LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN (2003)
In this one Allan Quatermain (played by Sean Connery) leads a team of mostly violent criminals with legendary powers to battle the "The Fantom" . “The Fantom” is basically just trying to start a World War where he is the one selling the most advanced weapons essentially owning the world. It’s really not that big a deal. The "League" involves the spry swordsman and inventor Captain Nemo (played by Naseeruddin Shah), a vampire Mina Harker (played by Peta Wilson), an invisible man named Rodney Skinner (played by Tony Curran), American Secret Service Agent Tom Sawyer (played by Shane West), the ageless and near immortal Dorian Gray (played by Stewart Townsend), as well as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde who actually ends up being one of the coolest characters in this thing (played by Jason Flemyng). “The Fantom” has tons of men and weapons at his disposal, but he’s also freakishly smart and cunning. I actually think this dude is one of the better cinematic masterminds in the 2000 to 2010 decade.
The set designs and CGI in this movie are mind-blowing and I was massively intrigued when watching the “making of” video on how they accomplished all this. Sadly the movie was heavily panned and bombed at the box office in spite of Sean Connery’s star power and having some iconic legends return to the screen. In fact, I am pretty sure this film may have ended Stephen Norrington’s directing career, because that dude is mostly doing just effects stuff now and it’s been 17 years since his last film (this one). Many also believe that it was Sean Connery’s last film as well, but he actually did a TV series and a few voice-over roles after this. Having said that, we never got a part 2 and that is a shame, because this freakin movie is just epic all the way around.
While it does start with a bit of a slow burn, and there are some parts that are overly dialog driven.Tthe storyline is solid but the plots of the villain aren’t easy to follow or rationalize. The effects as I mentioned are spell-binding and the acting is brilliant. There isn’t really much of anything I didn’t love about this movie and I know that puts me in a very small group of people.
My advice, see this on a projector if you can in 4K or Blu-Ray. Put your mind on pause and enjoy because a lot like VAN HELSING, this thing is a heck of a ride. Connery is excellent in the role of Quatermain, but my favorites are Mina and Dr. Jekyll. Even if you just watch this a alternate universe period piece its attention to detail is amazing. If you watch this expecting the crappy comic it was based on, then maybe just skip it. This movie is still in my top 20 to this day and I still believe it didn’t get a fair shake from critics or fans. I have actually taken some personal flack for loving this thing so damn much. I give this movie a solid 7 out of 7.
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