Injustice from "The Avengers" by Homer Yen (c) 1998
Let me first get this out of the way. I am deeply surprised at how a film that has such a pleasingly inspired look and a cast of superb actors can amount to such a summer dud. There are plenty of things that are wrong with this movie. For example, before entering the theatre, I noticed a synopsis of the movie sent from the movie studio which was posted by the ticket counter. It says that John Steed (Ralph Fiennes) and Emma Peel (Uma Thurman), who are British super agents, were investigating the murder of three other agents. The odd thing was that there were no such murders, the synopsis was completely wrong.
If you've seen any James Bond film, then you're already familiar with the plot here. British agents meet up with a deranged fanatic that is bent on ruling the world. The villain, in a nice twist from his days as the original James Bond, is Sean Connery playing evil aristocrat, Sir August deWynter. He formerly worked for the government and was one of the instrumental scientists in developing the Prospero project, which allowed a person to control weather. If the worlds' leaders do not bow down to him, he'll unleash Mother Nature. And why is the filthy rich deWynter doing this? To perpetuate some philosophical dream? As an act of vengeance? No. Believe it or not, the answer is because he wants MORE money. He truly must be deranged. Obviously, no thought went into his motivations.
Much of this film seems bereft of thought and coherence. Additionally, we really feel nothing for the intrepid agents. Valuing tea time almost as greatly as saving the world, their demeanors come across as being so nonchalant that it dampens any attempt to inject some energy into the movie. Indeed, there is this plastic-lawn-ornament sort of feeling that wafts through the movie.
I have a feeling that this movie was written by a very creative person and a second-rate writer who, during the course of developing this movie, never met. Each was responsible for developing a certain aspect of the film, and they decided to brush aside any continuity problems. "The Avengers" is actually a slick-looking piece and offered some unique sequences such as a climatic battle between Peel and an evil henchman atop a series of high wires and an amusing chase sequence where the agents are being pursued by mechanized giant wasps with machine guns in their stingers. And there was some great comic touches such as when we see a high-level meeting among the bad guys who all must wear giant, brightly colored teddy bear suits to hide their identities. But even this kind of costuming and the elaborate sets can't disguise the fact that this is a poorly developed project.
Grade: C-
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