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-   -   Is LXG that bad? (https://forum.dvdtalk.com/movie-talk/334417-lxg-bad.html)

iggystar 12-29-03 08:45 AM

People had a problem with the CGI in Hulk but don't have a problem with the CGI in LXG? I guess there's no accounting for taste, but c'mon!?

darqleo 12-29-03 09:44 AM


Originally posted by iggystar
People had a problem with the CGI in Hulk but don't have a problem with the CGI in LXG? I guess there's no accounting for taste, but c'mon!?
If you are referring to the Hyde character, his look is actually done with make-up effects. And I mean the final transformation, not the in-between stuff.

RocShemp 12-29-03 02:43 PM


Originally posted by darqleo
And as one poster stated, not only could Mina Harker The Vampire go out in the daylight, she could see her image in her little compact that she carries (her first attack scene she checks her face to clean herself up).
She could do that because in Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula, sunlight doesn't kill vampires. It merely weakens them and makes them as powerless and mortal as you and me.

As for the mirror, that bugged me the first time I saw the film but, if you look at the scene again, she isn't looking at her reflection in that mirror. The way she holds it lets her see the people behind her. If she really could see her reflection, Sawyer wouldn't have to indicate the spot of blood she missed by her lip (of course, he didn't notice the spot beside one of her eyebrows that suddenly disappeared in the next shot).

As for Dorian, you're right. He was never invincible. Then again
Spoiler:
merely looking at his portrait wouldn't have killed him either
so I took it that this Dorian was not the same of the book. Interestingly enough, there was meant to be a comment about past experiences between Dorian Gray and Oscar Wilde and how they parted in not the best of circumstances. I wonder why that wasn't used in the film.

As for Hyde, blame Allan Moore. He's the one who made a Hyde a huge ape. Of course, he actually had Jekyll comment about it in the comic book whereas the film makes no attempt to address that issue.

devilshalo 12-29-03 03:00 PM

Is it that bad.. not, but it's not that good either.

I'm still waiting to be impressed.

atari2600 12-29-03 11:19 PM


Originally posted by darqleo
atari2600: I was being sarcastic.
:D

oh...um...i knew that. :)

atari2600 12-29-03 11:20 PM

it really helps if you havent read the comics and arent familiar with the characters (like myself). thus these holes dont bother me since, for example, i dont know who dorian grey is suppose to be.

majorjoe23 12-30-03 09:22 AM


Originally posted by RocShemp
As for Hyde, blame Allan Moore. He's the one who made a Hyde a huge ape. Of course, he actually had Jekyll comment about it in the comic book whereas the film makes no attempt to address that issue.
Moore did mention it in the comic, but I'm pretty sure Robert Lewis Stevenson included a bit at the end of the book, commenting that Hyde seemed to have grown and that Jekyll was diminishing. It's been two years since I read the book though(Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, not LOEG) so I could be wrong.

Giantrobo 12-30-03 10:37 AM


Originally posted by renaldow
Yes, I have read them all, and much more from that era. I'd agree that they really bastardized Hyde in this movie.

Your right, Sawyer never became a wise crackin, car drivin, gun totin secret agent in his books. Mina never became a scientist either as far as I'm aware. The thing is, we don't know what happened to them after their stories ended, we don't know that they did or that they didn't. This is a fantasy, it's a what if. It takes place after these characters gained their fame in their own stories, and we visit them years later. I think this is the biggest problem people have. If you can't buy that premise, then you won't like the rest of the movie.

And yes, if you're familiar with the literature of the time, this movie is paced very much like a victorian action novel.


But see, all the characters in "LXG" with the exception of "The Invisible Man" are PUBLIC DOMIAN*. From what I understand "TInMa" could not be used because the creator's family still owned the rights.

Anyway, one can take the characters and tweak them however they want. Isn't this the point of "Public Domain"?




*The total absence of copyright protection. If
something is "in the public domain" then anyone can copy it or
use it in any way they wish. The author has none of the
exclusive rights which apply to a copyright work

Giantrobo 12-30-03 10:44 AM


Originally posted by atari2600
it really helps if you havent read the comics and arent familiar with the characters (like myself). thus these holes dont bother me since, for example, i dont know who dorian grey is suppose to be.

I've started reading the short story "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde and the movie version didn't bother me at all. It's a very Gay story written about a gay man who paints a picture of the beautiful and sexy Dorian Gray with whom he's in love with.

RocShemp 12-30-03 10:57 AM


Originally posted by majorjoe23
Moore did mention it in the comic, but I'm pretty sure Robert Lewis Stevenson included a bit at the end of the book, commenting that Hyde seemed to have grown and that Jekyll was diminishing. It's been two years since I read the book though(Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, not LOEG) so I could be wrong.
Interesting. I'll have to re-read the book then.

As for my "blame Moore" comment, it wasn't meant as an attack on the comic (or the writer) but rather to show that the movie isn't really at fault in this regard since that was true to the source material. Of course Hyde was more viceral in the comic but the the constraints of a PG-13 (which I doubt was contractual but rather a mid-production decision - why else would you shoot footage of a guy's head popping open when you know it's never going to see the light of day?) wouldn't allow for what Hyde was really all about. But I will give credit for the film keeping the formula. Only because I like the idea that Jekyll knows what Hyde is about and yet he still takes the formula and fools himself into the thinking that Hyde tricked him. It was just very poignant to hear Hyde say "you knew what I was about every time you took the formula" followed by Jekyll insisting "no! I'm a good man. A good man!"

