The Avengers

Rating:
Summary: Don't watch alone...you'll want company for this one!
Review: This movie is either directed at the very young or the very young at heart: it's silly. And unfortunately, the plot neither stayed true to the series nor stood on its own very well. The dialogue was the biggest problem. It seemed like the cast actually spit out some of their lines like, "I can't believe you're making me say this!" Even still, it did have cult appeal: a few humorous lines and numerous cool special effects. (And wow, who picked out those clothes for Uma...could she have looked any better?) If you like silly, or can tolerate it, it's worth watching with a fun group of friends--and maybe a few good drinks.

Rating:
Summary: The Avengers: Not as bad as you think....
Review: Just a short review of The Avengers! What everyone has been saying about it being such a bad film is twaddle! It's a neat wee film with some great Special FX and performances (esp. by Eileen Aitkens!). The downside is the script and the failure of the two leads, Thurman and Fiennes to capture the original feeling of the Macnee/Rigg era. Another problem is that it seems to be a series of set pieces rather than an entire movie. BUT beautifully directed, stunningly photographed and the sets rae out of this world!

Rating:
Summary: Bordering on excellent
Review: I approached The Avengers with some trepidation, courtesy of several negative reviews, including one Australian critic who proclaimed it the worst movie he had ever seen. Having been one of just 42 people in the cinema when I saw the film, I was wondering just how bad it was going to be. My fears were unfounded. It was entertaining, amusing and suitably peculiar. I say suitably peculiar as, being a fan of the 60's TV series, any deviation from the concept would have been totally unsatisfactory. The movie, set in the sixties, was not a nostalgia trip (something which would have been a distraction) but still managed to capture the essence of that period. The plot was as silly as any in the TV series, thank goodness, and the villain (Sean Connery) was appropriately unbelievable. It wasn't one of Connery's best performances but he obviously enjoyed hamming it up outrageously. You have to enjoy it for that alone. Don't fall into the trap of comparing Uma Thurman and Ralph Feines with Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee. They play their parts differently, not better or worse, just different. The comparison is irrelevant. The cinematography is excellent, as are the special effects. Overall, a highly enjoyable film that should appeal to fans of the genre, and Avengers fan specifically. Not a great movie, but a good production. Its lack of success is unfortunate, and the bad press overdone. It's likely to attain some degree of cult status within a couple of years.

Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: So bad. Watch the 60's TV episodes as they have come out on VHS and DVD but don't touch this with a 10ft pole.

Rating:
Summary: Steed & Mrs.Peel, Good to Have you Back !
Review: Totally misunderstood movie. A unique and visually stunning film with fantastic costume and set design. Ralph Fiennes was superb as British secret John Steed and gave the character some much needed sex appeal which in my opinion was sadly lacking in the original series. Eileen Atkins produced a classic 60s Avengers style character with her portrayal of 'Alice'. Sadly the Avengers does appear to have been very badly hacked in the editing room at the 11th hour and would certainly benifit from a release of the full length version. 'The Avengers' stayed true to the spirit of the original TV series and visually even improved upon it - Uma Thurman looked almost edible as Mrs. Peel. A fun and highly entertaining movie if you don't take it too seriously. I for one don't know what all the critical fuss is about.
(...)

Rating:
Summary: Classic Camp in a '90s Film
Review: I just got this on sale...to all the reviews that pan this revisit; quit being Avengers snobs! You won't ever see a duo as well suited to each other as Patrick MacNee and Diana Rigg but give the current duo their propers! This a 1998 feature film version of a '60s British TV series, not a retrospective! It has the same over-the-top technology spin that the original producers would have incorporated in a heart beat, updated for the late '90s. If you paid attention to the original series it had the same eccentric characters and the same outlandish plots. That's what made the series and this film fun to watch. P.S., I could have gone for Elizabeth Hurley as Mrs. Peel.

Rating:
Summary: Fun and action filled
Review: This is a very watchable action flick, with Uma Thurman doing what she does best - wearing something tight and kicking the bad guys around. Sean Connery goes over the top as the mad Scottish scientist holding the world ransom. Mostly, though, it's comedy of manners. Steed and Dr. Peel (that's Thurman, but her friends can call her Mrs. Peel) maintain a relaxed tea-time manner no matter what the chaos around them or between them.

