"So then... the game is on."
- Allan Quatermain, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Director
Stephen Norrington brought the 2003 film adaptation of
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (or
LXG as the marketing department calls it) to the screen, assembling a cast of extraordinary talent to play extraordinary characters. All the greats are there:
Allan Quatermain,
Captain Nemo,
Tom Sawyer,
Mina Harker,
Dr. Henry Jekyll (and his buddy
Edward Hyde),
Dorian Gray, and
The Invisible Man. They are called into action to prevent a mysterious figure from sparking a world war... and they only have four days to stop him. After the film assembles the League and clues us in to each character's... special circumstances... the game, as they say, is on.
Captain Nemo calls for some undersea transportation (the
Submarine of Extraordinary Gentlemen) and off they go into the night. You'll see a lot of the night in this film as most of the action takes place in the dark.
While the storyline is quite engaging, the main draw of this film is the special effects. There's undersea explosions, stunt driving, exotic locales, shooting stunts, invisible people, a bloodsucking babe made of bats, and a Victorian Incredible Hulk. The camera has a habit of rushing through streets and tunnels to get to the next action scene on time, and I actually found myself fighting motion sickness during parts of the film. While the plot takes place in the summer of 1899, there are a lot of modern influences in the picture, from "futuristic" weapons to the concept of a superpowered team of heroes (I saw the film with NinjaPenguin* and she proclaimed the League a "British X-Men"). I dare not reveal the many twists and turns that the plot takes, so I advise you to see the movie for yourself and take it all in. You'll have an extraordinary time.
* I also dared her to go to the snack bar and order "The Soda of Extraordinary Gentlemen". She balked.