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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. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Based on the comic book miniseries by Alan Moore, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen takes place in an alternate universe where the characters of several literary classics exist in reality. As if that weren't enough, they've been assembled together in 1900 by Queen Victoria as a team of evil-fighting heroes. Among them are Allan Quatermain (Sean Connery) from H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines; Mina Harker (Peta Wilson) from Bram Stoker's Dracula; Tom Sawyer (Shane West) from several works by Mark Twain; Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend) from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray; Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah) from Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; The Invisible Man (Tony Curran) from H.G. Wells book of the same name; and several others. Working together, the odd assortment of characters must combine their powers to defeat a mysterious villain and save the world from certain destruction. Directed by Stephen Norrington (Blade), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen also stars Jason Flemyng, Tom Goodman-Hill, and David Hemmings. Matthew Tobey

Product Details

• UPC: 024543101802
• Source: 20TH CENTURY FOX
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Editions: Subtitled, Dubbed
• Time: 1:50:00
• Sales Rank: 15,740

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• League of Extraordinary Gentlemen / Entrapment

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