The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
The production design was glorious in this graphic novel-turned-movie, especially the grand Nautilus submarine: on the outside a gleaming scimitar, on the inside a fantastic Victorian drawing room.
Everything else: the script, the acting, the directing? Not so much.
The script was especially irritating, because in the beginning we had to hear stupid exposition for people who didn’t know the basic literary references of the characters (“We fought an evil known as DRACULA!”), and had to suffer through an endless “turn it up to 11!” fight sequence at the end. I think they missed an opportunity by not dropping the exposition and just giving each character an origin scene – that could have been fun.
This glorious-looking mess reminded me of a routine (thanks, Lisa) Paula Poundstone used to do about Darryl Hannah:
“She’s so beautiful, you can understand why they hire her to do movies. But really, they should just put a picture of her in the corner of the screen and be done with it. Because it’s the walking and talking that are the problem.”
I loved the Nautilus, but hated the car. (But that’s probably just me.) Otherwise we seem to be in agreement.
You’re welcome, Adam. I always enjoy the occasional shout out from you.