Make no mistake, this is an "action" shoot-em-up film, with precious little thematic content and a shallow if complicated plot. However, it is at once a good example of the genre, very cleverly written and composed, and steeped in the comic atmosphere that presumably comes from the "graphic novel" upon which it is based. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is to superhero action films what Love Actually is to romantic comedies.
The plot is roughly this: In 1899, well ahead of his time, the evil bad guy realises (1) the potential of technology applied to war, and (2) the potential to make money by selling superior armaments to warring nations. He thus goes into the business of making advanced weapons, and promoting war across Europe. Her Majesty's government approaches a small group of "extraordinary" characters, with a request for help in preventing international meltdown by locating and stopping the bad guy, which of course they eventually do.
The story manages to touch or rely upon many existing tales. In fact, you do not have to suspend belief at all provided you already accept Rider Haggard's Alan Quartermain, Verne's Captain Nemo (who has clearly studied under the same tutor as Bruce Lee, and whose Nautilus has been upgraded with the latest GPS tracking and cruise missile technology, not to mention getting a first-class, art-deco face-lift), Twain's Tom Sawyer, the technology from Well's Invisible Man, the reality and schizophrenia of Stevenson's Dr Jeckyll, and the immortality of Wilde's Dorian Gray and Stoker's Mina Harker. The movie tips its hat to others, including Fleming's James Bond and Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (in whose time the action is set). There is considerable entertainment in the linking of the many fictional worlds. The acting is actually decent, and it is good to see Sean Connery in any role; at the age of 73 he still made an ideal Quatermain.
Ultimately, however, one has to acknowledge that a crummy plot and a thematic void can only be carried so far by cleverness and effects: This is squarely a 6/10 movie, notably better than the disaster as which it is occasionally characterized.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311429/