Review of The Avengers (1998) by Jonathan B — 28 Jun 2009

If I had to some up this â??adaptationâ?? in one word, Iâ??ll say desecration. If I could give two words, Iâ??d tack on disrespectful. Itâ??s obvious watching the movie that the director had seen no episodes of the 1960s TV classic, because if he had thereâ??d be no Steed/Peel romance. Hell, if he had seen an episode Uma Thurman and Ralph Fiennes would be far, far away from filming. Thereâ??d also be no nudity, overt sexual references, and it would most likely have a script in a quality merely *slightly* better than the manual which James Bond â??shot throughâ?? in a few seconds in Die Another Day. The Avengers is not Bond with its sexual double entendres or nudity, but is made more appealing due to the hints, teases, and subtlety. Weintraubâ??s vision, however, is far from subtle. Steed and Mrs. Peel engage in a romance (!) which would NEVER, EVER happen in the show.

Itâ??s obvious that the studios made The Avengers as their James Bond series. They even brought on Sean Connery as the villain, who managed to elevate the movie by his mere presence. And, aside from the script and casting, thereâ??s not that much wrong with the movie. Two more competent actors as the leads could have overcome the flaws in the script, and a more competent script could have carried the leads better. As if these two flaws werenâ??t bad enough, the movie introduces a second, evil Dr. (or Mrs.) Peel, and we never really know how or why she appears. It really is detrimental to the entire movie, and makes following the London climax next to impossible. The two big problems exacerbate each other because Uma Thurman is bad enough being onscreen once, and the script makes the double impossible to understand.

That being said, thereâ??s a lot of good in The Avengers too, compared to similar candidates. The teddy bear meeting is straight out of the show with elements from the first Cathy Gale episode â??Mr. Teddy Bearâ??. Father and Mother from the Tara King episodes are well played, and the double decker bus is straight from the show as well. Patrick Macnee is good in his cameo as â??Invisible Jonesâ??, the never-ending house is an enjoyable throwback, and the orbs are Avengerlike. Many Avengerfans have complained that the movie borrows the plot from the Emma Peel episode â??A Surfeit of H2Oâ??, but thatâ??s not exactly the case. Iâ??d have rather had a good adaptation of that episode than the mess thatâ??s present. Apparently, the studio interfered with the movie and cut about 45 minutes, which is why the novelization is much clearer and comprehensible. If a directorâ??s cut came out (which I doubt it would), this movie, even with all of its flaws, would not be insulted by being on the same list as the fourth Terminator movie or Transformers. Unfortunately, this probably wonâ??t happen as the movie is 11 years old and the show turns 50 in two years. Interest has waned, but itâ??s sad that the series fell so far. First The New Avengers, which had too few gems hiding out with all the trash, and now this.

For all that donâ??t understand my wording in the last paragraph: The show started in 1961, and it is older than the Bond series. It started out not focusing on Patrick Macnee, who played Steed, and Diana Rigg wouldnâ??t even be on the show for another four years. Instead, the focus was on Ian Hendry who played a doctor â??avengingâ?? the death of his wife, hence the name. Steed came from the government and helped Hendryâ??s Dr. David Keel. Eventually, audiences liked Steed more and Keel was replaced with a woman, which was quite eventful for the early 1960s. Cathy Gale, played by Honor Blackman who would eventually go on to Goldfinger, provided a tough yet straight female partner alongside Macneeâ??s debonair Steed. Replacing her was the iconic Diana Rigg as Mrs. Peel, whoâ??s debut also coincided with The Avengersâ?? American debut. It was a huge hit, but Diana Rigg was treated badly by the show and the newcomer Linda Thorson came on to play Tara King. This season marked the introduction of Mother and Father, a handicapped male and blind female, respectively, who were the leaders of MI12. The show decreased in the ratings due to a decrease in quality and finally ended in 1969. It was revitalized in a short two-season stint in 1976 and 1977, and starred Joanna Lumley as Purdey and now-deceased Garrett Hunt as Mike Gambit alongside Patrick Macnee as Steed. The showâ??s now over, and itâ??s sad it ended with this. A book was written in place of the movie, called Too Many Targets. It was OK, but short and unsatisfying.