The Avengers (1998)
Directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik
British Ministry agent John Steed, under direction from "Mother", investigates a diabolical plot by arch-villain Sir August de Wynter to rule the world with his weather control machine. Steed investigates the beautiful Doctor Mrs. Emma Peel, the only suspect, but simultaneously falls for her and joins forces with her to combat Sir August.
6 connections found
View:
6 films that influenced The Avengers
What critics say influenced The Avengers
The last half hour provides enough spectacular action sequences (including a stormy duel reminiscent of the one in The Empire Strikes Back) to reward a young viewer who might have endured the awkward dialogue (loaded with innuendos) and uncomfortable overdose of strangeness (giant teddy bears, anyone?) that ran rampant for the first sixty minutes.
Eileen Atkins, the redoubtable comic actress of Cold Comfort Farm, aces a few brief appearances but her character is not allowed to continue much.
An utterly feeble and dispiriting flop that wastes not only a trio of casting coups but, in set designer Stuart Craig (of Dangerous Liaisons and The English Patient , to name two triumphs), one of the greatest eye-poppers at work in the commercial cinema.
Jim Broadbent (The Crying Game) and the great Fiona Shaw (My Left Foot) make appearances as corrupt henchmen named Mother—that's him—and Father—that's her.
Advertisement
Jim Broadbent (The Crying Game) and the great Fiona Shaw (My Left Foot) make appearances as corrupt henchmen named Mother—that's him—and Father—that's her.
Stars Ralph Fiennes, Uma Thurman, and Sean Connery may seem well-positioned to breathe life into a tongue-in-cheek action pic derived from these most stylish, rough-and-tumble icons of British urbanity, but who thought that director Jeremiah Chechik (1996's atrocious Diabolique ) and screenwriter Don MacPherson (Absolute Beginners) were the ones to pull it off?