Friday, March 03, 2006
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Posted by
Tony
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3/03/2006 01:07:00 PM
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WWW – LXG (the movie)
OK, a lot went wrong with LXG, but before we get to that, let’s set some parameters.
First, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (the book) is something that Alan Moore does on his days off from being brilliant. It’s an in-joke wrapped in the oldest espionage plot there is – “heroes are recruited then betrayed by their government.” It is saved by A) the quality of the in-joke and B) Moore’s craftsmanship – each character has individual motivations and an individual voice.
Second, LXG (the movie) ought to be better than it is. In the movie, the villain attempts to bring about WWI 15 years early. That allows the movie to achieve a real sense of crisis, and to play with themes of modernity. God, I love modernity. The inclusion of Tom Sawyer ought to contrast nicely with the old British adventurer Allan Quatermain, pushing the modernity theme a bit farther.
With all of those good intentions, James Robinson’s script doesn’t quite deliver. There are three lessons to be learned here.
Lesson 1: Many things that are acceptable in comics don’t work in real life. Take the scene in Dorian Gray’s library. The villain comes in and gives a speech. Then our heroes, with only three pistols and a sword cane between them, defeat a dozen henchmen with automatic rifles. Of course, our heroes are cracking jokes and making significant character development statements during the whole battle.
Lesson 2: If you have to stop the movie for more than 10 minutes for character development, just skip it. Character development ought to be woven through the whole movie. If you can’t do that, just let the characters be archetypes. At least the movie will be shorter.
Lesson 3: Mr. Hyde does not have a heart of gold. He just doesn’t. The general badness of some of the heroes is what makes League (the book) so darned enjoyable.
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