LXG, The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, famously led to Sean Connery’s retirement from acting.
We look back at the movie… And this concept has been a massive hit with the comic being a noted critical and commercial success.
Then there was the film whose reception, and continuing legacy, couldnt be more different.
The film, sometimes abbreviated toLXG, came out in 2003.
This was a mere four years after the publication of the first issue of the graphic novel.
Indeed it is said that pre-production had already begun on the film prior to the first issue.
This would be an ideal opportunity for filmmakers to work closely with the creative talent of the source material.
This motley collection are thrown together and tasked with investigating a robbery of British technological secrets.
This can be seen in the different plot points, characterisations and even characters themselves.
Quatermains own backstory was changed from that in the comic to avoid the issue of opium addiction.
Nonetheless the film starts with effectively the same intriguing premise of the novels.
The first sign of this actually comes in the very opening of the film.
In a big set piece, the Bank of England is robbed using a tank.
Many of the team have the darkest and more complicated edges of their characters toned down significantly.
Yet the underwhelming commercial and critical reception the film received meant that this would fail to materialise.
With the concept of the League established writers would be freed of a lot of expositive burden.
Overall, theLeague Of Extraordinary Gentlemenis an okay, if rather limited, action film.
Indeed when you land read these books the hollowness of their cinematic adaption hits home harder.
