Movie Talks Archives

Posted by: Weapon X at December 26, 2003, 1:33 am

Topic: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) Forum: JoBlo

SPOILERS AHOY! When I first saw LXG, I had not yet read the original graphic novel (by Alan "Watchmen" Moore), and I got a huge kick out of it; cool characters, wild and crazy action, mildly interesting if ludicrous plot. My kind of movie through and through. Then I picked up the comic, gave it a read-through. Right from the very start I could see the differences between the comic and movie, and I had clear likes/dislikes for both, but on the whole, the comic did quite a few things better. Afterward, I went to see the movie a second time, and truth be told, I enjoyed it even more the second time around, because having read the original source material, I could see what little bits and pieces they lifted from the novel, despite the changes the filmmakers made. CHARACTERS: The comic version of Allan Quatermain is an opium-addicted old prune who seems more ineffectual at his job than anybody else in the League. The movie's version is Sean Connery - which already gives him the advantage - and can still kick a good lot of ass even in his old age. Already I like this guy better. Mina Murray/Harker has some significant changes; the comic version absolutely refuses to reveal what's underneath her scarf, which added intriguing mystery to her character, while the movie Mina (lovely Peta Wilson) unveils her secret as soon as her powers are revealed, thus removing the mystery altogether. The addition of her vampiric abilities (including an unexpected bat transformation during the Venice chase) is awesome eye-candy. Despite the changes, the character retains the original spirit. Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah) is a brilliant, stoic soldier, both in the comic and the movie. The only difference is that the movie's version is a martial arts master. Didn't bother me the least, despite it being very out-of-place. Jekyll and Hyde (Jason Flemyng) is easily my favorite Leaguer (besides Quatermain, of course), and the Hyde costume and makeup - considerably less ape-like than the comic - is about as cool as it can get. I liked the addition of the two entities talking to one another through their reflections, a character aspect absent from the comic. My one beef, however, is that Hyde seems to turn into a good guy a little more quickly than I would have liked. Of course, the comic Hyde also eventually becomes a much more heroic guy than anyone would have thought, but in the movie, it would have been much more believable if Hyde's motivations were at first selfish self-preservation ("If you die, Jekyll, so do I!"), and THEN turning into a genuine sense of heroism. The original Invisible Man, Hawley Griffin, is absent, replaced by smart-ass gentleman thief Rodney Skinner (Tony Curran), who's a likeable enough guy in his own right...but the Invisible Man wasn't meant to be liked, he was a barely-contained homicidal maniac. Skinner's the weakest character of the bunch, but still a guy I liked seeing...so to speak. The two movie-exclusive characters, Tom Sawyer (Shane West) and Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend) are interesting additions to the roster; Sawyer's father/son interaction with Quatermain isn't as strong as it could be, but it's a solid plot device nonetheless. Gray is a smarmy aristocratic jerk, played to perfection by Townsend; his "snake in the grass" role fits in well for the purpose of translating comic to film. PLOT/ACTION: A lot of complaints have been made over the big Venice chase sequence, and I just have to say: let it go, man. So the "real" Venice isn't big enough to conceal the Nautilus, so there are no streets. Wasn't it established right off the bat that this is an "alternate universe" where not everything we know to be true in the real world translates into the movie? Geographic inaccuracy aside, I got a huge kick out of watching Sawyer zoom down the streets of Venice as it literally crumbled around him. The actual gathering of the League is well done, but afterwards things get incredibly jumpy and erratic, with repeated lapses of logic and believability, and the final ending shots ooze cheesiness, but still overall an interesting deviation from the comic storyline. My big complaint is that the pacing falls flat a few times, especially in scenes taking place aboard the Nautilus. The villain in the story is rather weak, and the revelation of his identity of much better handled in the comic, however the method in which the League figure out who he is is identical to the comic ("Professor" + "James" + "M" = James Moriarty!) The character himself is also a watered-down version, and his motivations for why he seems to be "abandoning his identity" (you'll see) aren't well-delineated at all. His master plan, however, makes sense, to collect "samples" of the League's powers and create an army full of them. As for the action, the gunfights and hand-to-hand combat weren't especially well-shot - a bit too jittery and jumpy at times - but they got the ol' blood pumpin' when they needed to. The Hyde vs. Uber-Hyde fight in particular is a thunderous slug-fest that had me from the first punch. The Mina vs. Dorian duel is quick and fluid, albeit far too brief, but it's easily my favorite in the movie. SPECIAL EFFECTS/PRODUCTION DESIGN: I love love love love LOVE the design of this movie. Nemo's Nautilus, while a vast departure from the comic's squid-like design, is a grand ship indeed; everytime it came on screen, I said to myself, "That is one bitchin' boat!" Everything looks fantastic in the League's world. Even the Fantom's costume, as lackluster as the character is, is pretty cool, except for that odd fake beard attached to his mask. As I said before, the Hyde costume rocks, and, dare I say it, looked a lot better than the Hulk. As for his transformation effects, they went to the admirable effort of trying to do the whole thing with phases of makeup...it sounds good on paper, but on screen it looks just plain silly. Not so much so when Hyde is, say, running or swimming (he's in motion, so it kind of hides the seams), but during that scene where Hyde is in chains aboard the Nautilus and he transforms for the first time, the effect is well-intentioned but poorly-executed. The CGI is quite obvious, but nowhere near as bad as some have made it out to be...I for one have seen far worse. I'll admit, some shots used in the trailer had me a bit worried - like the sped-up shot of the Nautilus surfacing on the ocean - but on screen, in the movie, they worked. I think the words of The Arrow but it best: "Sure, the matte paintings and green screens were obvious but behold, for me it gave the setting a more otherworldly and surreal feel and never took me out of the picture. Au contraire, I was more engulfed by it all. I WAS in another reality." I'm with you on that, Arrow-man. OVERALL: Alan Moore's League is one you can be afraid of pissing off. Stephen Norrington's League is one you can some fun with. It's big, it's loud, it's cheesy, it's quite dumb at times. Like I said...my kind of movie through and through. If you can look past the plot holes and accept that what you're seeing on screen - cartoonish CGI and all - is real, you'll have a fine action-adventure diversion. (I just hope Norrington hasn't been scared away from Hollywood forever by the movie's failure. We love ya, Stephen! Come back to us!) Before reading the comic: 7/10 After reading the comic: 7.5/10 The League is set...and the game is on!

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