The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Reviewer: Tim Isaac
Issue 89 April 2007
(2 votes, average: 5.5 out of 10)
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The 19th Century’s finest.
The Lowdown: With the shadowy Fantom seemingly trying to start a World War, a crack team of the 19th Century’s finest heroes are assembled to fight the foe. Allan Quartermain, Captain Nemo, Mina Harker, the Invisible Man, Dorian Gray, Tom Sawyer and Dr. Henry Jekyll set off to discover exactly who is behind the series of attacks.
Review: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen has the dubious honour of being the film that made Sean Connery give up acting. While the ex-007 had been thinking about retirement for a long time, making this movie proved to be such a horrible experience that he hasn’t acted since. Likewise Blade director Stephen Norrington had such an awful time (partly because him and Connery spent most of the time butting heads) that he vowed never to direct another movie. So far he’s kept his promise, with most of his recent movie work restricted to make-up and creature effects.
It’s a little unsurprising then to discover that the movie itself is a bit of a mess. There are all sorts of great ideas and some impressive sequences but it doesn’t hang together. Most annoying is the inclusion of Tom Sawyer, not because he wasn’t in the original comic, but because the script makes no attempt to hide the fact that he’s been shoehorned in. However the effects aren’t bad and the action sequences are occasionally quite spectacular, which should mean that at least it looks good on Blu-ray. Well for the most part it does, but what the picture lacks is consistency. Special effects and certain shots look hyper-real, but every so often it cuts to a shot which is noticeably softer. It’s something you’re less likely to notice at the cinema or on DVD, but here the jump becomes very clear. Luckily it doesn’t disrupt the flow too much, and is more a shame than anything else. There’s also a great DTS Lossless Master Audio Track which is mixed very well so that voices aren’t lost even during intense action, and it’ll certainly give your subwoofer a workout.
With the extras there’s some good news, some bad news and then a little bit more bad news. When The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen was first announced, it intrigued many people with the promise of a first person shooter game – that was the good news. However to fit it on they’ve had to remove the deleted scenes and lengthy featurettes that came on the two-disc DVD – that’s the bad news. And the little bit more bad news is that the game isn’t very good. The way it works is that a scene comes up on screen and you have control of a crosshairs which you move around to try and shoot bad guys. However because it is an actual scene from the film, it doesn’t matter how many times you blast the baddies, they never react. All that happens is that your score goes up. We’d really hoped this game would offer something new and dynamic that would truly set HD apart from what had gone before, but while it is new it’s no more interesting or fun than the numerous interactive games on DVD.
One feature that initially seems rather pointless is actually more interesting that it might appear. The ‘Content Search’ tool allows you to access hyperlinked keywords. While initially the ability to watch all the bits featuring Sean Connery’s character or scenes featuring impalements may seem pointless, it’s actually quite handy for finding things really quickly, particularly if you can’t remember exactly when in the film they occur. You might not need to find things quickly in The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen very often, but it’s nice to know you could.
While the game on The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen disc does point towards something that could be interesting in the future (Blu-ray’s Java capabilities should make interactive games far more entertaining and complex), but right now, as with the film, it’s a little underwhelming.
FILM: 5 EXTRAS: 5
DVD Info:
Starring: Sean Connery, Naseeruddin Shah, Peta Wilson, Tony Curran, Stuart Townsend, Shane West, Jason Flemyng
Certificate: 12
Director: Stephen Norrington
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Original Release: 2003
Audio: DTS HD Lossless Master Audio
Visuals: 2.35:1 Widescreen
Running Time: 108 mins
Price: £19.99
Special Features:
Audio Commentary With producers Don Murphy and Trevor Albert as well as actors Shane West, Jason Flemyng and Tony Curran
Audio Commentary With Costume Designer Jacqueline West, Visual Effects, Supervisor John E Sullivan, Make Up Effects Supervisor, Steve Johnson and Miniatures Creator Matthew Gratzner
Trivia Track
Content Search
‘LXG Shooting Gallery’ Game
Trailers
