Even though the man is closing in on three-quarters of a century, there is just something undeniably cool about Sean Connery. How cool is he? I’m willing to plunk down $8 dollars on what my better senses tell me will be the HORRIBLE League of Extraordinary Gentlemen just so I can listen to the man talk for 2 hours. Think people. There is finite amount of time left for us to enjoy this privlege.

Hell, even if the movie sucks, at least it will give me more fodder to use in my Sean Connery impression.

“That was naughty.”

The League or LXG or whatever you want to call it isn’t going to do very well at the box office this weekend. I imagine it’ll take quit a drubbing from the press as well.

Connery’s difficulties with director Stephen Norrington (who also directed Blade) have been pretty well documented. So strong was their animosity for each other, Norrington didn’t even show up for the films’ premiere a week ago in Hollywood.

When someone asked Connery about working with Norrington, he reportedly replied “Why don’t you ask me a question about someone I like?” Ouch. This usually isn’t the kind of conflict that creates a comfortable viewing experience for an audience.

Another strike against The League is that it’s an adaptation of a comic book written by Alan Moore during a summer where each comic book license seems to be doing worse than the last.

Moore is an extremely compitent writer and if you’ve ever read Watchmen, there’s your proof. I’m not worried about a faulty concept. That much I know is gold. Basically, Connery’s character (Allan Quartermain, the world’s greatest adventurer) has been called on to assemble a team of indivduals with extraordinary powers to stop a lunatic. A vampire, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll, Captain Nemo – all of these turn-of-the-century literary characters. Essentially the concept is that this is the first team of super heroes – even before the term has been introduced.

As for the execution, well… we’ll have to wait until Friday to find out. My hopes aren’t very high. But who knows? It may surprise me. It’ll probably be recieved as well as Moore’s last adaptation which was From Hell with Johnny Depp from a few years ago. I think it mostly struck a nerve with fans familar with the visual pacing of graphic novels, but it didn’t do much business in theaters. I still thought it was good.

To tide you over, click here for an example of the pure brilliance of Sean Connery.

…or not.