The league of ordinary gentlemen. (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (DVD))

Member Name: giksy21

Product:	The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (DVD)
Date:	15/05/09 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: mmmmmm!

Disadvantages: Too many to mention!

Extraordinary is in the oxford English dictionary, as meaning very unusual, or remarkable. So, to use this in the title of a film is either a stroke of genius, or a big mistake. Basically, very unusual and remarkable, are at the opposite ends of the scale in terms of films.


So, what have we here? Very unusual, or remarkable?


Before we answer that, we must first break the film down into it's basic elements. Take a look at its positives, and its negatives to determine if the film is posh, or tosh.

--------------------------------- The story ------------------------------------------

In 1899, freak attacks are taking place all over the world. A bank is raided in England, by what looks like Germans. A German Zeppelin factory is destroyed by the same people, this time dressed as British soldiers. The result of these attacks, is that the world is on the verge of war. One man has planned this, and he goes by the name of the fantom.

Who can the world turn to, in such a time of need? None other than legendary hunter, Allan Quartermain (Sean Connery), who is sought out by the British goverment to lead a force of unusual heroes, to save the world. So, Quartermain goes back, to meet a mysterious man, by the name of 'm'. He meets up with Captain Nemo, an invisible thief called Skinner, Mina Harker (a vampire.), Dorian Gray (an immortal.), Dr Jekyll (and therefore Mr Hyde.), and a token yank by the name of Sawyer. Can this rag tag band of 'heroes' save the world from the evil Fantom?


--------------------------------- The positives--------------------------------------


The Story itself is not a bad one. I have seen much worse, but then again I have seen better. The characters are interesting on paper, and we have the makings of a great adventure film. The very fact that the film has Sean connery in it normally guaruntees a good show. The world renowned, and very versatile actor, can usually pull off any role. The only thing that lets his character down, is that he is meant to be playing a famous English hunter. How unfortunate that this hunter appears to be Scottish!

The unfortunate thing is, that I have had to search long and hard to find this list of positives. Basically, what we have here is a list of things that should, or could have been good about the film. Dissapointingly, they were never delivered, and what we actually get is very, very poor indeed.


----------------------------------The negatives-------------------------------------


Ok, where do I start? Firstly, the story that promised so much, was delivered to the screen in a very jumpy, and disjointed way. It becomes very hard to follow, very quickly. This is a flaw, that many films have been able to get round by delivering strong performances, and realistic and exciting action......... Oh dear! The performances of the actors in this film are dire. Even the evergreen Connery fails to impress. Instantly forgettable, they are uniformly poor. Only the invisible man should not be blushing after these abysmal performances (and thats only because we cannot see it!).

The special effects are atrocious. Near the start of the film, Quartermain's mansion gets blown up. Fire is very badly superimposed onto the building, that otherwise looks in excellent condition! Either he uses really good fire retardant paint, or the boys in the fx department are not too hot. This is one of many bad effects. The most noticeable of which, has to be the cgi used to create the 'Hyde' character. He bounds about, looking like a rather mis-shapen piece of play dough, and does not seem to affect any of his surroundings. It's like he's not actually there ( now that is sarcasm!).

The female character 'mina', seems only to be there as a token. She does nothing, except occasionally bite someone, or lick some blood in a semi-erotic way. Apart from this, the vampire character may as well not be there. Nemo is rediculous. He is acted woodenly, and has a rediculous false beard, that makes me think that he went to a joke shop two days before filming. In fact, all the characters are non-essential, bar Quartermain, and Sawyer.


---------------------------------- conclusion ----------------------------------------


The action is nonsensical, and fake. The acting is the same. And, as you can see, the negatives outweigh the positives quite drastically. This film has badly let down the 'comic book, to film', films. X-men need not be too scared by this one. Wolverine could beat it on his own, with corks stuck on the end of his claws! The film can be bought quite cheaply, but I still feel that it would be a waste of money. Do yourself a favour and avoid it.

So to answer our question, at the start. Which end of the scale do the gentlemen fall into? Certainly not remarkable, but I don't think that very unusual does it justice either. Let's just say, it is reminiscent of that brown squelch, that you get as you walk to the corner shop. The only difference is, that the stain on your shoe didn't cost you anything!

Directed by - Stephen Norrington

Produced by - Trevor Albert
Rick Benattar
Sean Connery
Mark Gordon
Don Murphy
Michael Nelson

Written by Comic Book:
Alan Moore
Kevin O'Neill

Screenplay:
James Dale Robinson

Starring - Sean Connery
Naseeruddin Shah
Peta Wilson
Tony Curran
Stuart Townsend
Shane West
Jason Flemyng
Richard Roxburgh
Max Ryan

Music by - Trevor Jones

Cinematography - Dan Laustsen

Editing by - Paul Rubell

Distributed by - 20th Century Fox

Release date(s) - 11 July 2003

Running time - 110 min

Country - United Kingdom
United States

Language - English

Budget - $78,000,000

Gross revenue - $179,265,204

Film stats sourced from the net.

Summary: dire, dire, dire.