Starring Ralph Fiennes, Sean Connery & Uma Thurman

Directed by Jeremiah Chechik. Remake of a classic 60's TV Series

You can see why they would want to make a movie out of The Avengers. The vogue in the 90's has been to remake TV series from the sixties and most of them have been successes, such as Mission Impossible(financial) and The Fugitive which was a success both critically and financially.

 Buy The Avengers [1998] on DVD at Amazon!

But did they realise when they took on The Avengers just what a quirky format it was. An irreverent sense of humour with deadpan wit so unlike anything else on TV. Now I am not saying Americans are stupid but the sense of humour in The Avengers TV show is almost indecipherable to anybody born outwith the UK.

Yes we are a peculiar people on this island of ours. So from that you could see that a Director would have a have a hard time in trying to convert that sense of humour and style into a movie that people the whole world over could appreciate. Jeremiah Chechik who had previously helmed Benny & Joon, a personal favourite movie of mine, starring Johnny Depp that showed he could handle characters with a delicate touch.

Importantly there were no special effects in his previous movies. Now did he bite of more than he could chew with this movie, yes, definitely. The major problem with this movie is that it does not know what it wants to be. Should it be a comedy or an action movie? The makers certainly didn't decide. Which is my point about the type of humour in The Avengers TV series, everything is done with a nod and a wink and so obviously doesnt take itself seriously.

Now how can that be achieved with a major movie? It takes a director who is absolutely certain of what he/she wants to do to be able to carry it off. Control was what was lacking in The Avengers, Sean Connery was allowed to completely ham up his role with no subtlety at all, being nothing more than a Carry On...performance.

While Uma Thurman looked extremely cool in her catsuit, there was absolutely nothing memorable about her performance with zero chemistry between her and Ralph Fiennes. Chemistry between the two of them should have been required to give this film a bit of sizzle but instead they were a bit of a damp squib together.

On watching the movie it feels like the editors have had a terrible job cutting the movie together and it feels like great swathes of the movie have been cut out completely, Eddie Izzard and Shaun Ryders roles are tiny, but with the press they had had about their roles before release made you think they had large parts in the movie.

To sum it up The Avengers ended up as a bit of a mismash with no one knowing quite what the movie should have been. Bit of a shame really this movie could have been very surreally funny in the hands of a more confident director.

Tall Guy