The Avengers (14 August 1998)
directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik
starring Ralph Fiennes, Uma Thurman, Sean Connery, Patrick Macnee, Jim Broadbent, Fiona Shaw, Eddie Izzard, Eileen Atkins, John Wood
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MPAA rating: Studio: Warner Brothers Script: Don MacPherson Music: Joel McNeely Running time: 89 minutes Tags: Action; Adventure; espionage; Great Britan; spies; television adaptation; weather Tactical strength: [3/10]
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for brief strong language
How do you make a movie with Ralph Fiennes, Uma Thurman, and Sean Connery that falls flat on its face? Well, The Avengers movie shows us an example of how good actors cannot save a hideous script from doom and gives us just another lackluster adaptation of an old, popular television program for the big screen.
Someone has developed the ability to manipulate the weather, and the Ministry, a British espionage agency, assigns the case to John Steed (Ralph Fiennes), spy extraordinaire and high-class British gentleman. Steed must investigate Emma Peel (Uma Thurman), a research scientist at the top of the suspect list. The Ministry has video evidence that Mrs. Peel sabotaged her own research lab. Without much serious evidence, Mrs. Peel convinces the Ministry that she didn't destroy her lab, and that she wants to cooperate with the Ministry to clear her name. In addition to her science skills, Mrs. Peel can also fence and fits in well as a Ministry agent. Mrs. Peel and Steed start investigating Sir August de Wynter (Sean Connery), who runs a clandestine business selling private weather control. The two learn that De Wynter plans to take control of the world's weather and blackmail the world's nations for the return of (or even improvement upon) their regular weather. Steed and Mrs. Peel take on de Wynter and the mysterious doppelganger of Mrs. Peel to restore the world's weather to normal.
A corny plot, but nothing worse than a James Bond movie. An evil megalomaniac has plans to control the world, can work with the right handling, but The Avengers does almost nothing new or interesting with its characters. The script keeps the professional distance between Steed and Mrs. Peel established in the original television series, but this distance also keeps us from developing much interest in the characters themselves. The characters don't really have much interest in learning more about each other, so we as the audience don't have much interest either. The story line limps along and no amount of explosions or fight scenes can save us from the compounding ennui.
If played as an all out comedy, this movie might have worked. The megalomaniac Sir August de Wynter as a more comic character would have provided some laughs and moved us from a serious spy story to a comic book adventure, where disguising your henchmen in giant varicolored bear suits might get a laugh. Ramping up the comedy between Steed and Mrs. Peel would have created more interest in their relationship.
