The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen – Reluctantly accepting a mission to prevent a world war from breaking out, famous adventurer Allan Quartermain joins a small but elite team of remarkable people with varying talents and abilities; including an invisible man, a vampire, an immortal and an expert martial artist. With dangers at every turn and the villainous ‘Fantom’ wanting world dominance, the team must work together, but with a potential traitor in their midst, can they trust each other enough to stop the impending violence?

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) – Director: Stephen Norrington

Rating: 12

Running Length: 110 mins

Starring: Sean Connery, Naseeruddin Shah, Jason Flemying

Genre: Action/Adventure

REVIEW: ‘THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN’

Loosely based on the first volume of the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill, ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ sees a range of characters from famous Victorian literature come together to fight against evil. Coupled with a host of both modern and steam punk style technology, this movie promised to be a unique and hugely entertaining family romp. Sadly, the inconsistencies, continuity errors and lack of focused plot ruin an otherwise interesting concept.

While the movie isn’t awful and provides some entertainment, especially for kids who may otherwise be ignorant to many of the characters, it is incredibly disappointing. The plot drags, the action relies too heavily on the unflattering special effects and the actors themselves seem to struggle to show any enthusiasm for their roles. The plot does attempt to keep the audience in suspense with some plot twists but they are often so contrived that the resolutions can be seen a mile away.

‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ had the potential to reignite the action/adventure genre, much like ‘The Mummy’ did some years before. Although kids may find the swashbuckling style of the story exciting, for adults its lack of imagination brings it down to barely more than a disappointingly damp squib.

CONTENT: IS ‘THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

Most of the violence in the movie is more action based than overly realistic. Towards the beginning, numerous good and bad incidental characters are killed including one who is crushed underneath a tank and another who is impaled on the horns of an animal head which has been hung on a wall. This character cries out in pain and grimaces but his suffering is short-lived and not lingered upon. Another ‘good’ character who has briefly been introduced to the story and the audience are likely to feel sympathy for is shot and killed.

There is a big fight scene in a library where dozens of ‘bad’ characters attempt to destroy the League. The majority of the fighting, involving knives and guns is quite tame although one character is shot several times with a semi automatic weapon. Bullet wounds appear all over their torso but no blood is present and this character is uninjured due to his special powers.

The character of Mr Hyde may be a little frightening for some younger kids. He is a huge, aggressive monster and, when he is captured he roars loudly and fights against his chains, throwing several people across the room. When he transforms into Dr Jekyll, he thrashes and screams in great distress for several seconds. This may be particularly confusing for children as he is a ‘good’ character who forms part of the League and they may wonder why he is aggressive towards people who are his friends.

Two characters become physically intimate, kissing passionately in a bedroom. Nothing graphic is shown but what has happened is clear, especially as later in the movie, one of them calls the other ‘lover’. Another character watches them but is unseen; a voice in his head mocks him saying ‘look but don’t touch’. This character then walks away from the room, presumably before he sees anything explicit.

One character dies by aging drastically and very quickly. The camera stays on their face as it changes and they scream as their body gradually crumples away. No blood is seen but this could be quite upsetting for young kids.

A huge monster attacks Mr Hyde and relentlessly beats him. He is thrown against walls, hit with heavy objects and has his face grabbed roughly by the monster’s hand. This scene lasts for a few minutes and Mr Hyde seems unlikely to survive the attack.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT – IS ‘THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN’ FOR KIDS?

‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ is undeniably exciting, full of tongue in cheek humour and has plenty of interesting characters. Unfortunately its laziness makes for a disappointing and often silly caper that adults will quickly become tired of. It is clearly focusing its efforts on being a family friendly action movie and, because of this, we feel it should be appropriate for most kids aged 6 and over.

• Violence: 3/5 (one character is revealed to be a vampire and attacks someone who threatens them, nothing explicit is shown on-screen but they lunge at their throat then ripping and tearing sounds can be heard. There is then a close-up of the vampire’s face which has a small amount of blood around the mouth; they wipe it with their fingers and suck them clean. One character pulls a sword out of another’s stomach. One character is badly burned and some painful-looking red marks can be seen on their body)
• Emotional Distress: 2/5 (a major character is killed and their friends are sad but the distress over the death is not strong. One character explains that their child died some years before, saying ‘he died in my arms’)
• Fear Factor: 2/5 (one scene involves hundreds of bats, many flying very close to the camera and could be quite scary for those who have a phobia)
• Sexual Content: 2/5 (one character tells another ‘I hoped I’d get to nail you one last time, I didn’t think it would be literally’)               
• Bad Language: 1/5 (infrequent mild cursing and blasphemy, one moderate curse word is cut off halfway through twice)
• Dialogue: 3/5 (one character says ‘I’ve had my fill of throats for this evening)
• Other notes: Deals with themes of teamwork, fighting against a stronger foe for the right reasons, betrayal, using special powers for good, accepting people’s differences and trusting the right people.

Words by Laura Record

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