The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)

I have not read the comic books,(not yet anyway) so maybe this is why I am not offended by this.. but this just is such a cool formula. A superhero squad made up of classic literary characters is awesome. Seeing a grownup gun slinging Tom Sawyer fighting next to Mr. Hyde is badass! It is cheesy yes, but to me at least, In the "right way"! :)

The year is 1899 and a man known as "M" gathers together a group literary characters for a mission designed to prevent a world war. Participants include: Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, and Dr. Henry Jekyll (with Mr. Hyde tagging along).I have friends who love The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but I don't get it. I've seen this film twice now and on each occasion, I was bored out of my mind. To me, the movie is a dull mess of ideas that never really work. There's too much bad CGI, too many poorly lit action sequences, and a monotonous color palette that doesn't extend beyond gray. The gathering of characters seems to be more important than the mission. It takes about half the film to get them all together. And it's all done in a smug, condescending sort of way that gets annoying real fast. I know who these characters are - I don't need an extended exposition on each one. It's insulting. And speaking of insulting, I can't believe what the writers forced Sean Connery to say and do. He has some really embarrassing moments. None more so than when he's forced to pantomime throwing the invisible man out of his room. As I said, it's embarrassing for a man of his stature. Overall, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a waste of time with few redeeming qualities. I'm not surprised that Connery decided to hang it up after starring in this disaster.

Finishing my look back at the career of Sean Connery, I come to the last movie he ever acted in. The League Of Extraordinary Gentleman (2003)Plot In A Paragraph: A group of famous contemporary fantasy, science fiction, and adventure characters team up on a secret mission.I have never seen this movie in its entirety, as I walked out of the cinema about an hour in.The main thing I remember about this movie was Connery signed on when he didn't understand the script. He was offered roles in The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, but passed as he didn't understand the scripts. So when offered another screenplay he didn't quite get, he took it, hoping it would be a huge hit as the other two were. Connery and the director hated each other. In Empire Magazine, Jason Flemyng was asked if the bust-ups between Sean Connery and director Stephen Norrington were as bad as reported. He replied that they were much worse "My favourite bust-up was in Venice. The League had to walk from Captain Nemo's boat down the street, Magnificent Seven-style. At the end of the take Norrington asked them to do it again, to which Sean shouted 'What? You want us to do that again?' He replied, 'For eighteen million dollars I don't think it's too much to ask you to walk down a road.' To which Connery's reply was unprintable."I found this hard going, and contemplated turning it off more than once. It all defies all logic!! I'm not against movies being a tad unrealistic, but this takes the biscuit. The most interesting thing about viewing this was I have come to the conclusion that Mr Hyde obviously buys his pants at the same place as The Hulk does. Connery hated making the movie, and the finished product so much, he retired from acting.The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen grossed $66 million at the domestic box office to end 2003 as the 44th highest grossing movie of the year.

Like jim Morrison said "Eric Von Stroheim in the movies. The man they love to hate". This film is one that critics the world over just love to hate! I first watched it in 2003 in the cinema when it had just come out and thought it was an enjoyable romp of a film then. Iv'e just watched it in 2017 all these years later and loved it, had a great laugh watching it! We are not talking clever, intricate high art here when it comes to comicbook adaptions ( Dark Night Rises, Logan etal), and i know all about Sean Connery's attitude towards it plus the "dropping" of the Fu manchu character and the Inclusion of Tom Sawyer to appease US audiences etc, but it's still worth watching. Sean Connery's last big screen performance and he has some great one liners as does the Dorian Grey character. I'd say it's a film that doesn't take itself too seriously, and although Alan Moore hated it, i think it's bursting with kitch fun.