The Avengers


The Avengers movie is a 90s version of the 70s TV show with the same name. The avengers in question are Dr. Emma Peel (Uma Thurman) and John Steed (Ralph Fiennes). The dialogue in the movie is corny, but the surreal aspect of the movie is about the only thing makes it remotely worth watching. However the basic plot contains gaping holes and leaves much to be desired.

When strange weather changes begin occurring over London, Peel becomes the primary suspect. She is asked to work with Steed of the London Ministry in the hope of ultimately finding the responsible party for the weather changes. During the course of their investigation, they run across Sir August De Wynter, played by Sean Connery, the evil mastermind behind the weather controlling scheme. They also run across a villain who doesn't say anything until the moments before he dies, mechanical bees bent on destroying them, a doppelganger, and various instances inclement weather, from snow storms to twisters. Eventually they triumph, but there is no motivation given for De Wynter's obsession with Peel including how and why he managed to clone her, why he is interested in controlling weather for the sake of money, nor why he is conspiring with certain members of the Interior.

The acting is fairly decent. Thurman gives a decent performance as does Fiennes. Sean Connery is great as usual, but the signs of age are showing. I suspect The Avengers will fail at the box office, primarily because it is far too removed from what the American public wants today, but it is a nice example of self-indulgent film-making insofar as Hollywood is concerned. The caveat here is that Hollywood probably did not want the movie to turn out this way. I recommend skipping this movie.


Movie ram-blings || Ram Samudrala || me@ram.org