Review: The Avengers

There have been worse films screened for critics. The Avengers, a film adaptation of the iconic 1960s British television series, is not so much a bad film as a badly finished one. The film reportedly underwent numerous editing changes and that lack of seamlessness is evident.

To summarize the lackadaisical plot: Ministry Agent John Steed (Ralph Fiennes) teams up with Dr. Emma Peel (Uma Thurman) to fight the weather-loving, power-hungry Sir August de Winter (Sean Connery). Sir August is blackmailing world leaders with a weather-altering machine; if his demands are not met, then he'll freeze the world. "We'll all have to go to Hell just to warm up," Ministry Agent Alice (Eileen Atkins, absolutely fab) deadpans.

There's a great deal to admire about The Avengers. Take, for example, its dizzyingly surrealistic touch. One sequence has Sir August convening with potential buyers; to disguise their identities, they're donned in giant teddy bear suits. The sight of these bears, whether waddling through a company's grounds or splayed upon a field of snow, makes for a consistently witty visual. Then there's the attack of the killer insects: flying robotics which attempt to gun down our hero and heroine. There's the ever-changing weather which allows us monsoons in greenhouses, blizzards in backyards, and grand skies with clouds that resemble cotton candy being spun.

My personal favorite surrealistic scene is one where a drugged Peel attempts to escape from Sir August's house. She runs from one starkly decorated room into another and back again. These identical rooms are bridged by an Escheresque staircase which never seems to go up or down, only around like a dog chasing its own tail.

That circularity best describes the film. Director Jeremiah S. Chechik, who was last seen butchering the classic French thriller Diabolique, draws on his former occupation as a fashion photographer and embalms the film with a tremendous amount of style. Apart from the entertaining set pieces, there are Steed's meticulously tailored suits which are no less striking than the wide array of mod fashions that Thurman models in the film. Still, for all her long-limbed loveliness, Thurman can't quite wear the catsuit as devastatingly as Michelle Pfeiffer did as Catwoman in Batman Returns.

There are glimpses of potentially intriguing subplots but they're lost in the patchwork. Sir August, for instance, conducted cloning experiments while he worked in the Ministry. One of his clones is a dead ringer for Emma Peel, who is a doppelganger for a woman in a portrait hanging in Sir August's manor; I assume the woman in the portrait is his wife. That little touch of Vertigo would have added more depth to the picture. Chechik should have also roused Connery to a better performance. Indeed, Connery is a most shocking disappointment. Never have I seen him more ineffective. There's something grievously off in his timing: he overplays and attempts to camp but loses his naturally underlying menace in the process.

Thurman almost succeeds but is a bit too young for the role. Let me explain: I don't mean young in a chronological sense but in a worldly sense. Thurman is one of the few actresses who can easily convey a worldliness, yet that ability is inexplicably thinned out here. She's a delight, to be sure, but she doesn't possess the sublime effortlessness that Diana Rigg, her TV predecessor, had in spades. Thurman is too arch and the effort to be witty and smart shows.

Fiennes, on the other hand, is eerily perfect, the epitome of the unflappable British gent. Watching him, one could swear that his feet touching the ground is an optical illusion -- he seems to be floating on air. As he battles with Connery in the film's water-soaked finale, one begins to sense something afoot. It's old world vs. new world, macho man vs. gentle man, star vs. actor, personality vs. character. Fiennes triumphs as Steed does. He has Connery's presence and he could coast on that, as many other star personalities have done and will continue to do, but there is not one second in The Avengers when the divine Ralph Fiennes does not stay wholeheartedly true to the character of John Steed. And that is reason enough for The Avengers to merit viewing.

The Avengers

Directed by: Jeremiah S. Chechik

Written by: Don MacPherson; based on the television series by Sydney Newman

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Uma Thurman, Sean Connery, Patrick Macnee, Jim Broadbent, Fiona Shaw, Eddie Izzard, Eileen Atkins, John Wood, Keeley Hawes, Carmen Ejogo