The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is unfortunately rather ordinary. Now, this is a film I absolutely loved when I was younger. I used to replay the Venice bomb explosion chase scene constantly on a weekly basis. And, this film started my fascination with Dorian Gray (no idea why...). However, much like these creative literary individuals, time is an unusual construct that uncovers cracks in what was once viewed as a masterpiece (totally not exaggerating...). It's a shame that Moore's source material was not fully realised in this adaptation, delivering only half the thrills and character interactions. A league of highly powered individuals are assembled to take down a vigilante known as "Phantom", who wants to start a war. There are predictable twists and turns and various sub-plots, but for the most part this is a straightforward story that relishes in its cyberpunk environment. It's not often you find yourself watching a blockbuster with Alan Quartermain, Dorian Gray, Captain Nemo and Dr Jekyll, and yet feel underwhelmed by the whole ordeal. One simple description for this: missed opportunity. The film that was delivered is fine, it's neither good nor bad. Plenty of disposable action sequences and visual effects that produce a dark gothic tone which will appeal to many. The casting was decent, particularly Connery, and they all pull their weight and get involved. Unfortunately, these characters are fairly one dimensional and lack any sort of natural interactions with each other. Sure, there is banter and harmless mentoring that acts as foreshadowing, but they truly never felt like a league. The dialogue resorts to mass amounts of exposition (including an entire voice recording of explanations, thinking that viewers aren't intelligent enough to piece the details together), and clunky conversations that resemble two blocks of wood silently communicating. It's a shame, as there was so much potential to be had here! But the outdated cumbersome screenplay negates any potential of excellence. As Quartermain wonderfully says, "Too Shoooon!".
