I have a lot of things to thank my grandfather for in my childhood but there is especially one thing i am very grateful that he did. He used to record the James Bond films with legendary actor Sean Connery on VHS from TV and it was with my grandfather i watched these films. Since he knew i had not seen any of the films at that time we started watching from the very beginning with the 1962 action film Dr. No, continued with From Russia With Love and of course we continued with ( in my opinion one of his best James Bond films ) Goldfinger. After this experience at my grandfathers home i started to watch more of the James Bond films with Roger Moore. I did enjoy his films as well but there was just something special about Sean Connery. He had a screen presence that you could not explain and i loved his Scottish accent. During the late 80´s i got into more of Sean Connery´s films and i remember buying the 1986 film Highlander on VHS. I feel in love with this film not only because of Christopher Lambert´s character Connor McLaeod but also thanks to the performance from Sean Connery as the character Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramirez. They were a really good match in their scenes together, and the film Highlander itself is a really good fantasy action adventure where director Russel Mulcahy managed to capture the Scottish landscape as well as Scottish historical time periods really good through these characters. A must see if you enjoy 80´s films and definetely worth buying on physical media. The sequel Highlander 2 - The Quickening is nowhere near as good as the first film, but i do recommend that you watch the Renegade Version just if you want to see a more futuristic version of Highlander. The sequels that followed after these films are not worth talking about honestly. In the early 2000´s it turned out that legendary actor Sean Connery was ready to retire from acting but would do one last lead role in the action adventure known as The League Of Extrodinary Gentlemen. At the time when this film came out critics were not all happy but fans of the comic book series of the same name were excited. I have seen this film several time since the film came out in 2003 and i notice that it has gone 20 years since this film came out. I thought it would be good timing to celebrate 20 years with this review. Is this film still enjoyable after all these years or have The League Of Extrodinary Gentlemen aged much more than i expected and lost the charm this film once had?
In 1899, a terrorist group led by The Fantom breaks into the Bank of England to steal Leonardo da Vinci´s blueprints of Venice´s foundations. They also kidnap several German scientists while blowing up a zeppeling factory. The British Empire sends Sanderson Reed ( Tom Goodman-Hill ) to Kenya Colony to recruit adventurer and hunter Alan Quatermain ( Sean Connery ), who had retired after the death of his son. However, after a group of assassins try to kill him in the colony, Quatermain changes his mind and decides to accept the mission and travel to London and meet M ( Richard Roxburgh ). M tells Quatermain about The Fantom and his plans to start a war by bombing a secret meeting of world leaders in Venice. To prevent this, M is forming the last generation of The League Of Extrodinary Gentlemen, consisting of Quatermain, Captain Nemo ( Naseeruddin Shah, vampire chemist Mina Harker ( Peta Wilson ), and invisible theif Rodney Skinner ( Tony Curran ). Together they must travel to recruit the rest of the team to stop The Fantom from starting a new war.
Since this film tried to bring in so many different characters into the same film you might think it is impossible to make this work. I actually think The League Of Extrodinary Gentlemen managed to introduce each character in a simple but effective way. Does this mean that each character is great? I would have to say no. But before we get into what characters does work and what characters should have been more effective, let us get into what i enjoy about this film. This really feels like an old school action adventure, even though some CGI scenes do look a bit cheesy after 20 years. I can accept that for the most part since i feel that some of the action scenes are entertaining and match well with the plot. The time period in the late 1800´s is captured well especially with costume design and the set designs. There are of course a lot of CGI scenes where you see some locations are just backgrounds but i still feel some of these scenes are still entertaining if you see this film for what it is, an old school cinematic adventurous experience. Ok so let´s get into some of the characters that work, and it comes to no surprise that legendary actor Sean Connery as Allan Quatermain is the best character in this film. Not only does Sean Connery deliver another solid performance but i also feel that he is a perfect match for this character. I do enjoy the performance from actor Naseerudin Shah as Captain Nemo and he seems to know what this character needed to work in this film. He is charming, have a natural way to deliver dialogue and also can look serious in certain scenes. There are a few more good characters but we need to talk abot the bad details as well. Actor Stuart Townsend as the character Dorian Gray is really boring to watch, he doesn´t really give anything into this group of criminals and heroes. Some of the CGI scenes look pretty cheap and you wonder if they could not have at least tried make it look cool for the fans of the comic books. I think the main villain The Fantom was used too little because he actually have a pretty cool look and it feels like he had potential to be an entertaining villain. Overall i still feel that The League Of Extrodinary Gentlemen is a fun action adventure that feels like a combination of Indiana Jones and Fantastic Four combined into the late 1800´s. Director Stephen Norrington doesn´t hold back on the action scenes and he actually manage to give us a film that definetely feels like a comic book coming to life. The League Of Extrodinary Gentlemen is one of those films that may actually remain a cult film in the future because it stands out from the usual comic book film adaptations, and Sean Connery´s last film also helps his legacy to live on. A film definetely worth owning on DVD or Blu Ray for the whole family to enjoy.
Rating: DDD
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