The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)

"Extraordinary Gentlemen" - Extraordinarily Bad
by Homer Yen
(c) 2003

Usually, summer films require us to suspend a certain amount of disbelief so that we can enjoy the adventure without being distracted by the laws of reality. Sure, let there be scientists exposed to gamma radiation, whiners who are given God's powers, or a messiah trying to free an enslaved world. But this film just asks too much of us. Not only does it ask us to merrily accept its overreaching setups, its ideas seem so ludicrous that it makes recent comic-style adventures like "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "X-Men" feel like documentaries.

Set at the turn of the 20th century, "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" starts off well enough as a mysterious evildoer elaborately stages a series of attacks on the British and Germans that is causing both empires to start pointing fingers at each other. On the brink of war, the British government must take extraordinary measures to stem this growing threat.

A team of superlative talent is assembled. Most resourceful and the one that I would probably want to be like is Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah), who steadfastly battles evil with the deftness of a Ninja. There are other fabled figures include Mina Harker (Peta Wilson) who is intimate with vampirism; Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend) who is an immortal; Rodney Skinner (Tony Curran), who is the Invisible Man; Tom Sawyer (Shane West) who is an adept gunslinger; and Dr. Henry Jekyll (Jason Flemyng) whose alter ego is Mr. Hyde. Leading these extraordinary people is the famous Allan Quatermain (Sean Connery), a retired adventurer whose exploits are becoming the stuff of legend. Think James Bond teaming up with Victorian X-Men. Heck, even the person who hires them is aptly named "M" (Richard Roxburgh).

What really hurts the movie is that the film lacks any evidence of pathos and logos. Given the unique nature of each character, there certainly is potential for some fine action sequences as well as a few good sub-plots that could have been funny, poignant, or tragic. In fact, each individual character could have a movie all their own. However, here they are basically thrust together to fight for the common good. And because most of the characters have no reason to fear death, we do not really empathize with them. Even when a major character dies, we feel little if nothing for the loss.

The lack of logic also makes this film a chore. I can buy into Nemo's quickness and Quartermaine's ability to shoot a moving target 500 yards away. But everything else pushes the envelope until it tears. It's not the fabulous characters, because they are fun to watch. But its all those other things like the weapons factory sitting on a frozen glacier, no coherent plan of action, the identity of the killer and his motivations, and basically everything that transpires in Venice (where they all go to confront the enemy) which seems amazingly silly.

Finally, the action sequences are impossible to follow because much of the film takes place in darkened corridors or under the gloom of night. The editing is overly aggressive, and the fight scenes look as if you were blinking constantly. The closer you sit, the more dizzying it will get. This film had the potential to be so much more. In the end, "Extraordinary Gentlemen" is a visually and logically muddled mess.

Grade:        D
S:        0 out of 3
L:        0 out of 3
V:        1 out of 3

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X-RAMR-ID: 35298
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1177223
X-RT-TitleID: 1123784
X-RT-AuthorID: 1370
X-RT-RatingText: D