n the final year of the 19th century, war looms on the horizon. England and Germany have both been attacked, each blaming the other for the aggression. And should their angry words turn to bellicose deeds, the entire world could be swept up in the conflict.
In order to stop this world war before it starts, a man known only as M (Roxburgh) assembles (with some difficulty) under the flag of the British Empire the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a team of incredible individuals whose gifts are as amazing as their pasts are troubled.
Allan Quatermain (Connery) is Britain's greatest colonial adventurer, but must be coaxed out of his retirement-cum-exile in the wilds of Africa after so many years of loss in the name of queen and country. Captain Nemo (Shah)—whose giant submersible ship, the Nautilus, cuts across the seven seas like a sword—is a technological genius, formidable warrior and colonial rebel. Mina Harker (Wilson), once nothing more than a simple schoolteacher married to a simple businessman, is now a vampire after an affair involving the creature known as Dracula. Rodney Skinner (Curran), a self-proclaimed "gentleman thief," is blessed with the curse of invisibility after stealing and imbibing a miraculous potion from a troubled scientist who met an unpleasant end. Dorian Gray (Townsend) is an aloof yet seductive
man who remains immortal while his portrait ages. Dr. Henry Jekyll (Flemyng) is a meek and reasonable enough fellow, but his alter ego, Edward Hyde, is as brutal as he is bestial. And then there's the bold and brash Agent Sawyer, a representative of America's newly formed Secret Service, who's been sent to England to help with the League's cause.
Once assembled, this rogues' gallery becomes a team of heroes, off to pursue a figure called the Fantom, who M says has a host of weapons of great destruction at his disposal and is behind the instigations to war. But aboard the Nautilus, as the group journeys to Venice—where they've learned the Fantom is planning on bombing a conference of world leaders—personalities are clashing, passions flaring and it appears there's a traitor in their midst! Will all this undo the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen before they can save the world from itself?
Yesterday's X-Men in a
league of their own
Based on the comic-book miniseries by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, this cinematic League of Extraordinary Gentlemen stays true enough to the source material to capture some of the spirit and tone of the comic, but the blockbuster-ification of this story gives it some new facets and takes away others. The final product, though interesting and exciting in a number of ways, isn't quite extraordinary.
As with the comic, the film's premise is a fascinating and somewhat heady alchemical mix—take a number of 19th-century (pulpish) literary characters, put them together as a problematic proto-superhero team, deconstruct them a bit, throw in a fistful of steampunk, and then tell a story that takes on (among other things) the Industrial Age (in all its grimy grandeur) and Victorian empire (with all its societal flaws).
Director Stephen Norrington's League does the trick in many ways, or at a number of points, but, as the film gets into its later acts it becomes fairly apparent that this complex story had a lot, too much, cut out of it. The result is some awkward pacing and some underdeveloped ideas and relationships.
Much of what's there, however, can be pretty spectacular. All the actors playing the League members provide rather rich and intriguing performances. Connery as Quatermain is of course marvelous casting in many ways, though the buddy-buddy/father-son relationship that develops between the adventurer and Sawyer (with which West does a decent job, considering his character's a bit dodgy to begin with) can be somewhat threadbare and hokey at times.
There are some well-executed digital effects in the film, complemented by a hefty amount of detailed models and stellar real-world set design, though for every cool invisible-man moment there's at least one clunky Hyde moment, Norrington opting to make the character a largely non-CG affair. Overall, however, a great portion of the appeal of this film is its incredible look—from the splendid costumes to the magnificent and fantastical Nautilus. Another great portion is comprised of some incredible action sequences, some of which are so intense and frenetic they approach being overwhelming.
More than a curiosity but falling somewhat shy of its potential, this League is both as rich and as flawed, perhaps, as its "heroes."
