REWATCHED: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

BEFORE WATCHING: I never did "dislike" the movie ... although it was obviously Hollywoodized after the comic book incarnation (Which I'd collected the earlier issues for ~ goshbless Alan Moore), which I'd made peace with, and come to terms with ... Nevertheless, time to test if time has been kind to the film, with ending my Sunday with a watch and wind down...


AFTER WATCHING: And while I remembered vaguely being "entertained" back when I first watched it, it did not impress me enough to have bought the DVD movie, frankly. But upon this viewing decade+ later, I enjoyed it far more than I gave it credit.

I find myself missing the "faux grandeur & franticness" of movies released in the mid-to-late 90s, and early 2000s - where the opulent and OTT presentation of fictional action meant to entertain and awe was so cinematically kitschy-good - in films such as 1994's "The Shadow", and "The Mummy" franchise (1999-2008) etc, since replaced with the notion of "realism" in modern / current day cinema, even that of Marvel Cinematic Universes.

But I mourn not entertainment since evolved thru the years and tastes ... but while time may not have necessarily been totally kind to LXG (*I did cringed t them trying to hawk off this acronym), I marvelled at the production designs (not enough steampunk as far as I am concerned, which would've really helped tip the movie into a more memorably stronger genre visually, IMHO)... buuuut perhaps might have ostracized the wider general public in 2003 ...?


Directed by Stephen Norrington (who did "Blade" in 1998), and curiously LXG was his last credited feature film as a "Director" in 2003 (on IMDb). A lot of flack had been heaped on Norrington for being detrimental to Sean Connery's retirement from the cinematic scene all these years, but perhaps there is another story to be told too? Go google it if you so please lol


A nice little trip thru the past, watching this has been a decent path I've since decided to rewatch my older films I had collected, as I've gotten far too sentimental these days (LOL) ... and as well this was a last look at Sean Connery on the big-screen, or any other screen for that matter, and how underwhelming this might have been, at least from my skewered POV ... methinks that Peta Wilson jib at his accent might have cut deeper than expected LOL


The version I had watched was "PG Edited Version", on a DVD set which also featured Sean Connery's "Rising Sun" feature (with Wesley Snipes), and I have no recollection of WHAT I had actually missed from the "non-PG" version LOL

So in essence I did not solely purchase this DVD for LXG, and I'll leave it at that.

Feel free to let us know what you think about the film here in the comments section, or comment on my socials: INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK (B.S. will be deleted and you blocked, cheers). Meanwhile, here are some responses to share:

"Good movie but somehow lacked character development... It was just one action sequence after another...gets tired after a while.." (Adrian Tan)

"After making this movie Sir Sean Connery decided sadly to retire from making movies, purportedly because of the "eccentricities" of the director, Stephen Norrington; who directed the first Blade movie. I think Sir Sean was quoted as saying he had gotten "fed up with dealing with idiots." Too bad, for us. :(

But I did read not long ago that they were trying to reboot this, with hopes to launch a franchise. If they do, I hope they follow the comic more faithfully. The other bit I really enjoyed about this movie and I almost wish they would spin off with it, was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. His transformation was incredible and their character dynamics were equally interesting." (Gordon V. Salazar)

"I LOVE that comic series, and still somehow enjoy that movie!" (@threealegionnaire)

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