This is the movie that led Sean Connery to become so jaded with Hollywood, that he decided to retire from acting entirely. Make no mistake, this is absolutely a terrible movie. However, I have always loved it, and the main reason for that was due to Connery’s performance.
The film had quite a lot of good things going for it. A stempunkesque adventure, featuring world famous literary characters created by Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Bram Stoker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Ian Fleming, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, and many more.
So how did it go wrong?
Where do I start?
First, it was directed by Stephen Norrington, an absolutely terrible director whose only decent film was Blade, starring Wesley Snipes. However, this film was popular in spite of the fact that it was was not competently shot or directed. One must only see Blade 2, directed by Guillermo Del Toro, to see what good directing can do to lift up a film as creatively ambitious.
Next we have the casting. While Sean Connery did a pretty good job in the role of Allan Quatermain, the rest of the ensemble, were OK, but not great. Most were better known as television actors at the time. Unless you are a serious cinephile, you likely won’t recognize most of them, including Naseeruddin Shah, Peta Wilson, Tony Curran, Stuart Townsend, Shane West, Jason Flemyng, and Richard Roxburgh.
Finally, we have the writing. This movie did not really know how to balance its ensemble competently, leading to the feeling that the cast was just there for the ride, rather than being fully fledged characters. That can probably be best attributed to the poor writing.
It’s really Connery’s movie, and he’s so good in the role, that you just can’t help but pay attention to him whenever he appears. However the filming was a disaster from his perspective. Not only did the films many weather delays bother him, but apparently he and Stephen Norrington did not get along well on the set, with Connery reportedly becoming very upset with Norrington for shutting things down for petty reasons, such as a prop gun not being created to his liking.
Connery was so dissatisfied by Norrington, that he reportedly helped the film by taking on some of the editing duties himself. While I am unsure just how involved he was in the final cut, I will say that the editing probably has something to do with the fact that I really like watching this film. It’s an amazingly fun watch, that proves just how good of an actor Connery was.
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