The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)

[NeilMiddleton 13]

I'm a little shocked I've not seen this posted before.

 

This film ended the careers of director Stephen Norrington, up-and-comer Shane West and Sean Connery, who retired after appearing in this film.

 

It's based on an Alan Moore comic that it shares little similarities with and gets a number of the literary characters completely wrong. It tries for twists that make no sense and are not shocking at all, because you see them coming from a mile away.

 

Plus, with the popularity of comic-book-to-screen adaptations, this would fit right in. My only problem is should it get done on the show, I'd have to sit through it again. Yes, I own the DVD. It was a blind-buy. Should have listened to...well, everyone and skipped it...

[seanotron 2307]

Ya know, I don't even find this movie fun to watch in a bad way. It's such a downer to see otherwise talented people trying their best to make a bad story interesting. Other than Sean Connery, who seems completely disinterested the entire time.

 

Alan Moore is certifiable and kind of a dick, but he was right-on when he warned Hollywood that his stories would not translate to the big screen very well. Not that League uses his story, it just sort of uses the framework he created.

[therealjayknox 26]

I remember enjoying the movie but thinking it missed some good opportunities and had a few dumb moments or fails. Otherwise a kind of mid-budget superhero movie.

Remembered that I liked the old school literary character angle but I think that was lost on a lot of viewers. Also I hate movies that are constantly in the dark, night, dark and rainy, darkly lit-rooms.

[sillstaw 414]

Alan Moore is certifiable and kind of a dick, but he was right-on when he warned Hollywood that his stories would not translate to the big screen very well. Not that League uses his story, it just sort of uses the framework he created.

 

Especially when you consider the whole court case that likely soured him on Hollywood, where Larry Cohen claimed he'd pitched the idea to Fox years before.

 

(If you haven't heard about it: Basically, Alan Moore said that it seemed like they thought Fox had told him to make the comic so they could adapt it, all to avoid paying the original writers. He then had to testify in court, and claimed that he'd have been treated nicer if he had "molested and murdered a busload of retarded children after giving them heroin." In the end, Fox settled out of court, which he saw as an admission of guilt.)

[jimkiler 84]

You know why Sean Connery agreed to be in this movie, a movie he did not understand? It was because he was offered a part in The Matrix but turned it down because he did not understand it. Then he was offered a part in Lord of the Rings and again because he did not understand it he declined. Seeing how successful both of those were he agreed to this movie he again did not understand. Bad move Connery.

[seanotron 2307]

You know why Sean Connery agreed to be in this movie, a movie he did not understand? It was because he was offered a part in The Matrix but turned it down because he did not understand it. Then he was offered a part in Lord of the Rings and again because he did not understand it he declined. Seeing how successful both of those were he agreed to this movie he again did not understand. Bad move Connery.

 

So the guy that did Zardoz couldn't understand Lord of the Rings? Really?

[choochoo_the_wonder_slut 740]

"YOU SHELL NOT PASH!"

[stusaucier 4]

I used to manage at a Suncoast Video and we had this open as an in store play. My staff and I made a list of all the things wrong with this movie. The list started small and finally ended at over FOUR PAGES LONG. This movie is PERFECT for a pod.

[jarrycanada 2483]

I do remember seeing this movie and thinking this is the biggest piece of crap, afterwords.

but it is no Zardoz. that is the greatest movie ever made...

 

Btw Nicolas Cage did a tribute to Zardoz in the movie "Knowing" end of film same music, same scene. check it out.

[AndrewMurray 21]

This movie makes me straight up mad. If they ever want to do it they MUST read the book first and then judge the movie against the graphic novel.

 

Just horrible.

[sillstaw 414]

This movie makes me straight up mad. If they ever want to do it they MUST read the book first and then judge the movie against the graphic novel.

 

I don't know if any of the main crew would want to do that much homework for the movie, though. Maybe if they got a comic book geek as the guest...

[Snake 165]

Someone must have submitted this movie as a suggestion before since it is so terrible, but I went through a few pages and didn't see it on the forums. I think it needs to be done for the following reasons:

 

1.) Sean Connery retired after it and there is an article in The Telegraph from a couple of years ago that starts like this:

 

Sir Sean Connery, who turned 81 on Thursday, will never return to the big screen, according to his friend, Sir Michael Caine.

 

“I phoned him the other day, but we never see each other because he doesn’t move around a lot now,” Caine says. “He won’t make another film now. I just asked him. He said, 'No, I’ll never do it.’ ”

 

Connery’s final film was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2003.

 

2.) Since Sean Connery retired after LOEOG made him hate acting forever, he turned down the Lord of the Rings, which cost him an estimated $450 million.

 

3.a.) It makes LITERALLY NO SENSE WHATSOEVER

3.b.) As a bonus, it is next level bonkers

 

4.) There are classic scenes like a giant submarine emerging from the Venice canals which can't be more than 6 feet deep and high speed car chases when the year is something like 1850

 

5.) It gets a 17% on Rotten Tomatoes

 

6.) The Amazon 5 Stars reviews are amazing, with titles like "The League of Enjoyable Characters!"

 

7.) It's bananas

 

8.) What is an "Extraordinary Gentleman?"

