League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2.5 of 5)
A British comic book come to life-hmmm-something is wrong there already. But I digress. This must have looked great on paper; all the legends of the 1800-s England are brought together to face an evil person. An evil person set on starting a world war so he can sell the weapons to all sides-kind of cool. Where it fails is the execution and while I loved -Blade-s tight feel but director Norrington loses control early on in this production. The introduction of Quatermain alone is enough to warrant making this movie. The other character introductions are fun, albeit dark, but after that the uncontrollable slide begins. The effects and action are motion blurred beyond recognition. The dialog dumbs down to extreme levels and character development (with Hyde and Nemo being the exceptions) stops altogether. I kept seeing hints of-Doc Savage: Man of Bronze- in every scene-and the 75 camp classic did was better on every occasion. Which goes to OMS Media rule #2: If you cant do it better than the people before you-put the camera down! The name-Bronze- had more color than this whole film. Filmed in Prague and it showed. The film was dark, dismal and almost unwatchable. I don-t think they can make that city look good anyways. For some reason the-Old Style- comic books (ahem…graphic novels) just cannot adapt to the screen well..( Phantom, Shadow, Captain America). Matinee only on this one kids.
A British comic book come to life-hmmm-something is wrong there already. But I digress. This must have looked great on paper; all the legends of the 1800-s England are brought together to face an evil person. An evil person set on starting a world war so he can sell the weapons to all sides-kind of cool. Where it fails is the execution and while I loved -Blade-s tight feel but director Norrington loses control early on in this production. The introduction of Quatermain alone is enough to warrant making this movie. The other character introductions are fun, albeit dark, but after that the uncontrollable slide begins. The effects and action are motion blurred beyond recognition. The dialog dumbs down to extreme levels and character development (with Hyde and Nemo being the exceptions) stops altogether. I kept seeing hints of-Doc Savage: Man of Bronze- in every scene-and the 75 camp classic did was better on every occasion. Which goes to OMS Media rule #2: If you cant do it better than the people before you-put the camera down! The name-Bronze- had more color than this whole film. Filmed in Prague and it showed. The film was dark, dismal and almost unwatchable. I don-t think they can make that city look good anyways. For some reason the-Old Style- comic books (ahem…graphic novels) just cannot adapt to the screen well..( Phantom, Shadow, Captain America). Matinee only on this one kids.