The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Adapted from a comic book chockfull of literary allusions but summer-movie-ized for the Cliff's Notes set, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is predictably packed with flash and completely devoid of life. A turn-of-the-20th-century action flick with an antediluvian Batman-ish atmosphere of dark, overzealous production design, this convoluted dud stars Sean Connery as famous fictional British explorer-adventurer Allan Quatermain, who is persuaded to recruit a cadre of period literary legends (Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dorian Gray, and a yee-haw Secret Service agent named Tom Sawyer--yes, that Tom Sawyer--shoehorned into the script to Americanize the story for U.S. audiences) to help bring down a terrorist bent on starting a world war. The league's theatrically scarred and masked nemesis plans to cause unrest in Europe, then make millions selling his new state-of-the-art weaponry to warring nations, thus providing director Stephen Norrington (Blade) carte blanche to roll out tanks, machine guns, automobiles, missiles, and other action-friendly technology that didn't exist at the time. Roll them out he does, ad nauseum, to the detriment of character development and, more often than not, common sense. Not recommended. [Note: Available in both widescreen and full screen versions, DVD extras include audio commentaries (one by producers Don Murphy and Trevor Albert and costars Shane West, Jason Flemyng, and Tony Curran; the other by costume designer Jacqueline West, visual effects supervisor John E. Sullivan, makeup effects supervisor Steve Johnson, and miniatures creator Matthew Gratzner), six fact-filled “Assembling the League” behind-the-scenes documentary segments, and 12 deleted/extended scenes. Bottom line: a decent extras package for of 2003's biggest duds.] (R. Blackwelder)