'League' not a summer film

I thought “The League of Extraordinary Gentleman” was an adequate movie for the summer. Unfortunately, it opened at a bad time. I feel I would have enjoyed this movie more if it had come out earlier in the summer.

Sean Connery, a name well-known around the world, is the No. 1 star in “League,” but I don’t think this movie works well with him. I think Connery is an awesome actor, but this movie makes him look past his prime in action scenes.

“The League of Extraordinary Gentleman” combines the efforts of many artists who work well individually. Sean Connery plays the hunter, Allan Quartermain; Neseeruddin Shah is the inventor, Captain Nemo; Peta Wilson shines as the lady vampire, Mina Harker; Tony Curran stars as the Invisible Man, Rodney Skinner; Stuart Townsend embodies the man who will never age, Dorian Gray; Shane West captivates an older Tom Sawyer; and Jason Flemyng emerges as the unforgettable Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. These extraordinary characters join forces when a menace, known as the Phantom, threatens the world with war. Set in 1899, the powers of these people are extraordinary indeed — so is surviving the plot.

Although the previews made this movie look interesting and eventful, I feel they were extremely misleading. At times the sound is off. In one scene it appears the extras were tired of waiting on the explosion and decided to run before their cue (watch for it. It’s quite comical). Also, the action scenes are absurd.

Connery plays the lead character, obviously just to get people to watch the movie, and there are many action scenes involving him. I found these scenes humorous and not believable at all.

Other than Connery, the characters in this movie are static. They are all intriguing in theory, but they fail to be developed, therefore I found them easy to forget. Just looking at the list of characters that are going to be combined, your imagination will run rampant in what these people could be like. Imagine all these fictional characters that you have read about and heard about being real people and joining together to save the world. It sounds exciting; too bad it’s not.

“The League of Extraordinary Gentleman” is based on a comic book, like many of this summer’s optimistic blockbusters, but this is one comic book that I think would be better on paper. The plot is thin, the characters are intriguing but apparently not as real people and the action scenes probably would look better in a red and orange. The effect for Mr. Hyde is amusing because it makes this character look like a giant monkey. I thought “The Hulk” was fake, but that was before I caught a glimpse of Mr. Hyde.

I think that I would have appreciated this movie more if it had opened at another time — earlier in the summer, before the iffy sequels and blockbuster films. Connery is a great actor, but I think he made a mistake in making this film.

Even though this movie might seem satisfying over all, another look will prove otherwise.