Lxg

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Saw this last weekend with my mother (who is not an action movie fan, but a fan of Sean Connery).

I enjoyed it thoroughly. Not only do you have a group of characters from literature brought to life and interacting with one another, but it rates high on the violence and special effects meter as well. There were many excellent explosions, particularly in the Carnival scene and the dirigible factory.

Tom Sawyer's fascination with the vampiress Mina Harker, and Mina's own relationship with the immortal Dorian Grey, was an interesting triangle, talk about age gaps :)

The scene in the bowels of the Nautilus with the chained Mr. Hyde was a little too evocative of the scene in Moria with the cave troll from Lord of the Rings. And the scene in which Mr. Hyde manages to rescue the damaged Nautilus that was sinking, by letting out the water, was an interesting exercise in bending the laws of physics. Mina's imperviousness to the light of day and her use of a compact mirror to check her reflection, were a bit jarring.

The design of the Nautilus (and Nemo's automobile) is worth seeing if you like such things, a fusion of high-Victorian ornament and Indian arabesque designs.

The dialogue wasn't perhaps up to the standards of the original writers, but, hey, it's an action movie, not serious drama. One of my favorite bits was Tom Sawyer's commenting after watching Mina Harker's messy method of eating, that he'd always heard European women were different. Shakespeare, it ain't.

Overall, thumbs up, and I plan on adding this to my DVD collection, when it's released.

Dear Mrs. Robinson...

If you liked the movie you should seek out the Graphic Novels it was based on. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen started as a comic book and is one of the best to come out in quite some time.

Vastly different from the movie for obvious reasons (studios always know best right) but Im sure you'll enjoy it.

As for why Mina has the powers of Dracula but none of his weaknesses.. my theory is she entraled her by allowing her to drink his blood but she was never truly "killed" and therefore could not become one of the undead. There are legends that just drinking the blood of a vampire can grant powers.

Another thought is that most of a vampires weaknesses were "created" by those who have been in the entertinment business. Writers and movie makers, for the sake fo making the vampire less powerful so a hero can defeat them. If the LXG is supposed to be the reality that our entertainment is based from... Mina is supposed to be the Mina Bram Stoker wrote about.. then she may not have any weakness at all.

Glad to see others liked this movie. The critics lambasted it, but what do that know. Sometimes I think they have the words "cynical" and "critical" mixed up.
One thing I wanted to mention - libraries and bookstores around the country have reported that the original books that contain these characters are flying off the shelf. Children that saw the movie are now interested in where they came from. To me, this is a sign of success, regardless of how the movie does at the box office.
However, I hope that the kids don't track down the graphic novels...those are a bit mature for them.

I saw it...I liked it...I love the fact that it will create more of an interest in the literary works these characters "star" in.

And the actor Stuart Townsend is a 30 year old Irish hottie who plays Dorian Gray is also an excellent Lestat in Queen of the Damned. I am not a fan of that movie...but he is (in my opinion) a perfect Lestat.

The movie is ok. It could have been so much better. I left the theator wanting more. As fair as the bride of dracula walking in the day time. Vampires can walk around in day time there powers are reduced. acording to bram stroker anyway.

Getting back to Mina...

If you read Dracula you will see that the movies changed a lot of the powers/weaknesses.

Mina first saw Dracula in London while walking with her husband at 3 PM on a August afternoon. His powers were weakened by daylight, but he was not bound to his coffin during the day.