The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen [WS]

Overview

"The underwhelming League of Extraordinary Gentlemen makes its way to home theaters with 20th Century Fox's widescreen edition DVD. With its brilliant 2.35:1 picture and 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound, the disc is nothing short of spectacular as it showcases the film's glorious production values and lush levels of sound design. Though technically splendid, the extras, on the other hand, tend to be a bit of a let down. The disc is fairly loaded with bonus features that give the viewer a nice overview of the production, but with no juicy mentions of the widely publicized spats between star Sean Connery and director Stephen Norrington (which ended in the screen legend literally taking over the editing room in the final stages), the overtly positive ""spin"" on the behind-the-scenes work becomes more than questionable. Still, for a film that is mostly known for its eye candy, the detailed sections on the rest of the production make for some fine coverage of the artisans behind the camera. Split into three different areas, the disc's special features include six featurettes in the Assembling the League section, 12 deleted and extended scenes in the Deleted Scenes area, and two full-length audio commentary tracks in the Commentaries section. At almost an hour in total length, the featurettes cover everything from Jackie West's costuming to the film's miniature work, with equal time also given to the producer's link to the comic's originator, Alan Moore (their second adaptation after From Hell). The best of the bunch details Steve Johnson's incredible makeup effects that helped realize original artist Kevin O'Neill's hulking vision of Mr. Hyde, played by Jason Flemyng. The British actor can also be found joking around with the Invisible Man himself, Tony Curran, on the first of two commentary tracks. Sadly, Curran's hilarious Sean Connery impersonations are interrupted time and time again by producer Don Murphy's obnoxious outbursts at the fans that questioned some of the more ridiculous story line changes (courtesy of the track's intercutting of three separate recordings from the film's two producers and actor Shane West). There aren't too many great producer commentaries out there and Murphy goes a long way here to prove to you why. The second track is a technical commentary consisting of a costume/makeup/visual effects tag team track, most of which lengthily expands on the behind-the-scenes talk in the featurettes. Finally, the disc presents a wealth of deleted and extended scenes, though there's no sign anywhere of the more graphic scenes Norrington was forced to cut to get the PG-13 rating. Considering the film's poor box office, it's understandable that the studio would want to put out a more family-friendly disc, so it seems the original vision of the film (and the story behind it) will have to wait for another edition. In the meantime, you get a pristine presentation of the theatrical cut and some nice behind-the-scenes production work with this release."

Product Details

Release Date:	12/16/2003
UPC:	0024543101802
Original Release:	2003
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	20Th Century Fox
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:50:00

Special Features

Full-length audio commentary (producers/actors); Full-length audio commentary (costume/makeup/visual effects team); Behind-the-scenes documentary; 12 deleted scenes

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Sean Connery	Allan Quatermain
Naseeruddin Shah	Capitaine Nemo,Actor
Peta Wilson	Mina Harker
Tony Curran	Rodney Skinner
Shane West	Tom Sawyer
Stuart Townsend	Dorian Gray
Jason Flemyng	Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde
Richard Roxburgh	M
David Hemmings	Nigel
Max Ryan	Dante
Tom Goodman-Hill	Sanderson Reed
Terry O'Neill	Ishmael
Rudolf Pellar	Draper
Winter Ave Zoli	Eva
Robert Willox	Constable Dunning
Ewart James Walters	Toby
Mariano Titanti	Edgar Shreave
Robert Orr	Running Officer
Michael McGuffie	Copper No. 1
Joel Kirby	Copper No. 2
Marek Vasut	Soldier
Robert Vahey	Elderly Hunter
Sylvester Morand	Old Traveler
Huggy Leaver	Hansom Cab Driver
Pavel Bezdek	Marksman No. 1
Stanislav Adamitskiy	Marksman No. 2
James Babson	Marksman No. 3
San Shella	Terrified Crewman
Ellen Savaria	Recordist
Riz Meedin	Venice Conning Tower Crewman
Sartaj Garewal	Rocket Room Crewman
Neran Persaud	Crewman Patel
Andrew Rajan	Headphones Crewman
Daniel Brown	Stunned Guard
Aftab Sachak	Breathless Crewman
Guy Singh Digpal	Signal Crew Man
Harmage Singh Kalirai	Crewman Chandra
Brian Caspe	Guard No. 1
Robert Goodman	Valet
Rene Hajek	Flame Thrower
Semere-Ad Etmet Yohannes	Witch Doctor
Michal Grün	Assassin #3
Stanislav Adamickij	Marksman #2
Marek Va¿ut	Soldier
Stephen Norrington	Actor
Farid Kounda	Actor
Jason Isaacs	Actor
Trevor Jones	Composer

Technical Credits

James Dale Robinson

Alan Moore

Kevin O'Neill

Alex Ayres

Stephen Norrington	Director,Director,Director
Trevor Albert	Producer,Executive Producer
James Dale Robinson	Screenwriter,Screenwriter
Tim Alexander	Special Effects
Sean Connery	Executive Producer,Producer
Terry Glass	Special Effects
David Goldberg	Special Effects
Mark Gordon	Executive Producer,Producer
Donna Isaacson	Casting
Don Murphy	Producer
Eddie Perez	Stunts
Janek Sirrs	Special Effects
Thomas J. Smith	Special Effects
Dana Hunter Suddath	Special Effects
John E. Sullivan	Special Effects
Lucinda Syson	Casting
Alan Moore	Screenwriter
Kevin O'Neill	Screenwriter
Michael Nelson	Producer
Bruce Devan	Producer
Victor Abbene	Special Effects
Erik Aadahl	Sound Effects
Paul Apted	Sound Effects
James Bolt	Sound Effects
Jim Brookshire	Sound Effects
Rick Canelli	Sound Effects
Thomas D. Bacho Jr.	Special Effects
Kevin Abercrombie	Stunts
Alex Ayres	Screenwriter
Industrial Light & Magic	Special Effects
Mark Holding	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Extraordinary indeed! This rousing action-adventure film, steeped in the traditions of those grand old Saturday-matinee cliff-hangers, employs an audacious concept devised by graphic-novel writer Alan Moore: the uniting of memorable characters from Victorian-era fiction against an unseen and powerful adversary. The 20th century is just dawning when emissaries of the British government round up legendary adventurer Allan Quartermain (Sean Connery), rogue submariner Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah), twisted genius Dr. Jekyll (Jason Flemyng), dapper but dangerous Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend), and a grown-up Tom Sawyer (Shane West), along with mysterious Mina Harker (Peta Wilson), whose prior acquaintances have included one Count Dracula. They are offered various rewards and immunities to combat "The Fantom," whose technologically advanced, multinational crimes are calculated to turn the countries of Europe against each other and spark a Continent-wide conflagration. As you might imagine, this mission provides ample opportunities for outrageous feats of derring-do and the use of some very peculiar talents. There's hardly a single incident in League that isn't wildly improbable at the very least, but director Stephen Norrington (Blade) stages the action flamboyantly and imbues the venture with a disarming, tongue-in-cheek sensibility. The septuagenarian Connery still makes an amazingly robust hero, and he's given strong support by less well known but remarkably capable performers. Shah's terrific Captain Nemo is portrayed as the resourceful, dignified, and enigmatic Easterner created by Jules Verne but depicted inaccurately in most movie versions of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and its sequel, The Mysterious Island. For all the time, money, and effort that went into its production, League is, to its credit, a movie utterly without pretension; it aspires to be nothing but escapist entertainment, and in that it succeeds admirably.