Z/Web

Author: Alan Moore

I’d heard this was weak, but it was better than I expected. I have not read the comic book, though I’m a big Alan Moore fan, so I cannot speak to the authenticity of the story (I’ve heard they changed it considerably, deleting some characters and adding others). The concept is wonderful: it’s the late 19th century and a group of extraordinary people — famous literary characters such Alan Quartermain, Dr. Jeckyl/Mr. Hyde, the Invisible Man, Captain Nemo, Dorian Gray, etc. — form a league to fight an ultra-villain. In the film, the ultra-villain is a guy who wants to provoke the world in a “world war” so he can sell his military equipment. Each member of the League uses their unique capabilities to help defeat him, and it’s fun to see them do it. However, the film overdoes things. The villain steals Dr. Jeckyl’s formula, the Invisible Man’s invisibilty potion, etc., and then creates villains with those same powers to fight the League. Come on, can’t we come up with villains with their own capabilities? Why do they have to reuse those of the League? Lame. The special effects are very impressive, probably the best I’ve seen of all the big blockbusters released so far this summer. Lots of explosions, Captain Nemo’s huge submarine, the Invisible Man, the Vampire Lady, etc. are all excellent. Mr. Hyde’s some huge ape-like creature that’s close to the Hulk except he’s not green. Unfortunately, there’s isn’t a lot of story to go with all this great technology. The first half is pretty good, while we build up, but in the second half we learn that the entire first half was a sham and everything we thought we knew is wrong. Basically the tail eats the head of the film. Dumb. The ending is predictable (the good guys win, duh) but satisfying. The whole thing goes down like a McDonald’s Big Mac: easy to eat, not terribly good or bad, but not particularly wholesome either. It could have been much, much better.