The Avengers (1998)

Director:

Jeremiah S. Chechik

Writers (WGA):

Sydney Newman (television series The Avengers)
Don MacPherson (written by)

Release Date:

14 August 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

Mrs. Peel, we're needed.

Plot:

Two British agents (John Steed and Emma Peel) team up to stop Sir August De Wynter from destroying the world with a weather changing machine.

Plot Keywords:

Male Nudity | Evil Meteorologist | Strait Jacket | Box Office Flop | Based On TV Series

Awards:

1 win & 9 nominations

Cast

Ralph Fiennes	...	John Steed
Uma Thurman	...	Emma Peel
Sean Connery	...	Sir August de Wynter
Patrick Macnee	...	Invisible Jones (voice)
Jim Broadbent	...	Mother
Fiona Shaw	...	Father
Eddie Izzard	...	Bailey
Eileen Atkins	...	Alice
John Wood	...	Trubshaw
Carmen Ejogo	...	Brenda
Keeley Hawes	...	Tamara
Shaun Ryder	...	Donavan
Nicholas Woodeson	...	Dr. Darling
Michael Godley	...	Butler
Richard Lumsden	...	Boodle's Porter

Also Known As:

Chapeau melon et bottes de cuir (Canada: French title) (France) (dubbed version) [fr]
Vengadores, Los (Argentina) (video title) (Spain) [es]
Ekdikites, Oi (Greece) [el]
Hämnarna (Sweden) [sv]
Mascevalci (Slovenia) [sl]
Me kostajat (Finland) [fi]
Me vakoojat (Finland) [fi]
Mit Schirm, Charme und Melone (Germany) [de]
Razbunatorii (Romania) [ro]
Tatli sert (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
The avengers - Agenti speciali (Italy) [it]
The avengers - Hævnere i kjole og hvidt (Denmark) [da]
Vingadores, Os (Brazil) [pt]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Philippines:G | South Korea:12 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 | Iceland:10 (original rating) | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Netherlands:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #36085)

Filming Locations:

Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage, Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Jerry Weintraub Productions

Trivia:

The Ministry archivist Colonel Invisible Jones is voiced by Patrick Macnee, who played the original John Steed.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Steed and Mrs. Peel are drinking tea in the car, from the way the sun shines through the cups it is clear that there is no liquid in the cups.

Quotes:

Sir August de Wynter: Nothing is impossible, only mathematically improbable.

Movie Connections:

Remake of "The New Avengers" (1976)

Soundtrack:

STORM

Who let the air out?

Uma Thurman's catsuits aside, "The Avengers" is one of the flattest movies to come down the pike in a long time.

The failing Sean Connery isn't really the villain in this movie, the true villains are a director who thought he could "improve" on the original, and an editor who really shouldn't have been let out of film school.

Fiennes and Thurman do an adquate job with what they were given, which wasn't much, and then the editor took half of that away.

Connery got one half-choked off rant, (all of which you see in the trailer) and then hid in the leftover set for the power supply from the floating city in "The Empire Strikes Out" (Er -- "Back"). A pathetic effort from a formerly stellar actor.

Eileen Atkins was rather fun as Alice, Steed's minder, and the guest appearance by Patrick Macnee was somewhat amusing.

As for the writing, well.... I think (despite the credits) they actually gave the job to a couple of public school lads who rather thought that they were being clever.

Overall, not worth the money spent to make it, nor the $6 I paid to see it. One star, mostly for some rather nice, if somewhat generic, cinematography.