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The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Full Screen Edition)

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Full Screen Edition)

List Price: $27.98
Your Price: $25.18
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: GREAT SUMMER FUN!!!!!
Review: I don't care what the critics say.....of course, I don't know many people who do. They are all a bunch of self-important wind-bags who can't get real jobs anyways......so therefore, ignore them and GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!! Especially if you like the movies these characters came from, and Sean Connery? I dare anyone to say anything negative about him!! Anyways, this movie great fun, with great action, and a great story. There are some plot twists as well, which may be obvious to some and less so to others, but they are still great nonetheless. I really enjoyed this movie a great deal, and I can't wait for the DVD!!! Bottom line -- skip that other garbage (charlie's angels, 2 fast, and bad boys 2), and go see this, as well as Pirates of the Caribbean!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Blegh!
Review: I would love to give a witty, slashing review of this movie, but really, I can't seem to find a more eloquent phrase for "worser than a piece of poo." It's too fast paced; they seem to go from one scene to another without spending too much real time on anything. The action scenes also didn't do anything for me. I really didn't care or feel a connection to any of the characters, but that just might be because there were so many of them and not enough time to give each one the dramatic value they deserved. It seemed like such a cool idea, and seeing this movie kind of made me want to go read the graphic novels on which it was based. It should have been a fun movie to go see, but alas, I ended up leaving the theatre more un-amused than when I went in. All in all, this is the kind of flick I would have loved to watch over and over again when I was, like, five years old and things like rushed plots and cheesy special effects didn't matter to me. So if you don't mind a little bit o' violence, you might wanna buy it for the kiddies.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Large Bucket Has Free Refills
Review: A movie with Allan Quatermain, The Invisible Man, Tom Sawyer, Mina Hawker (Dracula's Babe), Dorian Gray, Mr. Hyde/Dr. Jekyll and Captain Nemo????? WOW!
This is really the perfect Summer movie what with so little involved to clutter your mind and so much to wow your senses.
"TLOEG" starts off a little rocky though, with all the declamatory, stagy acting looking and sounding like a night performance class in Shakespeare. But that is soon cleared up once the adventure starts: and a pretty interesting adventure it is. A madman (big,hairy wearing a half mask like the Phantom of "Phantom of the Opera" fame) and his henchman want to take over the world and a suave English gentleman named "M" takes it upon himself, with direction from the "English Monarchy" to assemble a team (Quatermain and Company) in an effort to thwart him.
If I had to pick one, I'd have to say that Captain Nemo is the grooviest in that he has the best toys. Remember this is 1899, the dawn of the 20th Century and our Cap has a White Limo that looks like a gigantic stretch Bugatti WITH appliquéd silver decoration in the Rococo style. Plus his submarine, "The Nautilus" is also in cool, sleek white with the exact aforementioned adornment gracing the stern and the bow! Our Cappy has style.
There's much to keep the eyes and ears busy and even some minor sex play between Mina and Dorian to mix it up a bit but basically this is primo, popcorn munching, junior mint chewing, soft drink devouring territory. Take some pals and bring your Mom and have a ball.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not overwhelmed, but satisfied
Review: Having never read the comic, and having not read the books of half the characters, I cam into this movie with a fresh prospective. I thought Sean Connery's performance was excellent. I especially liked the subplot of Sawyer becoming the surrogate son for Connery's Quartermain. Peta Wilson was at her best. I could easily try to overlook the fact that Tom Sawyer should be at least 50 in the movie, not in his late-20s. Great action, and perfect bits of humor.

However, I did not come away from the movie wishing there was more; I just hoped for a sequel. I am eagerly waiting for the DVD to come out. I was not overwhelmed by the movie, but I was very satisfied.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Great concept, disappointing execution
Review: Like so many others, I was fascinated by the banding together of so many tragic, anti-heroic characters of Victorian literature. Unfortunately, there are just too many problems with the movie for it to be worth buying:

- there was no thought behind many of the special effects. When water rushes out of doors and along corridors, none of the running crewmen are bowled over. The chandeliers in the Nautilus don't swing during turns. How could that huge Nautilus fit into a Ventian canal, let alone turn a corner?

