After not being getting the chance to go see many movies that I wanted to see, I’ve been able to go see several recently. The latest movie I went to see was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I saw a preview when I went to see X2: X-Men United and thought it looked interesting. It was entertaining, and I liked it, but it was a bit bizarre at times. This was not a movie for everyone, even Sean Connery fans. Some people will probably find it too strange.

It was 1899 in London. Some police noticed something very strange going on. A tank, something the men had never seen before, turned up and tore through the streets, before charging into a bank. The vault was broken into with an explosive. A man wearing a strange mask was in charge. Germany was blamed for what happened. Shortly after that, the same man was in Germany, kidnaping scientists. He then caused a huge explosion. Germany blamed England for what happened and Europe was on the brink of a war.

Allan Quartermain, an adventurer, lived in Kenya. A man showed up looking for him, wanting him to lead a group of men for the British Empire to fight the threat. Other men turned up looking for Allan, but they didn’t want to talk. They just started shooting. After taking care of the men, Allan agreed to do it.

When Allan arrived in London, he met a man who called himself M. Allan was told about what was going on in Europe and about the man responsible, who was known as the Phantom. M said that Allan would be part of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The League was to try to stop the Phantom from starting a world war. M said that the League had been used in the past when the British Empire was in danger. Captain Nemo and Rodney Skinner were also there. Skinner was invisible. Mina Harker arrived a little after the others. They discovered later that she was a vampire. It was believed that the Phantom would strike in Venice next where the leaders of Europe were going to have a summit. Before going to Venice, they had to try to recruit a few other men.

Their first stop was the home of Dorian Grey. He knew Mina and Allan. Dorian wasn’t interested at first, but then the Phantom and his men turned up and started shooting. Another man, Tom Sawyer, also arrived. He helped to fight the Phantom’s men and wanted to join the League. Dorian decided that he wanted to be in the League after all. They found out that Dorian was immortal. The members of the League traveled by Captain Nemo’s huge submarine to Paris, where they recruited Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. They then headed to Venice to try to stop the Phantom. There were problems along the way that they had to deal with.

CAST

Sean Connery - Allan Quartermain
Naseerudin Shah - Captain Nemo
Petra Wilson - Mina Harker
Tony Curran - Rodney Skinner
Stuart Townsend - Dorian Grey
Shane West - Tom Sawyer
Jason Flemying - Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde
Richard Roxburg - M

Stephen Norrington - Director

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was released on July 11, 2003. The movie was 110 minutes long and rated PG-13. There were several violent scenes in the movie. There wasn’t any swearing. This is not a movie for children. The movie was based on a graphic novel. I haven’t read the novel, so I don’t know how close to it the movie stayed.

I did enjoy The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The movie was different, but I was expecting that going into it. The movie was full of unbelievable things, but that was ok with me. I don’t mind seeing movies that are different and unbelievable at times as long as I find them entertaining, which I did find this movie to be. Since the movie is so different, a lot of people probably won’t like it. This is a hard movie for me to recommend because of that. I wouldn’t even say that Sean Connery fans will enjoy it because of how strange it is. If you don’t have high expectations and have an open mind, it can be a very entertaining movie.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was an adventure movie. I do think that Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, another recently released adventure movie, was much better. There was a lot of adventure in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and a lot of violence. For the most part, it was a fast paced movie. There were a few scenes that dragged a bit, but I was never really bored with the movie. I didn’t really think the movie was suspenseful overall, but there were a few scenes that I thought were suspenseful. I didn’t think it was predictable. It was too different to be predictable.

There was violence in many scenes of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The very first scene of the movie contained a tank plowing through the streets of London, and even running down a man. There were several explosions, shoot outs, and some fights. Knives were used in a few scenes as well. Characters were injured and killed. Blood was shown more than once. A character was set on fire. One of the characters, Mina, was a vampire. Most of the time she appeared to be a normal woman, but she did feed a few times. The first time she did, it was very bloody and a bit shocking because it happened suddenly. I have seen some movies that have been more violent, but this could be too violent for some people. I think the movie is too violent for children.

Special effects were used for different characters throughout The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Skinner was invisible, but he appeared with some sort of make on at times. He also carried some things around. There was nothing impressive about the effects for that character. Dorian was immortal, so he wasn’t hurt when someone shot or stabbed him. His wounds were shown to heal immediately a few times. Mina did a bit of a transformation when she fed. She could also turn into several bats and travel that way. I did like that. If she was cut, it also healed immediately. The transformation between Jekyll and Hyde was shown a few times. When he was Hyde, he was huge. I hadn’t thought that he got bigger like that when he changed. The transformation was shown with a lot of strange flashes and loud noises. The effects for the transformation were not good at all.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen had a group of unique characters in it. They were fictional characters from other books. Allan was an adventurer. He said that he’d been blessed by a witch doctor and that Africa wouldn’t let him die. Dorian Grey was immortal. His state was tied to a portrait of himself. Captain Nemo had a huge submarine that was very advanced for 1899. Skinner was invisible. Dr. Jekyll had invented a potion that turned him into Mr. Hyde, a very large, violent, man. Tom Sawyer was some kind of government agent for the United States. Mina was a vampire, though she was outside in the sunlight more than once. I’ve always read or seen in movies that vampires couldn’t be out in the sunlight, but Mina was different. There wasn’t any explanation for that. There was some explanation about each character that could be helpful to some people who aren’t familiar with the characters. The explanations weren’t long and drawn out, so they didn’t bother me.

The acting in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was fairly good. I thought that Sean Connery was very good as Allan. He did seem to be believable in the role even though he is getting older. I think that was because Allan made a few remarks about how he was getting older. I’ve seen Connery in several other movies before, including all the Bond movies he was in. Allan was a very different character for him. I’ve only seen Stuart Townsend in one other movie, Trapped. I hated that movie, though his performance wasn’t half bad. He did the best he could with the material he had to work with. I did think he was better in this movie. Petra Wilson was in the television show La Femme Nikita for several years. There was a lot of action in that show, so she is no stranger to that. She did fine as Mina. Richard Roxburgh was good as M. The only other movie I’ve seen him in is Moulin Rouge. He played the Duke in that movie. The other actors also did fine with their parts, but nothing really stood out about their performances.

CHARACTERS

Allan Quartermain - He was a well known adventurer who was living in Africa. He was getting older, but he was still able to do many things. He decided to work with the League to stop the Phantom. He had some demons he was still dealing with.

M - Man who recruited the members of the League and set them on their mission.

Captain Nemo - He was considered a pirate by some. He had a car and a huge submarine that were very advanced. He was a very good fighter and he was good with a sword.

Mina Harker - She was a vampire. She and her husband Jonathan had fought against Dracula many years before. She was a scientist and very smart. She could go out in sunlight.

Dorian Grey - He was immortal. He had to avoid looking at a special portrait of himself to remain that way. He was reluctant to join the League, but he did after his home was attacked. He was drawn to Mina.

Rodney Skinner - He was a thief. He became invisible after stealing the process.

Tom Sawyer - He was an agent for the United States government. He was fairly good at shooting, though Allan gave him some lessons in long distance shooting.

Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde - He was a doctor who created a potion that turned him into a large, violent man. He was tormented by his other half.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was an entertaining movie and I enjoyed it. It is different, and downright bizarre at times, so a lot of people probably won’t like it. People who like different movies may enjoy it.

Related Reviews
Moulin Rouge
X2: X-Men United
X-Men: The Legend of Wolverine
Ultimate X-Men

Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older