It often takes a while, but maligned movies can regularly find themselves undergoing an unexpected reappraisal years or even decades down the line, with film fans now putting The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen under the microscope.
Released to overwhelming apathy 19 years ago, the period-set comic book adaptation earned $179 million at the box office on a $78 million budget, with critics panning it into the ground to the tune of a 17 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. Even the user rating sits at a disappointing 44 percent, but that hasn’t stopped supporters over on Reddit from rallying behind the disastrous dud.
The tales of behind the scenes woe from the set of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen have become the stuff of legend, especially in regards to the careers of director Stephen Norrington and star Sean Connery. The two butted heads and found themselves regularly getting into heated arguments, which reached such a boiling point that it hastened the legendary James Bond star and Academy Award winner’s retirement from acting.
As for Norrington, the Blade filmmaker still hasn’t helmed a feature film since LXG, but let’s hope that those singing the praises of the ambitiously undercooked and fatally flawed Victorian-era romp get the project they deserve when the impending reboot begins to take shape.
An Avengers-esque team of public domain literary characters utilizing anachronistic technology to battle against the forces of evil remains a phenomenal concept with which to build a blockbuster around, even if you could make a strong case for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen being better suited to a sprawling episodic epic, as opposed to a two-hour feature.