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Stars: Sean Connery, Shane West,
Stuart Townsend, Peta Wilson, Jason Flemyng, Naseeruddin Shah, Tony Curran, and
Richard Roxburgh
Writer: James Dale Robinson
Based On The Graphic Novel By:
Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill
Director: Stephen Norrington
Feature length: 110 minutes
Extras: Producers/Actors Audio
Commentary, Costume/Make-up/Visual Effects Team Audio Commentary,
Behind-The-Scenes Documentary, Deleted Scenes
Languages: English and French
Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Spanish Language Dolby Surround
Sound
Subtitles: English Captions and
Closed Captions and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging: Amaray Keep Case
Chapter Stops: 32
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year of Theatrical Release: 2003/DVD
Release: 2003
Theatrical Distributor: Twentieth
Century Fox
Home Video Distributor: Twentieth
Century Fox Home Entertainment
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
Among the plethora of big screen
comic book adaptations that played this year, “The League Of Extraordinary
Gentlemen” had the distinction of not being based on a Marvel Comics property.
Based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill, “The League Of
Extraordinary Gentlemen” plays with the idea that many if not all of the
characters from classic 19th century literature are in fact based on
real people. They have been called together because of their various gifts to
form what is essentially the first union of superheroes. Among the league are
legendary hunter and adventurer Alan Quatermain (Sean Connery), decadent
immortal Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend), the dual personality that makes the
infamous Dr. Jekyll and his alter ego Mr. Hyde (Jason Flemyng), Rodney Scanner a
thief who stole the formula for invisibility without thinking of the
consequences for his actions (Tony Curran), the legendary Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin
Shah), the vampire Mina Harker (Peta Wilson) and young American Secret Service
Agent Tom Sawyer (Shane West). Their mission is to find and stop a megalomaniac
named “The Fantom,” who has kidnapped the best scientists and their families
from England and Germany to build weapons in an attempt to spark a world war so
the Fantom can profit by it.
Sean Connery is the perfect man to
play an old Quatermain. His screen presence makes the viewer believe he is
capable of great heroic acts while the rest of the Actors are so well cast in
their respective roles that it is more than easy to suspend one’s disbelief in
that there really was a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and maybe there still
is. There is an interesting mix of animatronics, make-up, miniature and CGI
effects to create the world of the film that at times looks a bit like Tim
Burton’s “Batman.” I think the film faltered in two main areas. The
storyline is a bit muddled if not anticlimactic and with big summer extravaganza
like “Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines” and “Hulk” opening weeks
before “The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen” made its theatrical debut,
may have disappointed audiences expecting more eye candy instead of more
traditional special effects like the use of flashing stages to illustrate the
transformation that occurs when Jekyll transforms into Hyde and vice versa. It
is not that the effects look bad so much as I think viewers were expecting more
because to some extent they have been spoiled by years of slick effects films
regardless of quality. Personally I enjoyed “The League Of Extraordinary
Gentlemen” a lot more than I expected to and hope that now that the premise
has been established, Fox will indeed produce a sequel based on the Martian
invasion storyline from the comics as mentioned by the Producers in one of the
commentaries. I do have one question though, with no explanation given in the
film unless I missed something, how can Mina Harker walk around in the daylight
since she is a vampire? Is it like Coppola’s adaptation of “Bram Stoker’s
Dracula” where a vampire can walk in the daylight, but the sun weakens the
being?
“The League Of Extraordinary
Gentlemen” looks magnificent on DVD with an anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1)
aspect ratio presentation that preserves the manner in which the film was
exhibited theatrically as close as possible for home video users. From the dark
gothic night sequences to the bright day sequences aboard the Nautilus,
the transfer is sharp and shows no signs of compression artifacts or color
bleeding. A pan and scan (1.33:1) presentation of the film will also be released
day and date with the widescreen version, but sold separately. The English Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is very dynamic and ambient. A French Language
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack and Spanish Language Dolby Surround
Soundtrack are encoded onto the dual layered DVD as options along with English
Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and Spanish Language
Subtitles.
There are two feature length audio
commentary tracks included on the DVD as well. The more interesting of the two
commentary tracks features Producers Don Murphy and Trevor Albert and Actors
Jason Flemying and Tony Curran. The Actors were recorded together and share some
fond recollections about working with Connery and generally are fun to listen to
because they both have a very upbeat spirit about them and since they clearly
enjoyed appearing in the film that translates well to the listener. The same can
be said about the producers regarding their enthusiasm over the project. I never
knew that Captain Nemo was in fact supposed to be Indian because I have never
read Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea” or “Mysterious
Island” and I guess like many people I imagined Disney’s interpretation of
the Nautilus and James Mason’s performance as “Nemo” for the Disney
feature film as being what the character and ship are supposed to be. The
Producers share a lot of little anecdotes like what I have mentioned above about
various literary references in the film as well as references to the comic book
series to a point that I wish Fox added a text commentary track that pointed
exactly where these little Ester eggs of reference appear throughout the film.
The other feature length audio commentary track features Costume Designer
Jacqueline West, Visual Effects Supervisor John E. Sullivan, Make-Up Effects
Supervisor Steve Johnson, and Miniatures Creator Matthew Gratzner. Unless you
are interested in the technical side of how the effects were achieved or how the
costumes were designed and materials originated the second commentary may seem a
bit dull.
Next is a multi-part documentary
that can be viewed installments or collectively and is detailed as
“Origins,” “Attire,” “The Nemo Mobile,” “Making Mr. Hyde,”
“Resurrecting Venice,” and “Sinking Venice.” I found this documentary to
be far more interesting than the second feature length audio commentary track.
There are also 12 letterboxed (2.35:1) deleted/extended scenes that can also be
viewed individually or as a whole and are listed as “Inside The Nemo
Mobile,” “Dinner Aboard The Nautilus,” “Dorian’s Stateroom,”
“Jekyll’s Offer,” “Treachery,” “Past Lovers,” “The Beast
Within,” “Flooding The Engine,” “Quatermain And The Fantom,” “A
Leader Of Men,” “Mina Warms Up,” and “To The Death.” A public service
announcement is also included among the extra features, but none of the trailers
for the feature are present, which is a shame.
The main menu is animated with
scenes from the film while the subsequent menus are standard interactive still
frames that are easy to navigate. “The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen:
Widescreen Edition” will debut on DVD-Video from Twentieth Century Fox Home
Entertainment on Tuesday, December 16, 2003.
© Copyright 2003 By Mark A.
Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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