- there was no thought taken for the motivations of any of the characters, good or bad. Why were Mina & Nemo there at all? What did the villain have to gain from his (fairly expensive) villainy? And why was he personally there for all the big bombings and shootouts? Playing it a little risky for an evil mastermind, eh?

- Tell me again: how is firing a Polaris missile from the Nautilus into a specific Venitian building, guided by GPS location of a 1930's-style roadster supposed to save Venice from destruction? And how is it that the guys in the car can find this place through the winding streets of Venice but the crewman up in the crow's nest can't? And why would you, as the evil genius behind the bombing of Venice not only station scores of your armored men along various (soon to be toast) streets and alleys on the off-chance that a gentlemen-filled car will drive by but also be present yourself? How did he expect to get away? And how did the Nautilus start to sink in Venice, then end up in the open sea when it popped back up?

- The characters, so richly written 125 years ago, were never properly developed in the film. It was hard to care much about any of them.

A little attention to detail could've turned this from a fun summer action-romp into a true X-Men meets Indiana Jones classic. Ah well, rent the DVD once it's off the "New Releases" shelf, drink enough scotch & soda to be able to suspend your disbelief WAY up high, have fun with the movie and thank me that you didn't pay full price.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: had potential...sadly lacked everything else
Review: I have to admit, when I first saw commercials of this movie half a year ago I was excited! Peta Wilson! Haven't seen her around for a long time! Shane West! 'Nuff said! Stuart Townsend! Great performance in Queen of the Damned, a sadly underrated movie. I managed to keep my excitement going, and went to see the movie when it came out. It got off to a very slow start, but that's not necessarily a bad start for a good story, so I said okay, let's see what happens next. Peta Wilson a vampire definitely got me thinkin' good things about what was to come, and the relation between her and Dorian Gray, and the other complication of Tom Sawyer, proved to be an interesting point to follow. I loved the Nautilus, I loved the different settings (who wouldn't love old century England and Rome!), and I thought the plot would be at least adequate. Sadly, I was grossly mistaken. The characters had NO depth at all, 'cept for mayb that one bit about Mina and Dorian, the plot was VERY cheesy (they didn't meet any resistance along the way to italy, they managed to "save the world" WAY too fast, and the double-crosser was pretty easy to spot even if you haven't read the book), and the ending would've been kinda cool if Quartermain was focused upon more often (ergo I would have actually CRIED at his death as I do with every decent movie). All in all, the actors were good, the characters were good, the story would've been GOOD if they'd just spent a lil more time on it, and it would've been MUCh better if it hadn't been painfully obvious by the numerous "dark" fighting scenes that there were many, many stunt doubles. The movie had some great potential, but sadly that's all it offered us. Not a bad way to spend some free time though, if all you wanna do is watch things go BOOM. I'd recommend you go see Pirates of the Caribbean otherwise, as it has EVERYTHING a good movie should have.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The "League" May Be "Extraordinary" But The Film Is Ordinary
Review: When I first heard about this movie I didn't want to see it at all. I'm getting a little sick of Hollywood making comic book movies every month. So far we have had "Daredevil", "X-Men 2", and "Hulk". But, it wasn't until the film was released that I found out what the movie is about. For those who are ignorant like me when it comes to comic books the movie is about a group of men being assembled together in order to stop a madman from world domination. OK, so that part sounds boring. But, it's the characters who are brought together that caught my interest. The characters are classic literature characters such as; "Dr. Jekyll\Mr. Hyde", "The Invisible Man", "Captain Nemo" and Mina Harker (From "Dracula"). This sounds like a good fun idea to me. I thought I would get a kick out of seeing people playing these characters. And I was mildly right.

