Day of the 'Dog: "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"

Few are fence-sitters when it comes to steampunk action film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, with many claiming it is a great flick and even more claiming it is a weak attempt at a niche genre. But let's look at the facts here:

1. There's tons of action. I think there are more bullets flying in this flick than the Predator many-gun scene, and that's a lot of lead.

2. The interpretations of classic Victorian literary characters is inventive, and insightful, particularly how Dorian Grey is portrayed - an excellent twist on a classic figure that kinda makes sense.

3. Great special effects. While there are some continuity issues here (as with many comic book flicks) little can be said indicting the excellent use of CGI.

So, why is LXG under-appreciated? Well, while the characters have some depth, most are largely two-dimensional - again pretty typical of comic book film. Some movie-goers also have a hard time with the steampunk alternate world concept, and cars and solar-powered subs in the 1800s is a little more than they're willing to accept.

Perhaps some small mention of what innovation allowed technology to advance in that direction would have been appropriate early on.

However, LXG is a solid action film that's no more outlandish than your average shoot 'em up, and is appropriate and entertaining for a broad audience while having enough wink and nod period references to keep the interest of Victorians - history and literary buffs alike.

So I say ignore the mediocre 5.4 IMDb rating and give LXG a try. You might just find yourself pulled into the story enough to check out the graphic novel and the wealth of others like it - many of which are the contemporary crown jewels of the comic book industry.