The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Stephen Norrington

Writers (WGA):

Alan Moore (comic books) and
Kevin O'Neill (comic books) ...

Release Date:

11 July 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Prepare for the Extraordinary

Plot:

In an alternate Victorian Age world, a group of famous contemporary fantasy, SF and adventure characters team up on a secret mission.

Plot Keywords:

Captain Nemo | Invisible Man | Mission | Split Personality | Adventurer

Awards:

6 nominations

Cast

Sean Connery	...	Allan Quatermain
Naseeruddin Shah	...	Captain Nemo
Peta Wilson	...	Mina Harker
Tony Curran	...	Rodney Skinner (The Invisible Man)
Stuart Townsend	...	Dorian Gray
Shane West	...	Tom Sawyer
Jason Flemyng	...	Dr. Henry Jekyll / Edward Hyde
Richard Roxburgh	...	M
Max Ryan	...	Dante
Tom Goodman-Hill	...	Sanderson Reed
David Hemmings	...	Nigel
Terry O'Neill	...	Ishmael
Rudolf Pellar	...	Draper
Robert Willox	...	Constable Dunning
Robert Orr	...	Running Officer

Also Known As:

Die Liga der außergewöhnlichen Gentlemen (Germany)
LXG (USA) (promotional abbreviation)
LXG: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (USA) (trailer title)
Liga výjimecných (Czech Republic)
The League (USA) (promotional title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of fantasy violence, language and innuendo.

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA | Germany | Czech Republic | UK

Language:

English | German | Italian

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Malaysia:U | USA:PG-13 (certificate #39870) | South Korea:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Canada:G (Québec) | Canada:PG | Chile:TE | Denmark:11 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Hungary:14 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Spain:7 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:12A (original rating) | UK:12 (video rating) (2003) | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Company:

Angry Films

Trivia:

LXG takes place in an alternate universe where technology is more advanced in 1899 than it was in real life. Aside from the use of an automobile and other advanced devices, we also see Captain Nemo's crew using sonar and Nemo refers to solar power many years before they were invented.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: While the League waits for Skinner in the frozen wasteland, nobody's breath is visible. This is especially telling for Skinner when he arrives, as you can see the outline of his body from the fallen snow but not his breath when he speaks.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Sanderson Reed: [to coachman] Don't... wander... off.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Assembling the League (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Promenade by the Sea

An underestimated but very interesting movie

This movie was badly criticised by many critics and fans... I don't believe that the movie's quality was 'low', but i detect two reasons:

1. 'what? automobiles, submarines, rockets, tanks, automatic rifles, explosions that sank Venice? all those in 1899? no way!'

OK, those people maybe don't know that the movie is based on a comic book!! The comic book is fantasy, it is in an alternate Jules-Verne-like universe where all fiction was real... That book (and this movie) belong to the genre 'Steampunk', a movement that is interested in presenting an alternate Victorian age with an extra-evolved steam driven science that never actually existed. IF you read the comic you will see that: a bridge that connects England and France, technology made by Tesla and Edison, zeppelins, airships, anti-gravity devices... some of these are indeed mentioned in science fiction works of that time, and since the comic is set in that kind of universe, then all these are real.

The book (and the movie) don't want to convince you that these events actually happened in 1899. The movie doesn't want to tell you that Venice was half-sunk by an explosion and was later rebuilt. It is just another universe, an alternate reality... it's fantasy!

there have been some Steampunk movies, and were never considered serious: for example Van Helsing and Wild Wild West. They were too much, too unreal... but if you accept that they happen in a Steampunk universe you will enjoy them

(i suggest you make a search for 'Steampunk' online.. Wikipedia is a good start)

now to the other reason

2. 'LXG is not faithful to the comic book'

no, it wasn't but they didn't want to adapt THE book into a movie! can someone who watched Spiderman 2 tell me on WHICH issue of the spiderman comic book series that movie was adapted?

Spiderman 1 and 2, (and all the comic-book movies) are not trying to adapt a certain issue of the Spidey series into a movie: they try to compress some events and characters from Spidey's universe and present them combined on screen

i don't think that LXG was less faithful to the comic book than Spiderman or Batman were to their respective originals... LXG wanted to tell a story that happened in a universe similar to that of the 'League' comic book, not a certain story of the series..

i hope that if all could understand this, they would enjoy this movie as it really should be enjoyed