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 he biggest problem with "The League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen" (or "LXG" as the promos call it) is that it doesn't
offer anything new. Oh sure, the story takes place in 1899, and all of the
gadgets on display are "antique" versions of what we're used to
seeing, but this only adds marginally to the entertainment quotient of the movie
as a whole. Although I will admit that seeing Sean Connery, now in his '70s,
throwing punches with the best of them is a hoot. But still, for the duration of
its running length, "LXG" is a bit of a mess; it's little more than 2
major set pieces book ending minor scuffles that breaks out inexplicably every
now and then to keep the target audience -- the same people that flocked to
"X-Men 2" and
"Daredevil"
-- from being completely bored.
I must confess to having only read two issues of the comic
book mini-series from which the movie is based. And even then, I've only read
two issues from the second series, the one involving the invasion of
Earth by Martians ala War of the Worlds. So my understanding of the league as
comic book version is minimal. With that in mind, "LXG" is based on
the comic book series by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, who decided to gather up
all of their favorite Victorian-era literary characters and set them in a
parallel universe as a sort of League of Superheroes.
And so we have the aging Allan Quartermain (Sean Connery),
the famous adventurer who has since quit the adventuring business after the
death of his son. There's the Indian Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah, "Monsoon
Wedding"), the brilliant inventor. Mina Harker (Peta Wilson), last seen
in that scuffle with Dracula, is the league's only female member; and oh yeah,
she's also a vampire. The rest of the cast includes Tony Curran as the Invisible
Man, Stuart Townsend ("Queen
of the Damned") as the immortal Dorian Gray, Jason Flemyng ("Below")
as the human half of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and finally Shane West ("A
Walk to Remember") as American Secret Service agent Tom Sawyer. Their
mission: stop the mysterious Phantom from starting a world war between England
and Germany in order to cash in by selling never-before-seen weapons to both
sides.
As a movie, "LXG" isn't much of one. There's only
about 20 minutes where nothing is exploding. That lull takes place onboard
Nemo's super duper ship, the Nautilus, which looks like a nuclear submarine
covered in white ivory. For about 20 minutes we learn the characters' various
backgrounds and the fact that not all of them are completely trustworthy,
setting the stage for a traitor among the ranks. But of course all of that goes
out the window once the bullets start flying. And bullets fly a lot in this
movie -- except they never seem to hit anyone. "LXG" has the
destruction power of an "R" rated movie, but lacks the gumption to
show much of anything that might result from, say, 50 buildings in a heavily
populated city toppling over like dominos.
The film's best character, not surprisingly, is Sean
Connery's Allan Quartermain. The screenplay makes great use of Quartermain's age
(as well as the age of the actor playing him). On more than one occasion
world-famous adventurer Quartermain has to take the time to fish out his glasses
in order to shoot his prey. In one scene, Quartermain is forced to walk down
some stairs and you can see the character (and the actor) start to tire, as the
staircase seems to keep going on and on and on. Quartermain's brief interactions
with Shane West's brash Tom Sawyer is also worthwhile, and by movie's end
Quartermain has effectively passed the torch to the new breed of adventurer as
epitomized by the devil-may-care Sawyer.
There are other minor joys to be gleaned from
"LXG" if you pay attention and have a passing knowledge of literature.
Writer James Robinson ("Comic
Book Villains") has made a concerted effort to include as much as he
can, and they're all worth some chuckles. Even the movie's villain, who is
revealed to be someone unexpected, gets his identity from another famous
Victorian-age character. (Let's just say that Sherlock Holmes would be shocked.)
Mina Harker's transformation from mild-mannered lady to a chemist/vampire is
also an intriguing change from her comic book roots. The alteration for the
Harker character, as well as many alterations from comic book to movie, was
obviously made to favor the action scenes rather than thoughtful analysis and
response, as the comic books were known for.
There's very little chance that there will be a "LXG
2" considering the movie's poor showing at the box office. A giant movie
like this, with its massive budget, requires an equally large box office return.
As of this review, "LXG" has become something of a dud, so that means
the film's hint as to the storyline of a possible sequel -- the invasion of
Earth by Martians -- will only be for those familiar with the comic book. It's
too bad, because while "LXG" isn't the best comic book movie of the
summer, it was at least just as good as the first "X-Men",
which was massively improved upon by its sequel. I guess we'll never know.
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