Graphic Novel: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume 2 (2003)
Alan Moore’s team of Victorian superheroes returns in another ripping yarn. This time Mina Harker, Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll and the Invisible Man face down the Martian invasion from THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. Dr. Moreau and John Carter of Mars also make appearances. No doubt there are plenty of other literary references that I missed on the first reading; Moore’s work has a fantastic density. On the basis of his epic comic WATCHMEN alone he should be regarded as one of the premier writers of his generation. His subsequent books, like LEAGUE and TOP TEN, continue to combine the fluidity of film with the detail of fiction.
Artist Kevin O’Neill can’t go unmentioned. The opening battle on the surface of Mars has almost no dialogue. Just O’Neill’s staggering illustrations.
Volume 1 was adapted for the movies in name only last year. Moore’s plot was jettisoned, and the characters of Dorian Gray (not only ageless but indestructible) and Tom Sawyer were added to the roster. Sawyer was the studio’s idea, a way to appeal to the American audience. Good plan – build identification by sticking in a character from a book most people were forced to read against their will. If they’ve read it at all. The movie’s not good, but it’s also not the disaster it’s made out to be. The first 45 minutes chug along nicely before it collapses into a muddle.
Sean Connery played Quatermain. I loved his rationale for taking the part. He said that he was offered both THE MATRIX and THE LORD OF THE RINGS, but as he didn’t understand the scripts he turned them down. When the script for LEAGUE left him baffled, he said yes at once.
Connery has dropped out of his latest film, ostensibly to focus on his memoirs. But others say he’s gotten fed up with the mechanics of big-budget filmmaking, particularly in the wake of his publicized fights with LEAGUE director Stephen Norrington. I don’t see why Connery can’t keep acting in smaller films along the lines of FINDING FORRESTER. Except, you know, good.
Good Scene, Bad Movie: Blood Work (2002)
Before striking Oscar gold with MYSTIC RIVER, Clint Eastwood and screenwriter Brian Helgeland teamed on this soggy adaptation of Michael Connelly’s novel. It departs from the book’s plot in ways that Connelly addresses in his latest, THE NARROWS.
There is one terrific scene between Eastwood and actor Rick Hoffman, currently onscreen as an odious lawyer in CELLULAR. Hoffman found a man who’d been shot by the killer Eastwood is pursuing. Because of a police error, the man died before an ambulance could reach him. Hoffman recounts the story bitterly, repeating certain phrases. It immediately creates the sense that this is a tale Hoffman’s character has told many times before, and will be repeating for the rest of his life.
Miscellaneous: Link
I can’t resist Rex Reed when he’s in a bad mood, even when he’s gunning for filmmakers I like. Here he dismisses David O. Russell, Wes Anderson, Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman among others as “film’s new hacks.” Plus, he reveals the who and the why in THE FORGOTTEN, so now I don’t have to go. Thanks to GreenCine Daily for the link.
The Dreadful Beauty of TOP OF THE LAKE
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5 comments:
Vince, that scene in BLOOD WORK is even more poignant if you remember how the actual book ends. It points up dramatically where Eastwood and Helgeland went wrong. If they had stuck more closely to the text and let this character reappear properly, they would have made a far superior film. That actor had the chops to make the transition work.
Terrill Lankford
Terrill,
You're absolutely right. The changes from the book were so dramatic that I had to watch the movie again before I realized how strong Hoffman was in that scene.
Much as I hate to disagree, LEAGUE was a disaster of a movie. Especially in light of the book being so very good.
The additional characters weren't a problem for me, so much as the truly atrocious dialogue and the clumsy attitude to character.
The dialogue had plenty of low points, but, for me, it was the bit where comments about Mina being "late" were leadenly dropped at least twice in one scene.
As for character: Suddenly, and obviously, Quatermain is a father figure for Sawyer in one scene on Nautilus (and how did that manage to be so much less interestingly designed than in the book?) and, equally suddenly, then dropped as it had given both characters their "moment" and didn't need to be used again.
It possibly the only movie I've heckled (because me and my friend were the only ones in the cinema), my favourite was shouting, in my best Homer Simpson impression, "Ahhhhh! They're dogs and they're playing poker" during the Mina/Dorian Gray fight when she holds up his portrait.
Paul,
I'm not going to defend the LEAGUE movie. I can't. All I can say is that for the first 45 minutes my reaction was, "Hey, this doesn't suck as much as I thought it would!"
Vince,
Isn't that always disappointing? Films not being as bad as you want them to be, I mean. I remember renting Battlefield Earth ready to have my brain dribble out of my ear in response to it's unsurpassed badness. Instead it was kind of boring, stupid and risably acted, but not the kind of teeth grindingly bad that I hoped for.
Recently I've subjected myself to Van Helsing, S.W.A.T and Paycheck. Soulless, anonymous Hollywood product to a one, but, again, not really bad. One thing about all of these is that, I think, every one (Paycheck, in particular) turned out as well as everyone in the movie was hoping. All the pieces worked and fitted together smoothly, there were no major flaws and just enough deleted scenes to keep the DVD buyers happy. It's just none of them were in the least bit ... engaging, I suppose.
Looking at the list, it would seem that most of these movies are hamstrung by their star being pretty but a bit of a blank as a personality, but it must be something more than that.
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