Review of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) by Jason D — 06 Dec 2009

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (based upon the graphic novel work of Sir Whiney Pants Alan Moore) focuses on several great literary characters, including Allan Quartermain (Sean Connery), who comes out of retirement in 1899 when the British Empire begins to fall due to a madman who uses top of the line weaponry (tanks, machine guns, etc) to commit grand acts of terrorism.

His team includes Dracula vampiress Mina Harker (La Femme Nikita's sexy Peta Wilson), Tom Sawyer (Shane West), the Invisible Man (Underworld 2's Tony Curran), Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah), Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend), and Dr.

Jekyll/Mr. Hyde (Jason Flemyng) who all embark on a mission to stop the madman before he completely destroys the world. Amidst a bevy of production problems, storyboard writing, and actor disputes (this film famously made Connery retire), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen really isn't THAT bad of a movie.

Cheesy...yeah kinda, unfaithful to the original source material...oh yeah, unrealistic...yep, over-the-top...sure, bad special effects...yeah, that too, fun and entertaining still...yes, I am confident enough to say that.

The story was engaging and I feel as though director Stephen Norrington (Death Machine, Blade) got a unnecessary bad rap for this film. Still not convinced? Well, I can always go the "guilty pleasure" route with this film.

Not bad.