There are several genuinely extraordinary things about The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, opening today in theatres.
First off, it proves that even at 72, Sean Connery is a most credible action hero. He runs with more determination and grace than Harrison Ford, and his fists still have the fury of a Bruce Willis, if not a Bruce Lee.
Connery plays Allan Quartermain, the African adventurer of Rider Haggard's novel, King Solomon's Mines. Quartermain is recruited by an official at Scotland Yard known only as M (Richard Roxburgh).
The British Empire needs Quartermain to stop a fiend who calls himself The Phantom from manoeuvring the nations of Europe and Britain into a world war. An African witch doctor gave Quartermain powers that make him virtually invincible.
He needs to recruit a team with similar extraordinary powers and, like Quartermain, they are all heroes of Victorian literature. Capt. Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah) has created a submarine that travels faster than a bullet and Rodney Skinner (Tony Curran) has achieved invisibility.
The handsome playboy Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend) and the voluptuous vampire Mina Harker (Peta Wilson) are immortals, and Dr. Jekyll (Jason Flemyng) can always call on his super-powered alter ego Mr. Hyde when the going gets rough.
By comparison, the American adventurer-agent Tom Sawyer (Shane West) is pretty ordinary, but he's a quick learner and totally fearless.
It ultimately boils down to Indiana Bond and the League of Extraordinary X-Men but it's still remarkable that so much of the original comic and James Dale Robinson's screenplay rely so heavily on classic literary references.
People who are not familiar with the originals will be a few giant steps behind those who are, though the important literary allusions are revealed as the film progresses.
And progress it does, at a jaunty, witty pace that juggles equal doses of adventure and humour.
In his suspense novels The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare and Ice Station Zebra, Alistair MacLean created extra suspense by making one of the members of an elite team a turncoat.
The same is true in League and, even if a person guesses the identity of the rat, the motives aren't nearly as clear.
The true identity of the villain behind the Phantom's mask is another great literary in-joke. In an over-the-top adventure like League, the characters must necessarily push limits.
Wilson and Flemyng, in particular, have to show the vampire and mad scientist's dark sides and that negates subtlety. West and Townsend quickly become sparring partners as they both find themselves in awe of Mina's sensual netherworldly charms.
Curran spends much of the film with blobs of white grease paint on parts of his face so the other characters and the audience can know where Skinner is. When Skinner finds it more advantageous to be invisible, Curran uses his voice to show the man's contempt or playfulness.
Connery is his old stalwart self, commanding attention and respect with his sepulchral voice and purposeful stride.
The production values in League are outstanding.
Mr. Hyde is what Hulk should have been, a distorted and pumped up version of the actor playing Jekyll.
League actually plays like movies based on the classic that inspired its characters. There are definitely hints of such films as King Solomon's Mines, Phantom of the Opera, Brides of Dracula, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Invisible Man, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and any number of Sherlock Holmes whodunits.
Because it successfully marries great literary classics with contemporary comic books, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is in a summer movie league of its own.
(This film is rated PG)
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