Released in 2003, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, based on writer Alan Moore and artist Kevin O’Neil’s comic book of the same name, is a bit of a mess, and is probably more famous for being Sean Connery’s last movie (live action at the very least. He did lend his voice to 2012’s animated Sir Billi), and the beginning of Moore’s incredibly frosty relationship with Hollywood (all of the movies based on his work, from Watchmen to V For Vendetta, he has refused to accept money for). But considering the current comic book and superhero trend at the moment, 20th Century Fox and Chronicle and Predators producer John Davis, according to Variety, are having another crack at the ambitious and incredibly rich literary melting pot, with an eye towards building a new franchise.
Over the course of several mini series and one shots, the book has followed a team of famous characters of Victorian era literature, including Alan Quatermain, The Invisible Man, and Dracula’s Mina Harker, and has included elements from famous novels and writers, with movies and t.v. shows mixed in later volumes, including H.P. Lovecraft, Sherlock Holmes, Jeeves and Wooster, James Bond, 24, Mary Poppins, and Harry Potter (recasting The Boy Who Lived as a bad guy), to create an endlessly weird world that just jumps off the page at you.
Jump off the screen is something the 2003 movie didn’t do, taking quite a number of liberties with the source material (including introducing Tom Sawyer in an attempt to appeal to American audiences put off by the over abundance of English literary characters) and boiling everything down to their basic parts to fit the generic action movie structure. A very different, much darker take on the subject matter, according to me at least, is what is needed this time round, and a more adult, R-rated comic book movie is something that would give this series a shot in the arm, and make it stand out from the crowded comic book movie scene. You just have to look at the anticipation for next years Deadpool to see that this approach works.
