Richard III here feels that The Avengers missed the boat, The series on TV in the late 60's never really found a massive following, although it did find a loyal one. These British reviews may help us yanks in trying to understand English humuor.
I thought I'd send you a review as I saw The Avengers last night at one of the previews over here in blighty. You`ll probably be getting loads, but I'll add my two penneth, as I really liked the series, especially the Emma Peel eps and really wanted to like the movie....alas it was not to be. All my friends disliked it to greater or lesser degrees. Some hated it, some were disappointed, as was I. I did find some enjoyable moments, but these were vastly outnumbered.
Anyway, let's take it by points....the direction was uneven at best. The parts where it was supposed to be tense were just boring, and the storm over London didn't have that awe inspiring feeling of terror, the creeping up your arms feeling wasn't there at all. There were shots which creeped me out, but again, they were few and far between. For gods' sake give me someone who can direct action.... I saw it in Hard rain, and now again in the avengers, this utter lack of suspense. I saw Zorro, a couple of weeks ago in the us, and it was superb. Why can't these people do it right?
Now to the acting...Ralph Fiennes didn't really look at ease throughout the movie, and if it's one thing Pat McNee was it was relaxed. Steed should take everything in his stride, only showing the slightest bit of emotion under the mask, and you just didn't get that from Ralph. Plus Steed never seemed to control his sword. Against base hoodlums yes, he was quite good, but you never felt he'd be able to take anyone who was the slightest bit trained. I mean come on, this is his main weapon, and he just didn't look like it was...
Uma Thurman made a valiant attempt at an accent, and for that she is to be lauded...but again, she just wasn't convincing as Emma Peel. Whether she was told to play it that way, because she was at the beginning of her career as a spy, but she just wasn't cool enough. Emma was the epitome of cool, and Uma swung emotionally all over the place. The chemistry wasn't there between them for the majority of the film and that's what drives the Avengers.
Having read one of your posted in reviews, I knew Eddy Izzard wasn't going to talk, and could look at it in that light, but the people that came with me were waiting for him to say something, anything to make them laugh. Again, a wasted opportunity.
And Sean, nuff said the better.
Also, someone had massacred the print with their scissors, leaving out important bits of info and leaving the film badly disjointed. It felt like a series of set pieces, with very little in the way of logical transitions. There were some good ideas there, but again, a lot of the film dragged on around these cool pieces.
Basically, another Warner Brothers movie has been Schumachered. I really want them to do well, as they have some top properties under them, LW, DC, and now the Avengers, but whoever's in charge over there better sort things out, because all these things are going to waste there. Thankfully I also saw LW4 while I was in the US, and I enjoyed that, so this year for WB might not be a total waste, but if it carries on like this, I can see them going down under the weight of all these failures. Arghhhh! Don't do it! What happened to the great years? Somebody LISTEN!
Anyway, after that essay, I'll leave off, leaving you to catch the rest of the flak...If you use this call me Optimus...
See ya around,
Richard III
