The heroes of 1899 are brought to life with the help of some expensive special effects in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. From the pages of Victorian literature come Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll (and his alter ego Mr. Hyde), Dorian Gray, Tom Sawyer, an Invisible Man, Mina Harker (from Dracula), and the hunter Allan Quatermain (Sean Connery), all brought together to combat an evil megalomaniac out to conquer the world. Hardly an original plot, but perhaps that's fitting for a movie sewn together like Frankenstein's monster. The movie rushes from one frenetic battle to another, replacing sense with spectacle--Nemo's submarine rising from the water, a warehouse full of zeppelins bursting into flame, Venice collapsing into its own canals; flashy, dumb, and completely incoherent. Fans of the original comic book will be disappointed. Also featuring Peta Wilson, Shane West, Stuart Townsend, Richard Roxburgh, and Jason Flemyng. --Bret Fetzer