The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Interesting thing about this film. I thought the trailer looked crap. I quite enjoyed the film. I have friends who thought that the trailer was awesome. They thought the film was crap.

I am biased, however, in my appraisal of this film since I love the work of Alan Moore. I have read ‘From Hell’, ‘Watchmen’ and ‘Swamp Thing’ and have come to appreciate how he raised the bar when it comes to mature graphic novels.

This meant that I could recognise his unique twist on the comic world all through LXG. And in many instances I could see where Moore would have taken it further, yet the filmmakers held back. (Apparently Alan Quatermain was quite the junkie.) So although I really liked the film it’s hard to say how much of that was from the film itself, and how much was because of Moore’s inferred ideas that didn’t actually make it to the film.

Of course Stephen Norrington has a lot to live up to since he directed the original Blade, but then again he also made The Last Minute (which I found totally incomprehensible). His name doesn’t always guarantee fantastic films, but at least you can be sure they will always look good.

I’m thinking that at this moment I should stop so that there’s enough room on the page for Mark to bag this film completely. And in preparation for his written assault I shall say that I had no trouble following the action and the cinematography didn’t leave me dizzy whatsoever (in the ways that many new special effects films do, Inspector Gadget being the worst offender).

I was thoroughly entertained by the mix of fictional characters, and loved the early 20th century setting. I actually thought that the film was too short (something rare for me) and could have done with backgrounds to all the characters (something I’m sure must have appeared in the graphic novel).