Hulu Sci-Fi Superhero Movie Stars The Best James Bond
With “The Fantom” on the loose, Sean Connery leads a cast of legendary characters as Allan Qaurtermain on a secret mission in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Set in a parallel, steampunk, victorian reality, explorer Allan Quartermain assembles his team of fictional characters in an effort to stop “The Phantom” from starting a world war. In the alternate 1899, Quartermain’s squad must stop a plot to destroy Venice, and save the world leaders set to meet there.
The Cast
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen has an all-star cast of characters, led by Allan Quartermain (Sean Connery). Allan Quartermain’s lineup, known as The League, includes Mina Harker (Peta Wilson), Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah), Rodney Skinner (Tony Curran), Dorian Grey (Stuart Townsend), Henry Jekyll (Jason Flemyng), and Tom Sawyer (Shane West).
In addition to The League, M, the mastermind behind the mission is played by Richard Roxburgh, and Sanderson Reed, the minion sent by Professor Moriarty to get the team together is played by Tom Goodman-Hill.
Recruiting The Team
The action-packed plot of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen follows Allan Quartermain along with Captain Nemo, chemist Mina Harker, and invisible thief Rodney Skinner as they attempt to round up the rest of their crew and convince them to join their mission to defend her Majesty’s Empire from The Fantom.
The League then goes after Dorian Grey, picking up Tom Sawyer along the way, and finally travels to Paris, striking a bargain with Hyde to join their band of heroes.
Venice
Once assembled, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is off to Venice to prevent a series of bombs from destroying the city. The team deduces that using one of the missiles from Nautilus to demolish a building out of sequence will stop the cascade of bombs, and most of Venice is saved.
Reception
Ultimately taking in $179.26 million at the box office internationally, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen started as the second most popular movie at opening, behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. This less-than-stellar performance is sometimes attributed to rumors of issues with the film before it was even released. The film was not expected to be successful based on missing deadlines during shooting, and other issues, so its box office success is considered a triumph.
Stream It Now
Considering the issues during filming, the fact that The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen made a profit at all is a bit of a miracle. While the plot and production were ambitious, headaches during the shoot added up to a less-than-spectacular result. With such a well-rounded cast, Director Stephen Norrington, best known for his work on Blade, likely faced a time crunch as his major obstacle during filming.
You can stream The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen now on Hulu.
