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The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) - a Failed Film and a Failed Adaptation
- Katie Anne
- Mar 17, 2023
- 9 min read
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was a critical flop and underperformed at the box office, however this could be due to many different reasons. There is the question of whether the flop was due to the concept of the source material only working within the confines of the panels in the graphic novel or for other reasons.
The graphic novel was first published in 1999 which means by the time the film was released in 2003 there was time for a fan base to have been created from the source material. However the characters featured in both the film and the graphic novel are well known literary characters with their own individual fan bases. This could have been used to the films advantage, much like the graphic novel has done, however the film found itself overfaced with the amount of content that they had to work with. The graphic novel benefits from having characters that were originally literary characters, having these characters being in the similar setting of a graphic novel is beneficial to reading audiences understanding of the characters.
By giving many of these characters their first on-screen debut, the film is swamped with exposition, introduction and character development. Many of this is very easy to do across the graphic novels many issues but was ultimately part of the films downfall. Norrington tried to fully flesh out the numerous complex characters within a film with a running time just under two hours. These are not a fault with the conceit of the concept but rather a fault with the film maker.
Adding to my previous point, the film is cramped with the amount of characters that are featured. Norrington adds to the cast by introducing characters such as Dorian Gray and Tom Sawyer who were not characters from the source material but were integral to the plot. Grey was only featured on the cover art of the first volume of the graphic novel and Sawyer was an original creation. By adding characters that were not in the graphic novels, this ladens down an already heavy film. Film critic Philip Tibbetts states ‘Tom Sawyer, designed to make the film more appealing to American audiences. Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Grey also is also added to the roster, possibly to provide a younger (looking) love interest for Mina Harker than the elderly Allan Quatermain’ (Looking back at The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen film, 2014). This could have been a ploy by the filmmakers to make a more marketable movie, as the idea behind this film was to create a franchise of films, so this one needed to be a success.This did not work in the films favour, however, this is not an issue with the adaptation of the graphic novel but merely a misjudgement by the film makers. Meaning part of the films demise is due to film makers mistakes rather than an issue with the conceit of the graphic novel and the action movie genre.
There has been much criticism of the film makers for some of the poor decisions that had been made within the creation of this film. Another mistake came from the deviation from the beloved source material. The fundamentals of the graphic novel have been changed, from its witty dialogue to the premise behind each character. There is little point in creating an adaptation from a beloved source material if what is translated to screen resembles very little of the graphic novel. Once again this is not an issue with the conceit of the film but instead is an issue with how the film was made.
One big deviation from the source material would be the genre of the film itself, which is primarily an action movie. The graphic novels mainly focus on steampunk-esque, superhero inspired mysteries and adventures. There are many moments over the course of the graphic novel, where action is involved but it is not the central premise. When action is used, it is often extremely intricate, as can be done within a comic as the reader has as much time as they need to view the page and take in the action. The film tries hard to imitate the action, however happens to often and is often a mess of computer generated action and stunt doubles. Jeffries writes, “The fractured space of comics has a medium-specific function that is arguably superfluous to the mode of narration favoured by cinema’ (p94) meaning that in the context of this particular text, the way the action in the comic is layed out it may be best suited for the comic and not for the film.Action movies do sell well in hollywood and are often international successes due to them being more marketable therefore the choice to divert from the original genre can be justified.
Similarly, it could be said that the concept of the graphic novel simply does not work for a concept of a film. The plot is too complex and is a better fit for a graphic novel, a lot more can be said within a graphic novel, across hundreds of issues, across many years rather than one film in one sitting. It does not have to do with the understanding of the complex and conceited plot but rather that this idea solely belongs on the pages of a comic and not translated to film. However, it could work in a television series format with more hours to work with expanding characters and detailing the plot.
An issue with this film, which can be applied to any adaptation, is of the believability of the performances of the cast. This is not an issue that an reader of a book could have of a character as the believability of the character is taken from the written words and not the performance of an actor or actress.There are two arguments to be made from this, it could be said that it was not the actors fault for their performances as they were given poor material to work with or it could be said that the actors underperformed anyway. Though, the film has been criticised for the many poor portrayals of the beloved characters, which would support the latter argument. Film critic Stephen Hunt agrees, stating ‘Mina Harker (Peta Wilson) and Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend) are trivially imagined and poorly acted as members in the unextraordinary "League’ ‘('Extraordinary Gentlemen': One League Under the Sea, 2003). He is one of over hundreds of critics to shame the movie for its poor quality of acting despite having oscar calibre capabilities of the cast. To have two of the main cast be poorly acted can jarr the audience out of their believability of the film, disrupting their sense of suspending their disbelief which may have been hard to suspend given the conceit of the film which ultimately meant the movie failed to reach the audience.
To further issue the points that I have made, I will be looking at a specific section of the film and how it corresponds with an excerpt from the graphic novel, noting the many changes that have been made and why.