I just wish the movie had more moments like this. It really needed them but apparently the studio though character development and conflict wasn't interesting (at least according to the audio commentary and several articles floating around the net). :rolleyes:

majorjoe23 12-30-03 11:05 AM


Originally posted by Giantrobo
But see, all the characters in "LXG" with the exception of "The Invisible Man" are PUBLIC DOMIAN*. From what I understand "TInMa" could not be used because the creator's family still owned the rights.

Anyway, one can take the characters and tweak them however they want. Isn't this the point of "Public Domain"?




*The total absence of copyright protection. If
something is "in the public domain" then anyone can copy it or
use it in any way they wish. The author has none of the
exclusive rights which apply to a copyright work

The Invisible Man is long in the public domain, at least as literature, LXG's producers were hesitant to use THE Invisible Man because it was unclear whether Universal still holds the film rights to the character.

Terrell 12-30-03 06:38 PM


People had a problem with the CGI in Hulk but don't have a problem with the CGI in LXG? I guess there's no accounting for taste, but c'mon!?
Agreed! Some people just have no clue the difference between great effects and terrible effects. The transformation of Hyde was garbage, and that godawful rubber suit was ten times worse than that.

Giantrobo 12-30-03 06:49 PM


Originally posted by majorjoe23
The Invisible Man is long in the public domain, at least as literature, LXG's producers were hesitant to use THE Invisible Man because it was unclear whether Universal still holds the film rights to the character.

From imdb.com


All of these characters - except for Rodney Skinner, the Invisible man - have fallen into the public domain, which means that anybody can write about them.

majorjoe23 12-31-03 10:07 AM


Originally posted by Giantrobo
From imdb.com
At the very least, the book is in the public domain, you can download it for free at Paradoxcafe.com and dozens of other sites. It's possible this is one of those Tarzan situations, where the character isn't in public domain, but the book is.

Also, Rodney Skinner was the character they created for the movie. The Invisible Man from Welles book is Hawley Griffin.

Giantrobo 01-01-04 03:01 AM


Originally posted by majorjoe23
At the very least, the book is in the public domain, you can download it for free at Paradoxcafe.com and dozens of other sites. It's possible this is one of those Tarzan situations, where the character isn't in public domain, but the book is.

Also, Rodney Skinner was the character they created for the movie. The Invisible Man from Welles book is Hawley Griffin.


Yeah I know, Skinner was created because of Copyright issues. That's why they didn't use the "Real" Invisible Man character from the book.

That's my whole point.

victant 01-01-04 07:34 PM

I just saw this movie yesterday, and I'm glad that I saw it, but I'm even more glad that I rented it. ;)

Burnt Alive 01-01-04 10:04 PM


Originally posted by majorjoe23
Moore did mention it in the comic, but I'm pretty sure Robert Lewis Stevenson included a bit at the end of the book, commenting that Hyde seemed to have grown and that Jekyll was diminishing. It's been two years since I read the book though(Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, not LOEG) so I could be wrong.
Correct, but, Hyde was growing in the characteristic sense, not the physical. (ie: more Hyde, less Jekyll).


Another thing that really bugged me about this disaster of a film: When the henchman took the "Hyde serum" not only did he turn into a 10-story tall ape, but he was still EVIL. The serum is supposed to bring your alternate mindstate to the forefont, so the guy should have been helping Hyde instead of throwing tanks and stuff at him.

Also in the book, not only was Hyde not a roof-jumping superhuman beast, but he was actually SMALLER than Jekyll and although he was a mean-spirited bastard, he also was frightened of many things, not a fearless deep-sea diver.

majorjoe23 01-01-04 10:52 PM


Originally posted by Burnt Alive
Correct, but, Hyde was growing in the characteristic sense, not the physical. (ie: more Hyde, less Jekyll).


Another thing that really bugged me about this disaster of a film: When the henchman took the "Hyde serum" not only did he turn into a 10-story tall ape, but he was still EVIL. The serum is supposed to bring your alternate mindstate to the forefont, so the guy should have been helping Hyde instead of throwing tanks and stuff at him.

Also in the book, not only was Hyde not a roof-jumping superhuman beast, but he was actually SMALLER than Jekyll and although he was a mean-spirited bastard, he also was frightened of many things, not a fearless deep-sea diver.

It wasn't exactly the opposite of the person that the serum brings out, it was their repressed nature. So maybe the evil guy was really repressing some SUPER evil feelings.

roger_d 01-02-04 05:44 AM

Compared to The Hulk, it was a masterpiece.

RocShemp 01-03-04 07:37 AM


Originally posted by Burnt Alive
Also in the book, not only was Hyde not a roof-jumping superhuman beast, but he was actually SMALLER than Jekyll and although he was a mean-spirited bastard, he also was frightened of many things, not a fearless deep-sea diver.
But in the comic book Hyde was a gigantic monster and Dupin actually thought he was an orangutang (sp?) attacking prostitutes in the Rue Morgue. Jekyll does ramble (or rather tries to ramble) on about how he used to be bigger and Hyde wasn't the monstrous brute you know see in the comic book but he gets quickly cut off by one of the characters (I don't remember if it was Mina or Quatermain) because they had more pressing matters at the moment (they were invading a den run by Fu Manchu).


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