly forgettable. I could barely remember the movie hours after seeing it. I bet there were things I wouldn't have enjoyed, nit-picky things, but I can't remember them. The phrase "blah" comes to mind. This is simply an uninspired, boring and very (dare I say it?) ordinary movie.
Josh Spiegel is an entertainment reporter for the Web Devil. Reach him at joshua.spiegel@asu.edu.
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out of four