"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" makes one big mistake that plagues the movie throughout. It takes itself too serious. People who walk into this movie should more or less know what they are getting. You can expect big loud explosions. Semi-suggestive material. Lots of action. And mild but unwitty attempts at humor when the characters are in serious danger. In a dare I say "James Bond" style. And that is exactly what you will see when watching this movie. But, I was expecting a bit more tongue-in-cheek humor. I was expecting the movie to be a bit more "fun". The movie I feel most will agree basically has a ludicrous plot but the writer James Dale Robinson didn't seem to think so. The movie is trying to be kind of "heavy". The only way this movie could of worked I thought was by knowing what its limitations were and making the best of them.

There are some things I liked about the movie. I liked the look of the film though I'm willing to bet all of it was fake and done with special effects, but, it was still nice to look at. I didn't mind the performances but I think Sean Connery comes out looking the best. He's playing a sort of Indiana Jones kind of character. He is after all Jones' father ya know? But other than that I don't see much else to recommend.

Besides the serious tone of the movie I didn't like what they did with the "Dr.Jekyll" character. When he turns into "Mr. Hyde" he looks a lot like "The Incredible Hulk". I don't remember Spencer Tracy becoming a 10 foot monster when he played the part. Also the camerawork bothered me. At times I felt it was moving too much. I was becoming dizzy. The action is moving so fast that it seems like it just can't keep up.

If your looking for a mindless good time and a nice way to spend an evening after a hard day's work I'm not 100% convinced this is the best way to spend your time and more importantly your money. Though I guess there is an audience for this kind of thing. Whether or not most of that audience will enjoy it, I'm not sure. I don't hate this movie, but I don't like it very much either. If it helps you in any way, if I had the chance to go back in time and chose if I wanted to see this movie again, I'd probably pass.

Bottom-line: Silly comic book movie that just doesn't seem as "fun" as it could of been. Takes itself too serious when it should of been more playful. Acting is fine and I like the look of the movie but nothing else caught my eye.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Great Concept, Poor Execution
Review: LXG starts well with a spectaclar scene involving Alan Quatermain's reluctant re-entry to Her Majesty's Service. The excitement continues as the members of the LXG have their initial meeting and are subjected to their first attack as a team. But it's all downhill from there. Even the special effects seem to get faker as the film progresses. The Invisible Man is sometimes CGI, sometimes a live actor with powder on his face and the obvious inconsistency in appeance is glaring and inexcusable. Captain Nemo's submarine is not half as impressive as the one in the Disney film "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," which was made FIFTY years ago. Inside LXG's sub, the chandaliers in the dining room don't even sway as the sub maneuvers and you rarely have the feeling in interior shots that you're in a sub.

The characters are potentially interesting, but the movie's execution and script are so sloppy, the characters'potential is never realized. And why would Dorian Gray keep his eyes open when shown that portrait since he knows what will happen? Why does the invisible man disappear, not only in the obvious sense but from the movie, for an hour with no credible explanation? What is the significance of Captain Nemo's strange religious inclinations? Why does Nemo's beard look like it's about to come unglued at any second?

I'm aware that there were conflicts between Connery (the producer) and the director, Stephen Norrington, and there were natural disasters. It shows. But all this movie proves is that modern special effects can look lousier than the plastic models used in the 1950's. Oh, it also proves that Peta Wilson makes a sexy vampire. Overall, the movie is a shame because Sean Connery, at 73, still has star power and it's wasted here. I'd like to see him make one more great film before he hangs it up. Recent Connery movies like LXG, Entrapment, and even Finding Forester, are poor closers for old Sean. He should try again while he can still walk.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: No funny aftertaste
Review: No aftertaste at all. I am sure I'll have forgotten this movie completely before I can even... Wait, what was I talking about again? Oh, yes. LXG. Sean Connery has become the dottering old guy they portray him as on SNL. The characters are given short shift to some of the saddest SFX I've ever seen. The Nautilus changes sizes from as vast as Manhattan to small enough to fit into a canal in Venice. The only semi-interesting characters are either dead by the end of the movie or defying their own story-lines for a "funeral" for another "dead" character. Yuck!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fun Film
Review: Lots of action, sly humor, great effects. A little noisy, the fights a bit jerky and fast but I would see it again.


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