THE THIRD ACT TWIST
THE LEAGUE OF Extraordinary Gentlemen will forever be known as the film that drove Sean Connery into retirement. (It also drove its director, Stephen Norrington, to quit the film business, which is quite something.) And it’s not a good film, let’s make that clear. It isn’t entirely without merit, but it is a nonsensical, flabby mishmash of a dozen different genres.
But at least it let Connery go out on top. On his own terms. He was the man now, dog. Along with Eastwood and Redford, Connery was that rarest of things: a septuagenarian who wasn’t just a leading man, but capable of anchoring massive blockbusters and selling them to worldwide audiences. And his decision to retire meant that we never got to watch him diminish on screen, both as a person undergoing the ravages of time, and as a star. We never got to see him ending up in thin supporting roles, his days as a trail-blazing leading man long behind him.
It also brought to, , , , and even , and which saw him become one of the biggest names in the business once again.
