A league of the world’s most renowned myths and legends? Count me in! Released in 2003, this extraordinary film was directed by Stephen Norrington who also did Blade (1998), and had a number of projects involved with Special Effects and Visual Effects. The film is loosely based on the first volume of the comic book series of the same name by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill. Genre is a steampunk/dieselpunk superhero movie about a group of literary characters who team up to stop a madman from starting a world war. Its as simple as that but the characters made it blossom.

Premise and Literary sources

The premise was almost the same as that in the comic book with some differences. An example would be that Tom Sawyer wasn’t on the source material. Also, the writers Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill have disavowed the film. The literary works that are most prominently present in the comic volume of which the film was loosely based on are as follows:
-Bram Stoker’s Dracula
-Allan Quatermain stories by H. Rider Haggard
-Captain Nemo adventures by Jules Verne
-The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
-The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells
-The Picture of Dorian Gray by Irish writer Oscar Wilde
-Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle

Characters

The main castings were great, the league consists of:

• Sean Connery being the 60-year old sniper and strategist, based on the character Allan Quatermain. Did his best to be the leader of the league, and he did just that.
• Peta Wilson as Mina was enticing, as she should be. She was able to capture that charm of Dracula.
• Stuart Townsend as Dorian Gray was a little bit off for me, I’d rather see Ben Barnes (Dorian Gray 2009) be casted here and act as a sequel, and hia 2009 film would be a prequel to this or something.
• For me, Shane West will forever be Landon Carter from A Walk To Remember (2002). Anyway, he was good here as Tom Sawyer, performed well acting as Connery’s apprentice and recruit.
• Tony Curran as Rodney Skinner was also great, giving out that vibe of a conman from the streets.
• Jason Flemyng as Jekyll/Hyde was, I’d dare say, even better than Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk. I know he’s english and it’s a different “creature”, but he handles the dual split personality better than Ruffalo. Also, even if this was released in 2003, the creature design for Mr.Hyde was far better than that of Russel Crowe’s portrayal of it in The Mummy (2017).

Early 2000s Visual Effects

The visual effects were tacky most of the time, but given the year it was released, I’d give them props having to deliver such effects to be honest. They were able to bring a multiverse of a film even before multiverse was as common a term as today. They introduced multiverse way before Doctor Strange. I love how they made the viewers, specially those who were familiar with the literary works of each character, feel like the film was made for them. It’s like having all the Disney Princesses come together for one epic film (Which by the way I’d pay to watch).

The design for the Nautilus was insane and over the top, but it was oh so good. Seeing it go through a canal was satisfying. Also, the costume of M (James Moriarty) was tacky and very villainous as if it were straight from a comic book. It was too much in my opinion.

Box Office Failure

Unfortunately, the film failed in the box office, hence not having the planned sequels wherein they’d fight with alien tripods from space (literary source would be “The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells).
In an interview, Kevin O’Neill, illustrator for the comics, wasn’t thrilled when he read the screenplay, it was so far from the source material that he didn’t recognize the characters at all. Also claimed that Norrington (director) and Connery weren’t cooperative whenever they had meetings.

On the bright side, a news from May 2022. That 20th Century Studios is developing a reboot of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen for Hulu, Deadline can confirm. But since then I’ve yet to hear an update about it.

Conclusion

Not sure which platform to watch it on, but if you do get a chance, I urge you to watch it. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is like a bookworm’s film fantasy come true. Most of the iconic novel characters coming together to defeat one super villain. It sounds cheesy, yes it is. Its really cool, specially if you’ve watched it when it came out. But do keep your expectations to a minimum with regards to the effects as the film relied heavily on CGI but CGI wasn’t fully developed at the time, hence the dated results. Other than that, enjoy!