I can't compare this to the original series, which aired more than 35 year ago. I suspect that fans will find this wanting. So be it. If you can take this for itself, you'll find a decent piece of humorous action entertainment.

//wiredweird

Rating:
Summary: Just About Completely Dreadful
Review: As soon as I saw that Ralph Fiennes' head was too small for his bowler, I knew "The Avengers" was going to be a mess. Terribly miscast as superspy John Steed--Fiennes is charmless in the role that Patrick MacNee so ably brought to life on television--he resembles a child wearing his father's hat (and not too happy about it). Uma Thurman fares little better. While she was terrific in both "Kill Bill" films, she's way out of her league looks-wise and charisma-wise when compared to Diana Rigg's simply scrumptious Emma Peel. And then there's the story, or what passes for it, something about a scene-chewing though not particularly convincing Sean Connery controlling the world's weather. Director Jeremiah Chechik and whoever is willing to take the blame for the script get some of the surface details of "The Avengers" formula right but completely miss the boat with regard to the TV series' wit, style, and sophistication, another (typical) modern misstep of focusing on form and ignoring substance. To be fair, a lot apparently was cut from the film before its release, but it's hard to imagine anything salvaging "The Avengers"--and the DVD is sans deleted scenes, so the point is moot. Eddie Izzard pops up looking like a mod, shrunken Oliver Reed but gets the film's best line, though a brief sight gag featuring "Mother," the spy agency boss, also actually made me chuckle with the film and not at it. At least poor Patrick MacNee was smart enough to make sure his cameo did not require him to actually show up on screen; Diana Rigg was smarter for turning the film down outright. Why anyone bothered to remake "The Avengers" is beyond me, as the show worked fine as it was, and I can't think of any actors today who could embody Steed and Peel as well as the originals.

Rating:
Summary: You know...
Review: I have pretty high standards when it comes to movies...AND TV shows, and I can't, for the life of me, see what is so gawrsh-awful about this movie. Granted, the superfeminine Diana Rigg isn't playing Mrs. Peel...and yes, dapper, veddy British Patrick McNee isn't parlaying Steed, but they did pretty well with what they had, and had a plotline that you were actually able to FOLLOW, to boot! This is something I remember the TV show NOT having...most of the stories were just platforms for Emma to be stylish in, with no clues, no O. Henry, no real DISCERNIBLE plot thread to speak of...just the barest of storylines....

The story involves Steed first MEETING Emma, (again!) and Emma being a major renaissance woman...doctor, meteorologist, psychologist, etc....the woman holds more degrees than a Kelvin thermometer!! The film opens up with Steed being tested for reflexes and skills as he strolls through a mockup of a British village. Pram-pushing nannies throw knives, pub drinkers try to run him over, bobbies attack him unbidden...he comes through with flying colors. Switch to Emma Peel's fabulous flat in London...she gets the call from the elite arm of the BSS that Steed works for after it's discovered that she, or a double of her, has sabotaged her own project.

What follows are chase scenes from hell; some VERY mannered acting; Sean Connery chewing the scenery as a megalomaniac meteorologist and businessman who wants to, what else, RULE THE WORLD...by controlling the weather. Steed and Emma go after him when it's discovered, unequivocally, that it IS a double of Emma sabotaging her project...and in fact, attempting to kill the original Mrs. Peel!

The cinematography and art direction for this film is EXCELLENT. The music, however, except for the lifts from the series, seems somewhat inappropriate and overly ponderous. There are some hair-raising chase scenes in the film, one with a fleet of mechanical, anti-personnel hornets, and Connery's acting is perfect for his role. The style of the series is recaptured nicely, especially with the villians' confab scene in teddy bear mufti in the middle of the film, and Emma wandering through what looks like M.C. Escher's summer home.

All in all, the phlegmatic bearing of Fiennes and Thurman in the face of it all remind you an AWFUL lot of the original Steed and Emma, and the climax between Steed, Emma, Connery, Eddie Izzard, Fiona Shaw, as the very teutonic-looking "Father", (supposedly one of the GOOD guys,) and Connery's henchmen is fairly entertaining.

