Lousy Movies Not Saved By A Great Cast - The Avengers

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There was a reason why 2012’s big superhero movie had to called Avengers Assemble, and it was that The Avengers had already been claimed by a beloved British comedy-thriller TV series that ran from 1961 to 1969. (with a belated spin-off The New Avengers running in 1976-1977). The 1998 movie take on the series was badly miscast creating outrage even before its release. Ralph Fiennes was trying to be British with a cod-RADA accent and a civil service business suit. Uma Thurman, learning nothing from her Batman & Robin experience, just tries to be slinky action girl love interest in Diana Rigg’s old role as Emma Peel. She is clearly making love to John Steed, while in the series, Steed had a chemistry with his leading ladies but there was never any sense of direct sexual proximity. Fiennes proved just how good the suave, charming and witty Patrick MacNee had been. It took more than suit, umbrella and bowler hat to play Steed. It required heart and personality too. What was worse was the casting of Sean Connery grossly exaggerating his own Scottishness as the weather controlling villain, attempting to be a caricature of every villain he’d ever beaten when playing Bond. Supporting cast members include Eddie Izzard, Jim Broadbent (as Mother, a character from the show but not during the Emma Peel seasons), and saddest of all, Patrick MacNee, reduced to a Q division style role as Invisible Jones. The movie tries to be an American take on quintessential Englishness, and just infuriates. This is the Dick Van Dyke Mockney-Cockney school of Englishness where everyone doffs hats, and drinks tea. The TV series had wilfully preposterous plots but told them with sufficient straight-face as to always keep them entertaining and even credible. The film seems clichéd, and runs like a live-action cartoon. Youtube – opening credits to the superior original Avengers TV series Arthur Chappell