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THE
LEAGUE OF
EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN |
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"If You're Really
Tom Sawyer, Then Where's
Huck Finn?" |
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Directed by Stephen
Norrington - Written by
James Robinson
Starring Sean Connery,
Stuart Townsend, Shane
West, Jason Flemyng
Distributed by 20th
Century Fox -
2003 - 110mins - Rated
PG13 |
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Jacob Hall's
Review
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C- |
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Prepare for the extraordinary. |
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The
British comic book was a brilliant idea: Allan Quatermain, Dr. Jekyll/Mr.
Hyde, the Invisible Man, Mina Harker, and Captain Nemo are a band of
crime-fighters who take on the many threats to the world in the late
1800s. It's like X-Men for literary majors! Very cool.
The movie though, tries to "Americanize" it by adding more characters
and by turning Mina into a vampire. One of the new characters is
Dorian Gray, who actually fits the story and is an interesting
addition. The other is Tom Sawyer, the lone American, and does not fit
anywhere.
To make matters worse, the story in the comic is completely ignored
and some bad writer has come up with some bad plot to replace it. We
also have to deal with shabby directing, a lack of pace, and action
scenes that make no sense. This film cost $100 million to make, but I
do not see where any of that money went. The visual effects are very,
very bad and most of them are rip-offs of other movies. Take for
example, Mr. Hyde. He does not look like a menacing monster. No, he
looks like the Hulk were he made of silly putty.
I have this film on the verge of failing. Why is it not failing? Well,
I haven't seen Sean Connery this great on screen in years. He is
bright shiny jewel in the mountain of waste. |
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© Written by Jacob Hall -
Email
Me! |
TC Candler's Comment
Sean
Connery's experience on this film allegedly
ruined his desire to make films in Hollywood
ever again. He and the director fought
tooth and nail... and the end result shows...
This is a poor film.
Richard Propes' Comment
"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" is a
$100 million waste of time as far as I was
concerned. I can't say that this film was
anything I was looking forward to seeing, but I
did make an effort to see it on the big screen
(at the dollar theater). Fortunately, I did not
waste more than $1. If only the producers could
be so efficient with their money.
I agree with others that Sean Connery is really
the bright spot here, but I don't fancy myself a
Connery fan so even that spot is not so bright.
Everything about this film felt cheesy to me,
and I don't expect that feeling on such a large
budget. In a Troma movie, I can forgive bad
special effects. For this price, I want to be
convinced. I wasn't.
The script was horrid, the action unconvincing
most of the time and the character additions
(Tom Sawyer? Come on) just plain weird.
This is one of those films where I saw the
trailer and thought to myself "I'm not going to
care for that." Sadly, I didn't listen to that
voice and ended up disappointed even with low
expectations.
There are those who will enjoy this film...I am
not one of them.
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