During the opening stages of the film, we are introduced to the main character, Allan Quatermain, who is living in Kenya, 1898. He is being sought out by Sanderson Reed . In the graphic novel it is in fact Wilhelmina who finds Quatermain living in Cairo, June 1898. Wilhelmina is seen as being an outsider, by being the only woman and only foreigner in the panel. By having Sanderson Reed in the frame instead, this idea is mirrored in the graphic novel as he is obviously British, is dressed and speaks differently than everyone else, singling him out as the foreigner. People stare at him as he walks by, like Wilhelmina in the graphic novel. This change may be a tactic used by the film makers in order to later introduce Wilhelmina's character, more dramatically.These small changes are minor and ultimately inconsequential to the plot.
As the scene continues, we get a look at the environment of Cairo, everything is seen in a warm and golden hue, making the environment look warm and inviting for the audience. This also provides a juxtaposition between the grey and bleak industrial environment that had been shown in the earlier minutes of the film. Within the panels of the graphic novel this same colour scheme is used, the panel is strictly yellow tones however the impression this gives is completely different. The panel is cramped with people and smog, Wilhelmina covers her mouth with a cloth which denotes a sickly and unpleasant surrounding in Cairo unlike the films Kenya. Kenya is shown as being large and expansive, long shots show wild open spaces and impressive views unlike the cramped industrial cities.
The bulk of the scene is captured within the British embassy in Cairo, with repeated imagery of the Union Jack used. The flag is the only part of the frame that has colour, bright patriotic blue and red which sharply contrasts with the warm tones surroundings. This could connote the importance of saving the Empire to the audience and also the importance of his country to Quatermain. The embassy is only mentioned in the graphic novel, by Quatermain, as he believes he is being taken there. These changes are also inconsequential, and is a tactic used in order to move the plot along faster.
The scene is eerily quiet as Reed asks for Quatermain, people stare, denoting a sense of tension in the scene. This is a tactic that a film can employ, which a graphic novel cannot however the graphic novel can easily imply silence by having fewer character within the panel- just Wilhelmina and Quatermain. Similar language is used by Wilhelmina and Reed, the former states ‘Your country has need of you again, sir’ (p9) whilst the latter states ‘The Empire needs you’, both symbolises the urgency of the situation. Language is also mirrored by Reed saying ‘You are not what I expected’ whilst Wilhelmina says ‘Sir, I had heard better of you’, signalling both characters disappointment. However it is implied that Wilhelmina is disappointed to find that Quatermain has wasted away due to his addiction of opium whereas Reed had just expected someone more heroic to match the tales that he had heard about the character. This was a film makers decision to change Quatermain's backstory in order to keep Sean Connery’s idealistic persona.
The scene in the movie is quick to break out into grandiose action as someone tries to assassinate Quatermain. A much less extravagant fight breaks out in the graphic novel between men who tried to rape Wilhelmina and Quatermain. The fight is quickly and swiftly dealt with by the two characters despite Quatermain repeatedly reminding the reader and Wilhelmina that he is indisposed and sick from opium addiction. Though the panels show the fight in detail, it is obvious that the two characters are skilled fighters, who can get rid of and escape from their pursuers easily and swiftly. By having the fight be more extravagant and longer in the film further highlights the filmmakers attempts to make the film fit in with the tropes of the action movie genre.
The sequence is often clumsy and is cluttered with numerous fragments of action happening across the frame. It is difficult for the audience to keep up with what is happening within the frame. There is a feast of action for the eyes, as Quatermain reportedly lives up to the expectation placed on him by Reed. However the scene makes his actions drawn out and comic, by having him defeat his opponents with various objects he can get his hands on. The Quatermain in the graphic novel and the books by H. Rider Haggard, paint the character as having a gift for shooting, he never misses his shots. By having the action sequence be long and comic again makes the film more marketable for a wider range of audiences though at the consequence of losing what was integral to making Norrington's interpretation of the character true to form.
The scene is cut short by Norrington and the audience next sees Quatermain in England, whereas in the graphic novel Wilhelmina takes Quatermain to Captain Nemo's submarine and they depart for Paris. In the city is where the characters act more like detectives, piecing together parts of the deaths of madame L'espanaye and her daughter. This shows the overall theme of the graphic novels, that they are less focussed on action and rather solving mysteries. Whereas the film is completely focussed on creating extravagant action for the audience, in hopes that it will sell well and a franchise will be able to be built from it.
To conclude, the conceit of the plot of both the graphic novel and movie version of The League of extraordinary gentleman is not the issue with the failure of the film. Rather, that it is a story that is best suited for the comic book or a form of media that is not a film. The movie is further hindered by poor film making decisions, it often feels rushed and cramped with story and characters. This further reiterates that the conceit of the story is not the issue but rather the adaptation to an action movie that is the overall issue.
Bibliography:
Hunter, S. 2003, [Internet], Last Accessed [11/01/19]
Jeffries, D. 2017, Comic Book Film Style: Cinema at 24 Panels per Second, University of Texas Press, Austin
Tibbetts, p. 2014, [Internet], last Accessed [11/01/19]
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