Today’s quick review: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Adventurer Allan Quatermain (Sean Connery) returns from retirement at the request of the British government to prevent war from breaking out in Europe after a series of attacks perpetrated by a mysterious mastermind known as the Fantom. Quatermain joins Tom Sawyer (Shane West), a successor to the Invisible Man (Tony Curran), Captain Nemo (Naseerudin Shah), Dr. Jekyll (Jason Flemyng), and other unusual characters in a continent-spanning hunt for the Fantom.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a science fiction movie based on the comic book series by Alan Moore. The film reinterprets some of the more notable characters from Victorian-era fiction as borderline superheroes and sends them on an adventure across Europe. The character reinterpretations justify some interesting moments throughout the film, but the unstable nature of many of the protagonists make them difficult to root for.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen does deliver a surprising amount of action for a movie nominally set in the 1890s. The characters’ unique abilities coupled with guns and explosives are enough to square away the film’s action component as good if not outstanding. The plot has a reasonable premise but suffers from a lack of focus, while an excess of twists makes it difficult to predict the film’s trajectory.
Watch The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen if you are in the mood for a schlocky, action-packed take on Victorian literature. An unfocused plot and unsympathetic characters keep The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen from being the fun romp it should be, but it still makes a decent popcorn watch for those interested in the premise. Skip it if the concept sounds silly to you, and watch Van Helsing instead if you are looking for a horror-genre counterpart that has a bit more fun.
5.8 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.5 for clever use of public domain characters hindered by a lackluster plot and poor characterization.