The Just-us League

Last night I watched The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, which someone at worked had taped and loaned to me. It's a fun concept, merging all of those iconic 19th century action and gothic characters into one massive story. It had more potential than it pays off with, though. The comic series by Alan Moore that's it's based on goes into considerably more depth with the plot and quasi-pomo style links to the original stories. Although the main plot twists are all the same in the movie as in the comic, they come off a lot more believable in the comic form. I'm sure it's mostly because they're developed more deeply. From a guilty-pleasure action movie standpoint, though, it's still kind of fun. Hard to beat Alan Quartermain teaching Tom Sawyer how to shoot a rifle. And the passing of the hero torch between the two is a nice touch (and in a way echoes the passing of empires from Britain to the U.S.).

This is, I think, the second movie based on Alan Moore's comics. The first was From Hell, the Johnny Deep flick about Jack the Ripper. Likewise, it wasn't a bad movie. It just lacked a lot of the more complicated nuances of Moore's themes and plots. I keep hearing grumblings about a movie based on Moore's landmark work The Watchmen. In many ways it would be more difficult to do, at least as a stand-alone movie. There are a lot more fans of that title, and it would be picked apart to much higher degree.

In a somewhat related note, I'm wary but curious about Sin City, which opens this weekend. Based on a series by another great comic book author, it should at least be a fun action ride. Miller reportedly had significant involvement in the script and direction so it's possible it might follow his ideas more closely than the movies based on Moore's work. Visually, at least, it looks pretty close. We shall see.

Excelsior.