Ricksummon - having read the novelization, can you say if Campion Bond is in it? (And if so, did they run with the obvious metahumour?)
Looking at the cast list, no Campion Bond. That may have been okay for the comic, but you can see how that might cause a problem in the movie.
I just saw the movie this evening, at a special screening (I used to be friends of the producer, and he put my name on the list for the screening, which judging by some of the applause at the credits, were people who were friends or aquaintances of production company people and some press).
I’m not familiar at all with the graphic novel, so I have no opinion on the differences, except that others have told me this story is unrelated to any in the graphic novel.
The following are facts I don’t think really count as “spoilers” as they’ve been talked about here and this stuff is established early in the film. These are the questions you have been asking in this thread. If I let out any specific plot points, I’ll use a spoiler box.
Tom Sawyer is a US Secret Service Agent (or some such thing). He is not recruited to be in the League, but as the US government is concerned about the “evildoers,” he has followed some of the bad guys and ends up hooking up with and joining the league in their mission (he becomes a sort of replacement son figure for Quartermain). Other than his name, however, he could be any US Agent (imagine James West in the part and the idea is much better), as there are zero references or explanations about any Tom Sawyer lore. No one asks him about Huck Finn or Old Jim, or even seems to recognize hs name. He’s just a US agent.
Mina Harker is a vampire - no ifs, ands or buts about it. She has the bite marks on her neck, she can kill men by the typical vampire bite attack, she self-heals her wounds and she can change to a flock o’ bats and fly around (as they show in a scene in the trailers I’ve seen).
Dorian Gray, as several have mentioned, is indeed apparently immortal in all senses of the word, not just by not aging. His ability to withstand bullets and knives makes him a valuable ally in any fight. They do reference the portrait, quite specifically, in the film.
I thought the Nemo character was pretty cool. As with most of the others, they do not really explain anything about who he is. Quartermain asks about his supposed death (as someone mentioned above) and he says it was faked. Other than admitting he used to be a pirate in the past, there is no explanation of how he has this cool ship and this motorcar, which will remind you of the Batman movies as it zips around a very dark and gothic London. Nemo is also the only one who seems proficient in martial arts.
Well, I’ll save any real spoilers for a thread that is a discussion of the film after it’s been seen. There are definately some plot points and details I’m not too sure make any sense.
Overall, I liked it, but my wife thought it mostly sucked. She liked the first 40 minutes or so, but I guess the plot didn’t really thrill her (she does like good action movies, like the Matrix, for example). It may not be the greatest film ever made, but it looked very good, the plot actually mostly ended up making sense at the end, and there were some very good fight scenes. The special effects were pretty good, especially Mr. Hyde (imagine an 18th Century Hulk, except he’s not green and the special effects are actually good) and the Invisible Guy, although by now those type of effects seem old hat, they are still done very well.
Maybe it was a bit too complicated for just two hours (I’m not sure what the actual run time was, but I think it was about two hours, not including any previews). A longer movie may have cleared up some plot details, but overall, I’ll still say this was an enjoyable film.