Avenge thy box office death !!!!!! (The Avengers (DVD))

Member Name: utero

Product:	The Avengers (DVD)
Date:	04/07/01 (39 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: a decetn opening scene

Disadvantages: bad direction , doesn't make sense, lack of decent plot

Universally panned by critics on release I knew The Avengers would someday be destined to show up on Channel 5 and tonight was that time.


John Steed (Ralph Fiennes) and Emma Peel (Uma Thurman) team up to save the world from Sir August de Wynter (Sean Connery. De Wynter has a weather changing device that could bring destruction to the world unless he is paid (cue extreme camera zoom in) millions of dollars!

Anyway I think this is the plot because it's not made very clear in the film and is really skimmed over. Originally this film has a running time of over two hours. The final cut clocks in at an hour and a half. All I can say is IT REALLY SHOWS. This film is an muddles mess of editing. We jump from scene to scene with nothing really making any sense whatsoever. I knew things were going downhill once De Wynter holds a meeting with his cronies who aren't allowed to see each other. So instead of wearing blindfolds it seems they all dress in big colurful oversized bear costumes-as the abbreviation goes WTF ?????!!!!!!

I really feel sorry for all the actors involved in this film because it's a severe sore point on all their cv's. Fiennes is decent as Steed with a refined english charm while Thurman has a plummy english accent. Connery however seems to be phoning in his performance and really looks he'd rather be playing golf somewhere. Also appearing are Jim Broadbent in a horrible role as 'Mother' and even Eddie Izzard turns up as a henchman he doesn't speak a single word and has bad make-up and hair.

The direction and writing tread a fine line between being being wonderfully tongue in cheek and being over the top. sadly it puts its foot on the wrong side of that line. Drinking tea is a constant chore while Peel and Steed exchange constant sexual innuenndos. Some of the film looks very cheap indeed and dull looking contrasting with garish coloured sets.

This film makes no sense whatsoever
and it's a shame becausse it shows some signs of being wonderfully english, eccentric and fun in the beginning. It's interesting that Director Jeremiah S. Chechik hasn't been heard from since and writer Don McPherson hasn't done anything of note either before or after.

Believe all the bad press because it's true. If over an hour of footage was cut from the final release imagine what awful wastes of celluloid exist on the cutting room floor!

Summary: