LXG, my thoughts and the occasional rant that reveals plot, unless you like spoilers do not read!)
SYNOPSIS
A masked maniac (aren’t they always) called the Fantom bent on destruction of the world, and getting rich very quickly (aren’t they always) is escalating the already tense situation in world politics by attacking countries disguised as the enemy (Germans, English, Eskimos whatever it’s World War baby!). Cue the toffy English bloke to gather an over the hill and past his prime true Blue British hero to save the day, this is of course Alan Quatermain (Connery). Quatemain is recruited by ‘M’ (from 007 descent oh his played by Aussie local: Roxburgh) to lead a group, a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen that include Captain Nemo (Shah), an Invisible Man called Skinner (Curran), an American Spy called Tom Sawyer(!) (West), A mysterious woman named Mina (Australia’s Peta Wilson), the immortal aristocrat Dorian Gray (Townsend), and the bi polar Dr Jekyll, and by default Mr Hyde (Jason Flemyng). Together they trek around the globe after the Fantom, trying to foil his untimely sinking of Venice and unmask this fiend, and even the Judas within their own ranks.
PLOT
Original only in concept and characters this follows the well trod path of the Hollywood Rollercoaster and does it well, only now days the audience is even harder to impress. What’s interesting is how “LXG”, or more accurately “LEG”, works as a film. About half of the film is spent organising the league, going to Venice, and setting up a turncoat. With the exception of the latter, which is unsubtle and bloody predictable (Gee wilikers could it be one of the characters who aren’t in the Graphic Novels???”) the first half is really good, and I was enjoying myself on more than a mindless action level, it contains great introduction to characters (usually a part where films lag), some great lines like Gray’s poncy “I’m Complicated” line, or the banter between Harker and Quatemain, and better yet the American shooting quip... The second half is where this flick drops from a good movie to an average movie, that while entertaining loses its way enough for it to be fairly disappointing. The Half time exposition of the Traitor and the villain are horribly mishandled, and confirms the rule that the villain must be developed as much as the hero. Unlike most I believe the inclusion of crazy technology works on a fantasy level, but this was a time of technological booms though (specifically in warfare) and also I like the irony that 15 years later there’s a world war anyway… Where was the League then huh?
CAST
Connery is Connery, enough said. He brings an arrogance to Quatemain that allows you to believe that he is the greatest adventurer ever. Naseerudin Shah is strong as Nemo, and every inch a captain, though like a lot of the League he plays a second fiddle to Connery and West. Speaking of West I found this character slightly annoying, every other character is so jaded, or deeply flawed that the completely untainted Sawyer is frustrating and a little shallow. Peta Wilson is stunning as Harker, although a little more emotion in her character wouldn’t kill her. Curran has it tough because you can’t see him, especially his eyes which is important for acting, but makes the character theatrical enough to work, and proves a cheeky comic relief. Roxburgh is woefully mishandled here, and everything about his character is blatantly obvious. The real standouts are Stuart Townsend and Jason Flemyng, as Dorian Gray and Jekyll/Hyde respectively. Townsend obviously has a ball as the vain, fop who stumbled upon longevity, he allows for empathy for a character who is, on the surface, cold and typically aristocrat and more importantly he is really, really suave, which none of the other characters are. Flemyng on the other hand gets to play lots of emotions, as the tortured, ever weakening Jekyll he is a doomed character to be pitied, and has brilliant scenes with himself (no less) made up as the contemptible animal Hyde. The reason these two work so well is that they are, more than the others, characters seeking redemption for their mistakes, and that makes them compelling to watch. I found that I wanted to spend more time with the rest of the league (that is all except Connery and West as they get enough screen time already), and get to know them all better but alas this was not pursued and instead we got more action, that is fun but ultimately unfulfilling (which says a lot about the film as a whole).
PRODUCTION STUFF
The music is great, the sets fantastic, the direction acceptable and the effects good, except that absurdly huge red thing. Especially Mr Edward Hyde. The obvious comparisons will be made with Hulk which is unfair for a number of reasons namely that Hulk doesn’t look real because how real can a 12-15 foot muscle bound, monster that’s green no less, look? In any event Hyde is handled differently, quite a bit of Hyde was prosthetic, and then touched up by a computer so he wasn’t 100% CG, which is nice and tangible. For those of you who remember The Mummy Returns, the final monster looked fine, until the very fake head was shown. LXG does not make this mistake with Hyde and actually has Flemyng wearing gorilla like makeup for shots of Hyde’s head, and it’s fantastic, I was bloody impressed with how it turned out, expecting a cheap Hulk clone. Like I said everything looks great, for the most part, it’s the story which fails the movie…
OVERALL: An interesting but ultimately average action movie that survives of premise and performance.
SPOILER AVERT EYES UNLESS PREPARED
Dorian Gray was without a doubt one of the best characters in the film… So why the hell did they mishandle him sooooo badly in the traitor scene, and what’s worse just cheaply kill him. If they really wanted a “rat in the rank” there was a much better way to handle it, try making it the first mate (with the motive of having the Nautilus to himself) or what works better is the Lando Calrissian (Sp?) approach. The supposedly good guy is blackmailed by the villain and forced into a situation where he must sell out his friends but in the end proves himself. The groundwork was there for it as Fantom had taken his Portrait and was holding it hostage, so why did they go for this muddled and disappointing choice that killed a great character, and squashed a great morality tale about redemption? I can only imagine… Also ‘M’ being Moriarty was cluttered and horribly butchered; I’m told this was a big twist in the comics, and the casting of Roxburgh made it obvious. Roxburgh is too big an actor to have cast in such a seemingly small role, so it was obvious that ‘M’ would be back, and since the villain is masked, and masked villains obviously have an identity worth hiding it only made the conclusion more obvious. Sometimes movies just frustrate me…