 

9.) The dialogue is barely a step up from The Room

[Snake 165]

When I went to check for this, I started from the last page of the Bad Movie Recommendations and went for about twenty pages and didn't see it. Then, I started from the most recent and went back 7 pages and didn't see it. Someone just suggested it in March actually on the 8th page of topics here, I just missed it:

 

http://forum.earwolf.com/topic/10804-the-league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen/

 

Goddamnit this movie is so perfect

[NeilMiddleton 13]

This was the first movie I thought of when I learned about How Did This Get Made. So, so perfect for the show...

[Johnny Unusual 525]

Maybe someone can merge all the LXG threads.

[klause 0]

One additional point:

 

This terrible movie also caused the author of the original comic, Alan Moore, to vow to never again let one of his books/comics get made into a film. (I mean, yeah, Watchmen still got made but he fought that tooth and claw.)

 

I gotta admit, though, it was kind of a guilty pleasure when I was like 13 years old. What can I say, it had cool Jules Verne ships, elaborate period sets, action, and zeppelins. That and Van Helsing. I'll...I'll see myself out now.

[seanotron 2307]

One additional point:

 

This terrible movie also caused the author of the original comic, Alan Moore, to vow to never again let one of his books/comics get made into a film. (I mean, yeah, Watchmen still got made but he fought that tooth and claw.)

 

 

Sort of. He was actually on record as not caring about the film adaptations of his work (he just didn't watch them), but 20th Century Fox was sued over League by two writers who claimed it ripped off a screenplay they wrote. Moore had to go to court to defend himself, and the experience was so unpleasant he said he would never go through it again. Then Fox settled, which Moore felt impugned his character and implied guilt. He's since insisted that any adaptations of his work remove his name.

[PhillipMedoc 648]

This terrible movie also caused the author of the original comic, Alan Moore, to vow to never again let one of his books/comics get made into a film. (I mean, yeah, Watchmen still got made but he fought that tooth and claw.)

If by "fought that tooth and claw" you mean had his cake and ate it too, yeah. That dude is kind of a genius -- the V for Vendetta book is seriously incredible and moved me to tears -- but he's well known to be at best, eccentric, and at worst, a asshole. He has "disowned" every movie made from one of his comics. He claims to have not accepted money from Watchmen or V for Vendetta, but he definitely made money from them by selling the rights for filmed version years ago. You know what happens when you sell your rights to a creative work? You either prepare for massive butthurt or you pay off your Mother's mortgage.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

I think we need a prequel, possibly "The Loosely-Organized Assembly of Astoundingly Unremarkable Young Chaps" or something like that.

[stellamarch16 5]

The movie is bad, but it did not kill Sean Connery's career. It's just that Connery thought he was too old to act in films and gradually retired. I have read that he is still offered roles, but keeps turning them down.

[Snake 165]

The movie is bad, but it did not kill Sean Connery's career. It's just that Connery thought he was too old to act in films and gradually retired. I have read that he is still offered roles, but keeps turning them down.

 

I have found numerous places saying he quit as a direct result of this movie. I was going to list a few sites in a row like this:

 

1.) What happened to Sean Connery? The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen happened to Sean Connery. Now granted, this was far from the first flop of Connery’s career, but it was apparently one he felt so personally embarrassed by that he decided to retire from acting altogether.

http://www.hollywood.com/news/movies/7809746/m-i-a-sean-connery?page=all

 

But then I clicked on a bunch of conspiracy theory websites by accident and I'm at work, so I stopped. Mainly beacuse I don't want the IT guys coming down and talking to me about aliens or something, thinking I'm interested.

 

It is especially good to do now, since Fox just announced they are making a TV series on it

 

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/07/league-extraordinary-gentlemen-tv/

[seanotron 2307]

Weirdly enough, I think this could work as a TV series much better than a movie. But you need to stick closer to the depictions in the graphic novel. But it's being made by Fox, so expect it be cancelled right after it gets good.

[sillstaw 414]

I think it would likely work better on FX, where they could have somewhat more extreme content. It's just not Alan Moore without sex and drug use, and you can't do that on network television. (I'd also add extreme violence, but given that Fox is where the pornographically gruesome "The Following" airs, that seems like less of a problem.)

 

Honestly, I'm mostly just eager for the show because it means Alan Moore will get snippy about American TV.

[seanotron 2307]

I think it would likely work better on FX, where they could have somewhat more extreme content. It's just not Alan Moore without sex and drug use, and you can't do that on network television. (I'd also add extreme violence, but given that Fox is where the pornographically gruesome "The Following" airs, that seems like less of a problem.)

 

Honestly, I'm mostly just eager for the show because it means Alan Moore will get snippy about American TV.

 

Well, it they want to stay that true to Alan Moore, they'll also include poorly-written female characters and lots of rape.

 

I don't watch the show any more, but I was often quite entertained by how far Bones seemed to push the ick factor with corpses. But FX loves to push the ick factor with sex, so I guess Fox has it covered either way.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

 

Well, it they want to stay that true to Alan Moore, they'll also include poorly-written female characters and lots of rape.

 

I don't watch the show any more, but I was often quite entertained by how far Bones seemed to push the ick factor with corpses. But FX loves to push the ick factor with sex, so I guess Fox has it covered either way.

Speaking of which, there's a pretty gruesome sequence in the the second volume of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, where Mr. Hyde rapes the Invisible Man to death. I don't think he was QUITE dead when the rest of the crew got there, but when he finally bled out, everything re-appeared...