When a masked madman known as “The Fantom” threatens to launch global Armageddon, legendary hunter/adventurer Allen Quartermain (Sean Connery) commands a legion of superheroes, the likes of which mankind has never seen. Now, they must join forces to save the world!
Based on a graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentleman has all the ingredient to be a big blockbuster but sadly falls apart after the first 45 minutes. After a fabulous introduction in Africa to Allen Quartermain, we get to meet each hero all with different power and based on classic figures of literature such as Captain Nemo and Dr Jekyll.
The cast are generally good, Naseeruddin Shah, Jason Flemtng and Peta Wilson all give it there best shot, Shane West as Tom Sawyer seems slightly miscast but Connery commands the screen when he is present, but with too many characters the movie loses focus and Connery’s run-ins with the director did not help matters.
Of course you have to suspend belief in films like this, but when you have a giant submarine gliding through the canals of Venice, when in reality even Gondala’s have problems then things start to grate. The slightly dated special effects take over in the last half hour and in the ends you really don’t care about the characters half as much as you should. A shame as the movie had the potential to be one of the better superhero-themed films at the time but fails miserably.
The Blu ray released by Fabulous Films has an OK 1080p image which can look a little bland at times. Grain is present and looks filmic but its a fairly average transfer overall. The sound has DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix and sounds very good indeed.
Extras are two audio commentaries one by Costume Designer Jacqueline West, Visual Effects Supervisor John E. Sullivan, Make-Up Effects Supervisor Steve Johnson and Miniatures Creator Matthew Gratzner. The other by Producers Don Murphy and Trevor Albert and Actors Shane West, Jason Flemyng and Tony Curran. You also have deleted scenes and making-of featurettes.
A decent release of a disappointing film.
FILM: 5 PICTURE : 7.5 AUDIO: 8 EXTRAS: 7
