I recently watched "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" again for my podcast "Shut Up! I Like This" and quickly realized why I originally liked this film. Growing up, reading the stories about these characters would take me on a phenomenal trip to another universe. From "The Invisible Man," to "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea," there were endless amounts of adventure, and combining all these amazing characters together almost seemed obvious.
Before their adventures as "The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen" in the comic books, these characters had been the basis of many superheroes we know and love today, and their stories will continue to be passed down for years to come. With the superhero crazy going on today, is now the prime time to relaunch these characters and the league into video format? Would they thrive today on something like Netflix, or fall flat?
How could Netflix present the 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'?
Movies have always been a great outlet for superheroes and comic book adventures.
In recent years though, with Netflix's extensive episodic based content, it could prove to be the perfect groundwork for these characters.
You would not even need to do a build up with solo adventures, as demonstrated with "The Avengers," and "The Defenders". I think you could jump into a full series of the league's adventures, introducing and dissecting the characters each episode. With these characters being so well known throughout the world and their novels and adventures being passed on for so long, many do not need an introduction, even to a wide audience.
With Netflix's freedom of content, and being able to portray and show what they want], this would be a perfect outlet for their stories. As we know not every member has had the best or most charming past. Many of the members have actually terrorized, killed or raped and are pretty terrible people.
Each of these characters, with the exception of "The Invisible Man," is now public domain and free for anyone to use.
However, this could properly put the "Suicide Squad" concept to screen that a lot of other films and series haven't been able to create. Along the way, we could be introduced to cameos of other literary characters, like Van Helsing, Dracula or Dr. Frankenstein to name a few.
Why you should give 2003's 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' another watch
I've listened to "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "The Invisible Man" on Spotify recently, and now the voice of Dorian has been stuck in my head from the performer's read over. Then watching this film I immediately noticed a similarity between that and Stuart Townsend's performance of Mr.
Gray.
I don't think the individual performances of each actor are the problem here. From Sean Connery's Alan Quartermain to Jason Flemyng's Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde, each brings a certain level of charisma and aptitude. If the last time you watched it was in 2003, I would strongly suggest giving it another chance. It's been over a decade and some films tend to seem better the second time around.
The visuals aren't as bad as you may remember either. There are some blatant 2003 era green screening but "The Invisible Man," played by Tony Curran is nearly flawless, and Jekyll's transformations into Hyde are horror-like. I think what may have turned people off the first time was the story or the lackluster villain. Overall I believe "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" to be a fun viewing experience and think it could only thrive today if told correctly, and adding a darker and more serious tone.