Over all, not bad.
Okay, I have to admit that I didn’t read the comic book on which this was based, but it was still an enjoyable movie. The basic plot, without giving too much away, is a mad genius is out to cause world-wide chaos and mayhem and, somehow, plans to turn a profit off it all. To thwart this madman’s nefarious schemes, a group of quite unusual adventurers are gathered together. Adventure and mayhem ensue.
The characters are well developed, and unique even though they’re based on existing literary figures. The writers manage to make these characters their own fairly well. Of course, that means making some changes to them. The most disturbing of the changes, I found, was making Captain Nemo Indian. Not that I have anything against Indians, and certainly, the character in the movie was great, but it really has nothing to do with the literary character at all! But, once I set that aside, I’d say that Nemo became probably my second favorite character. My third favorite is a tie between Dorian Grey and Skinner, the second invisible man. Both were well thought out and “real” in a way that such gimmicky characters rarely seem to be in movies like this.
My favorite character, however, was the aging Alan Quartermain. And, that, of course, was due to Sean Connery. I’ve loved him as an actor since he was James Bond.
There were only a few internal inconsistencies that were troubling. The first being a vampire walking about in the sunlight. The second being the aforementioned Nemo changes. And, of course, there was all of Nemo’s technology. It was far, far in advance of anything even thought of at the time. It relied on concepts not even dreamt of yet.
The other thing I found both troubling and intrigueing was totally personal. There was quite a reference to Freemasonry in the film, not all of it flattering. But, that only bothered my because I am, in fact, a Freemason.
Over all, a good movie, but hit the matinee and save a couple of bucks.
