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Right, thats four times I've seen it now. Once on a pirate videoCD (a mates), once at the cinema (the pirate dvd was unwatchable after 40 minutes) and twice on the flight I've just had to the States.
Each and every time I hope I will enjoy it a bit more but the fact remains, its crep. Regardless of the weak Phantom character (the bad guy is much better once its revealed to be Moriarty, of Sherlock Holmes fame), and the weak action sequences, I think I've pinned down *my* main problem with it. Hell, the introduction of Tom Sawyer and Dorien Grey isn’t a problem to me, although it dilutes the amount of time each member of the team can have.
The attitudes.
In the Book, the characters *acted* as if they were from the Victorian era. Mina is a prim and proper English lady. Quartermaine's eyes bug out when he gets a flash of ankle, and he's protectively sexist. Hawley Griffin (Rodney Skinner in the film), once freed from sight is a sexual predator and coward. Hyde is a barely controllable beast, while Jeckel is shy and withdrawn. All in all, Moore takes other peoples characters and creates his own mythology around them, succeeding magnificently in capturing the essence of the stories the characters are taken from.
In the film, these attitudes are none existent. Its simply modern day attitudes with Victorian window dressing with (poor) flash bang effects. Its soulless and empty. It very nearly succeeds in being an unintentional “Mystery Men”.
I have to praise Nottington for keeping Nemo and the majority of his crew Sikh’s again, rather than change the ethnicity of the captain from what Verne originally specified.
Alan Moore, if he were dead, would be spinning in his grave. The fact that O'Neill says it’s a good movie, shown how crazed he is (just look at his artwork for chrissake)
Oh ,the transformation sequence is appallingly bad too.
Right. I’m expecting a “just watch the damn thing” or similar response to this little post, so all I’ll say is this. If you enjoyed the film but haven’t read the book, read it. Once the final page of the book has been read, you’ll close it and think, “Wow, the film was a real piece of crep wasn’t it”.
> Seriously, I love the graphic novels and wished I loved the film.
> Don't waste your time or money just to be disappointed.
Knew it was an adaptation from a book or comic but I've never read or seen it so that was my main reason for going to the flicks.
Methinks I shall be giving this a miss and maybe catch it on the other halfs Sky box as someone has just said it's on there :)
Cheers for the warning.
Tons of places get LEGAL versions of the films before release, and if those versions from the US (Screener DVDs are not region coded in my experience) find their way to the UK....there is your answer.
> I loved the book, and I'm not sure that I can bring myself to watch
> the film if it's going to ruin it. It should be the perfect source
> material for a movie so I'm really peed off that - according to
> everybody - they've cocked it up in a big way.
>
> Have you read From Hell? Another absolutely brilliant Alan Moore
> comic, which apparently made a dismal transition to cinema. Stupid
> Hollywood.
Oh, but the From Hell graphic novel would have been impossible to film. Okish film I thought, apart from Heather Graham being a really pretty whorio. All the rest are mingers, as it should have been ;)
> I want to see this. Admittedly only because of the massive guy barging
> his way through scenery. I'm shallow, so sue me.
Thats the only good part of the film, and it lasts about two minutes. Hyde is a brilliantly realised design. Really close to his comic couterpart.