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Screen Savers: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Screen Savers: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

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This week’s Screen Savers is a look back at the final live-action film that Sean Connery appeared in before he retired. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, sometimes referred to as LXG, was a 2003 film directed by Stephen Norrington. The film was supposed to be an adaptation of a set of graphic novels written by Allan Moore with artist Kevin O’Neill. I say that it was supposed to be an adaptation because the studio (FOX), writer (James Dale Robinson) and director deviated from the source material quite a bit.

The deviations and alterations made to the story and characters were so off kilter, that Allan Moore tried to distance himself from the film as much as possible. Kevin O’Neill was doing his best to voice his opinion, but there were many problems with production. From studio notes and short reigns on the director, to conflict between Sean Connery and director Stephen Norrington, the film had issues even before it was released. The studio complained that Connery’s contract didn’t allow them to hire other big name actors.

In an interview with The Times, Kevin O’Neil said he believed the film failed because it was not respectful of the source material. He did not recognise the characters when reading the screenplay and claimed that Norrington and Connery did not cooperate. Finally, O’Neill said that the comic book version of Allan Quatermain was a lot better than the movie version and that marginalizing Mina Murray as a vampire “changed the whole balance”.

What’s It About?

The movie is set in the 19th century and brings together Victorian Era fictional characters from some of the greatest literary works. The team of Allan Quartermain, Captain Nemo, Mina Harker, Rodney Skinner aka An Invisible Man, Tom Sawyer, Dorian Grey and even Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde are brought together to stop the villain Fantom. Fantom and his terrorist organisation have been trying to bring about a world war in the year 1899.

Fantom breaks into the Bank of England to steal plans to the city of Venice, then kidnaps some German scientists. “M” brings the team of extraordinary people together to try to stop Fantom from developing a bomb to bring down a meeting of world leaders in Venice. It is believed that this bombing would bring about the world war Fantom desires.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, LXG for short, reach Venice on board the Nautilus just as the first of the bombs begin to collapse the city in on itself. LXG are able to stop the city from completely collapsing in on itself, but are betrayed by one of their own. Allan Quatermain also finds out the true identity of Fantom but cannot stop him from escaping. The LXG saboteur tries to sink the Nautilus with the rest of the LXG on board, but thankfully the team has a Mr. Hyde on their side.

The final showdown takes place in Mongolia where the betrayer and Fantom still have the kidnapped German scientists developing more bombs and weapons. The team decide to plant some explosives of their own to blow up the factory and also rescue the scientists. We find out that Fantom is actually Professor James Moriarty and he manages to deliver a fatal blow to Quatermain. Tom Sawyer is forced to take an impossible shot to stop Moriarty with a dying Quartermain coaching him on.

With the world saved, Quatermain is brought back to his home in Kenya to be buried. However, the film ends in a manner that we, the viewers, might believe that Quatermain may not be as dead as we thought.

Who’s In It?

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is the last film that you can see Sean Connery in. He plays the lead role of Allan Quatermain and due to his larger salary on the film, Fox was forced to bring in lesser known actors to complete the ensemble. Naseeruddin Shah plays Captain Nemo; Austrailian model Peta Wilson is Mina Harker; Stuart Townsend as Dorian Grey; Shane West as Tom Sawyer; Jason Flemyng as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde; and Richard Roxburgh as Professor James Moriarty/Fantom.

As you can tell, the cast is not so much as who’s who of Hollywood, as it is a hope that Sean Connery could carry the rest on his shoulders. Sadly, with so much animosity between the director Stephen Norrington and Connery, this never did translate to a great ensemble. While none of these actors are household names, there was some talent on set. Unfortunately the talent seemed to be hampered by a poor script and perhaps a handcuffed director.

Is It Really Bad?

This is a very tough thing to say one way or the other. The source material was disrespected and that is enough to say that the film falls well short. The acting was not top of the line, but again I feel the script may have played a factor here. When ever a studio handcuffs a director to make the movie more like they want it, and less like the director wants, it is never a good sign. Those issues always seem to translate onto the screen and in the finished product.

If you can ignore the source material, and maybe just look at this film as a Victorian Era, steampunk-esque, mash-up of fictional literary characters, then maybe… just maybe… you might be able to enjoy it. There were a few action sequences that were well done. Some of the visuals are actually pretty to look at, and even the CGI was not the worst in the world.

The bottom line for this one is that there will be many who will not like the film, but there are definitely going to be those that do.

What Movie Should I Watch Instead?

If you’re looking for adapted movies, than I would highly recommend the Harry Potter franchise. If you’re looking for movies based on comic books, then I would definitely recommend the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, if you are looking for the LXG than you may have to wait for a reboot of the franchise. There have been rumours for some time that Fox has been looking to reboot The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but so far, they have just been rumours.

Have you seen The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? What did you think of the movie? Would you be open to a reboot? Let us know in the comments below.

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