The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is the type of gimmick literary story that in novel format amuses people who are read widely enough to understand the references, but lacks real emotional power and punch.
I suspect that only a small percentage of the millions who saw this in theaters understood most of the literary references.
Hopefully they enjoyed the special effects and the action.
I'm fairly widely read, but even so I will admit it's been over forty-five years since I read SHE and KING SOLOMON'S MINES by H.
Rider Haggard, so I wonder about how Sean Connery presented the character of the aging Allan Quartermain.
Was he really so quarrelsome in the novels? Were there really any female companions who were distractions? What about Ayesha? Did Haggard write a story where his son died, making him bitter against the British empire? The presentation of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde is incredibly off base.
Mr.
Hyde is a rough, strong person who commits the sins and violent acts Dr.
Jekyll has repressed within his personality -- not a pink version of the Incredible Hulk.
(Ok, in creating the Hulk Stan Lee drew upon the Jekyll/Hyde dualism, but Robert Lewis Stevenson did not present Hyde as a physical monster, only a moral one.
) I don't recall Jules Verne making Captain Nemo an Indian, but that can be me not remembering details of another book (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) I read nearly half a century ago.
How likely is it that Mina Harker and Dorian Grey would have been lovers? I guess they did both travel in the same night time depths of London.
So we have a mixture of characters originally presented with a wide variety of artistic intent (Dorian Grey and Jekyll/Hyde are astute observations on human nature) combined with flat out adventurers such as Quartermain and Nemo.
I suppose it's a subtle display of typical of the period sexism that the word "Gentlemen" is in the name of the group, but it includes a woman.
And it's odd that they change the spelling of Dorian's last name to the American version of "Gray.
" Didn't Oscar Wilde use the British spelling of "Grey?" I can understand throwing in an American character, but by 1899 Tom Sawyer would have been an old man.
Maybe he had a picture to keep him youthful just like Dorian.
The movie is fast-moving.
It impresses you with its special effects and doesn't give you time to think about the plot, which makes little sense.
We're bombarded by either senseless action or references.
It's little surprise when the villain turns out to be Professor James Moriarty, who it turns out didn't die at Reichenbach Falls either...
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is not in the league of extraordinary movies which impress you with their entertainment value by offering great stories rather than tricks and traps.
I suspect that only a small percentage of the millions who saw this in theaters understood most of the literary references.
Hopefully they enjoyed the special effects and the action.
I'm fairly widely read, but even so I will admit it's been over forty-five years since I read SHE and KING SOLOMON'S MINES by H.
Rider Haggard, so I wonder about how Sean Connery presented the character of the aging Allan Quartermain.
Was he really so quarrelsome in the novels? Were there really any female companions who were distractions? What about Ayesha? Did Haggard write a story where his son died, making him bitter against the British empire? The presentation of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde is incredibly off base.
Mr.
Hyde is a rough, strong person who commits the sins and violent acts Dr.
Jekyll has repressed within his personality -- not a pink version of the Incredible Hulk.
(Ok, in creating the Hulk Stan Lee drew upon the Jekyll/Hyde dualism, but Robert Lewis Stevenson did not present Hyde as a physical monster, only a moral one.
) I don't recall Jules Verne making Captain Nemo an Indian, but that can be me not remembering details of another book (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) I read nearly half a century ago.
How likely is it that Mina Harker and Dorian Grey would have been lovers? I guess they did both travel in the same night time depths of London.
So we have a mixture of characters originally presented with a wide variety of artistic intent (Dorian Grey and Jekyll/Hyde are astute observations on human nature) combined with flat out adventurers such as Quartermain and Nemo.
I suppose it's a subtle display of typical of the period sexism that the word "Gentlemen" is in the name of the group, but it includes a woman.
And it's odd that they change the spelling of Dorian's last name to the American version of "Gray.
" Didn't Oscar Wilde use the British spelling of "Grey?" I can understand throwing in an American character, but by 1899 Tom Sawyer would have been an old man.
Maybe he had a picture to keep him youthful just like Dorian.
The movie is fast-moving.
It impresses you with its special effects and doesn't give you time to think about the plot, which makes little sense.
We're bombarded by either senseless action or references.
It's little surprise when the villain turns out to be Professor James Moriarty, who it turns out didn't die at Reichenbach Falls either...
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is not in the league of extraordinary movies which impress you with their entertainment value by offering great stories rather than tricks and traps.
