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League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The
Blade director Stephen Norrington tackles another comic-book adaptation with this ambitious take on Alan Moore's Victorian superhero fantasy. Unfolding like an X-Men in period costume, it springs from a fabulous concept, in which fictional adventurer Allan Quatermain (a charismatic Sean Connery) is teamed up with fellow 19th-century literary icons to save the world from megalomaniac madman, The Fantom. With Tom Sawyer, Captain Nemo, the vampiric Mina Harker and both Jekyll and Hyde among the League, there's no shortage of colour, and it's enjoyable watching them make use of their well known character traits in action-based scenarios. Although the special effects can be extremely ropey at times, the fast pace, quick-witted dialogue and overall spectacle help compensate for such shortcomings. Ultimately the tale is overblown nonsense, with scant regard for realism, yet it has a likeable air of insouciance and derring-do. The film may not be extraordinary, but viewed as sheer escapism, it's really rather fun.
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