THE AVENGERS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: The screen version of the 60s TV
classic will probably do well only with real fans
of the series. Non-fans of the series should give
this one a miss. Still, this is just about the
best and most accurate re- creation we could have
expected at the end of the 90s. Uma Thurman and
Ralph Fiennes star in a film drenched in the 60s
atmosphere of series THE AVENGERS. Those were not
great stories and neither is this, but both are
fun. Rating: 6 (0 to 10), high +1 (-4 to +4)
Starting in January 1961, the British were treated to a sort of tongue-in-cheek crime and spy series on television. THE AVENGERS was about secret agent John Steed and his various partners who changed over the years. The original concept for Steed was to have the personality of a George Sanders--sort of worldly and a little sarcastic. I cannot help believing part of the inspiration was also Ralph Richardson's brawley-toting and bowler-hatted secret agent Major Charles Hammond from the 1939 film Q PLANES (retitled in the U.S. CLOUDS OVER EUROPE). Initially the partner was Dr. David Keel (played by Ian Hendry). Later for four years it was Catherine Gale (Honor Blackman). When she left the producers looked for a replacement that would have the same "man- appeal" as Ms. Blackman did. "Man appeal" was abbreviated "M-appeal" and when actress Diana Rigg was hired "M-appeal" or rather Emma Peel became her character's name. She was not with the series even as long as Blackman but hers were the years that the series got its widest viewership. She is the best remembered of Steed's partners, though there were others before and after her. The episodes of the Emma Peel years were noted for a sort of 60s mod surrealism that became the hallmark of the series. That was a trademark and so was making the characters veddy, veddy sophisticated and stylish. So when in the late 90s, the film industry is making a feature film based on the popular series, these are the years they choose to copy.
And remake the series they really did. The recent film MISSION IMPOSSIBLE took place in the same world as the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE TV series and had some of the same characters, but the writers clearly did not know or did not care what a MISSION IMPOSSIBLE story was all about. They told their own kind of story with characters from the series. THE AVENGERS on the other hand have authentically told an AVENGERS sort of story and they have told it in the style of THE AVENGERS. For the most part, the faults of the film are actually cases where the original formula did not age well. As Mike Myers shows us in AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY, much of the 60s mod style looks pretty silly today. The story of THE AVENGERS is trivial and comic-bookish, but that was the series. The 60s mod surrealism comes through loud and clear. Suffice it to say that there are scenes in this film that are sufficiently visually weird and unexpected to bring a smile to any viewer's face. Toward the end of each episode there usually was a fight under outlandish circumstances and the circumstances in this film are about as outlandish as any. The only place where the formula was not quite followed was that in the series any romantic feelings between Steed and Peel were strictly between the lines of the script. There was a sexual tension, but the characters never acknowledged it. In this version is not much romance, but it is much more clearly spelled out for the viewer. The Michael Kamen and Joel McNeely musical score I think should have made more use of the original music. The opening title music is something of a letdown only because I had hoped to hear a good version of the original theme. This is one aspect where MISSION IMPOSSIBLE was better. In fact, the music could have done a lot more to create the feel of the film. In the final analysis it does little to enhance the atmosphere. Even if it was not trying to re-create the 60s feel, it should have been able to add to the excitement better than it did. There is one minor plot variation on the canon I would like to add. In the film, Steed and Peel meet for the first time, yet the story also features Mother. In the series, the very last episode with Peel introduced Mother for the first time. And to the best of my knowledge the character of Father was invented for the film.
Bon vivant and crack secret agent John Steed (Ralph Fiennes) is called in after an attack on the British government's secret weather project Prospero. Oddly enough the attacker seems to be there very founder of the project, the beautiful and leggy scientist Dr. Emma Peel (Uma Thurman). In spite of actual film of Peel committing the crime, Peel claims to be innocent. Steed's suspicion falls on the aptly named August de Wynter (Sean Connery), a flamboyant Scotsman who is doing funny things to weather in a project that seems related to Peel's Prospero.
How are Fiennes and Thurman at re-creating the characters of John Steed and Emma Peel? Not too shabby. The real danger is that a well- cast Mrs. Peel will upstage the more quietly conservative John Steed. However Steed holds his own and never becomes second banana to Mrs. Peel. Both seem physically up to the challenges of the role. Both seem to ooze charm and class. Their interpretations are really fairly close to the originals. They have one minor change in style, they seem to smile a lot less and are more serious about their work. But they do seem to be the same people the originals played. And they are helped along by Don MacPherson's script, which has a very AVENGERS feel. I kept picturing Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg delivering the same lines and in almost the same way. Patrick Macnee does not appear in THE AVENGERS, by the way, while Diana Rigg is not in the film at all. Sean Connery is Sean Connery is Sean Connery.
A little fine-tuning could have made this a perfect 90s representation of the 60s TV series. That might not have raised the rating, but it would not have hurt either. I give this one a 6 on the 0 to 10 scale and a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1998 Mark R. Leeper
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