The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

1899 and a mysterious madman known as The Fantom is intent on driving the nations of the world to war so he can make an enormous amount of money selling his high-tech weapons to the highest bidder. The British Government have uncovered his plot however and charged M (Roxburgh) with putting together a team to combat this menace to world peace. Led by legendary adventurer Allan Quatermain (Connery) together with vampire Mina Harker (Wilson), the invisible Rodney Skinner (Curran), immortal Dorian Grey (Townsend), secret agent Tom Sawyer (West), Captain Nemo (Shah) and the split personality of Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde (Flemyng) , the group form The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

The glut of comic book to movie adaptations continues but the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is slightly different to your usual spandex wearing superhero fare.

Based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, The League is made up of Victorian literary heroes battling evil at the end of the 19th century. A very intriguing premise indeed. The idea of bringing together the likes of Allan Quatermain, The Invisible Man, Captain Nemo and other famous characters of the time should have been cinematic gold but The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen seems to lack the potential it really had.

Now whether this was down to the rumoured tension on the set between star Sean Connery and director Stephen Norrington or pressure and interference from 20th Century Fox to produce another marketing gold mine like its X-Men franchise, we will never know because which ever it was, the movie suffers for it.

There is no denying that the film looks spectacular. 19th Century London and Venice are superbly recreated in some truly impressive sets. The characters themselves are expertly realised by the costume department and the actors that play them. Sean Connery does an excellent job as adventurer Quatermain, Stuart Townsend has all the best lines as Dorian Grey and Peta Wilson is as beautiful as she is scary. The special effects are good, with the Invisible Man and Captain Nemo's Nautilus brilliantly brought to life, even though some of the effects in the final fight scenes are abit ropy at times.

These strong positives are slightly counteracted by a few shortcomings. First the script isn't detailed enough. The Fantom's motivations are never truly explained, it is just implied that money is his driving force. Also with such a large group of central characters, the background stories of some of the League are not really fleshed out. For example, how come Tom Sawyer is now a US secret agent and what is he doing in Britain?

These faults aside, there is still quite a lot to enjoy but you will end up thinking that The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen could have been and should have been so much more than just an above average popcorn movie.

Disc One:
Audio commentary from actors Jason Flemyng, Tony Curran & Shane West and producers Don Murphy & Trevor Albert
Audio commentary by Jacqueline West, John Sullivan and Matthew Gratzner

Disc Two:
'Matters Of Pre-Visualisation' pre-production featurette, Pre-production stills gallery, 'Assembling The League' production documentary, Deleted and extended scenes from the film, 'Behind The Fantasy' post-production featurette, 'European Premieres' featurette, Trailers, TV spots & Poster artwork

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2003