While it may never win a spot on AFI's top 100, it IS diverting. My one complaint is...why did they have to pick UMA THURMAN...Ms. Box Office Poison herself, to play Emma? Was Nicole Kidman busy? Emma Thompson? Miranda Richardson? WHY A YANK??!! And ESPECIALLY her?? Didn't "Batman & Robin" tell them ANYTHING??!!

Rating:
Summary: Great TV Show, Lousy Movie
Review: To understand why The Avengers movie so totally misses the mark, you have to understand why the original Patrick Macnee/Diana Rigg British TV series worked so well. This requires a bit of historical perspective. Britain in the early/mid-1960s was a culture in which long-accepted norms were threatened by powerful social forces. The youth movement was forever redefining attitudes toward authority and government, Britain was birthing a type of music that would soon sweep the world, and, particularly important to The Avengers, the women's rights movement saw many a woman demand more from her future than a lifetime of housewifedom.

When Diana Rigg's character of Emma Peel was first introduced to The Avengers in 1965, the show had already been going for several years. The character of John Steed was well-established as a conservative, stiff upper lipped, tea drinking, bowler hatted, ex-military, prime example of upper crust middle-aged traditional British masculinity. Then along came his new partner Emma Peel: young, irreverent and outspoken, sexually aggressive, dressed in provocative mod fashion AND possessed of four doctorates. Bear in mind, at this time in Britain it was almost unheard of for a woman to be a doctor at all. Not only did Emma Peel defy that convention, she did it times four.

To John Steed, exemplar of the-way-things-are-and-should-be, Emma Peel was the living embodiment of forces threatening to destroy everything he held dear, everything to which he'd devoted his life, his duty, his sacred honor. To Peel, Steed was the sort of hidebound reactionary she'd been fighting against her entire life in order to be the sort of woman, the sort of whole person her sense of individuality demanded. The great thing about the John Steed/Emma Peel Avengers episodes was watching these two very different people, each representing social forces the other had every reason to despise, over time learn to value and respect what the other had to offer, eventually even to love each other. An endless source of debate among Avengers TV fans is whether or not Steed and Peel's relationship ever became sexual or was simply platonic. Whichever opinion you embrace, there can be no doubt the love and respect were there.

The Avengers TV show was profoundly fortunate in its casting of John Steed and Emma Peel. Patrick Macnee perfectly portrayed the somewhat stuffy, exceedingly proper man of action. The heart of a noble knight in a three-piece suit and bowler hat. But as good as Macnee was, Diana Rigg's casting as Emma Peel was the masterstroke. For Emma Peel to accomplish everything she had in life before ever meeting John Steed, she must have been a high-level genius. Fortunately for the show, in real life Diana Rigg has an IQ that looks like a zip code, as well as immense class, polish, sex appeal, a strong will, and the thespic skills of a successful Shakespearean actress. When Diana Rigg played a high-level genius with multiple doctorates it was believable. I can't imagine anyone else who could have portrayed Emma Peel so well.

So that's why the original Steed/Peel episodes of The Avengers rocked. And that's why the movie is a failure, because it has none of that going for it. It could be argued the social milieu within which the TV series existed, that provoked and informed its subtext, no longer exists and so the movie couldn't have used it anyway. Maybe. But I see no evidence the moviemakers were even aware of it. The props are there, the surface accoutrements, Steed's umbrella and bowler hat, Peel's catsuit, but the conflicts and dynamic that drove the original relationship and made it something truly special are nowhere to be found.

The casting in a problem. Joseph Fiennes tries hard but is hideously miscast. He's too young, too contemporary looking, to portray a rock-ribbed conservative like John Steed. Uma Thurman, though I respect her as an actress, was similarly a poor choice to play Emma Peel. From watching Uma Thurman in interviews I get a sense of her as an intelligent, thoughtful human being, but she simply can't convincingly portray a high-level genius like Emma Peel. Thurman's Peel is more coquettish than intellectual. When Diana Rigg says she has four doctorates you buy it. When Uma Thurman says the same thing, you can't.

There are other reasons to dislike this movie, but none as important as those just discussed. A great television show does not necessarily translate to a great movie when those making the latter fail to understand what made the former great, and the two leading roles are horribly miscast. If you want to enjoy The Avengers, check out the Patrick Macnee/Diana Rigg originals, and give this turkey a pass.