There can be no doubt that the original series of 'The Avengers' with Honor Blackman and Patrick McNee was ground-breaking stuff. When Dianna RIgg and McNee came out karate chopping together it got even better. Possibly by the time Linda Thorenson was part of a team of Avengers the series had ... Read review
The Avengers, the hip secret-agent series from '60s TV, is reinvented for the movies with ... more
a stylish blend of wit, fabulous retro fashions and effects-packed action. Ralph Fiennes is the very dapper John Steed and Uma Thurman is the smartly catsuited Em...
The Avengers the hip secret-agent series from 60's TV is reinvented for the movies with ... more
a stylish blend of wit fabulous retro fashions and effects-packed action. Ralph Fiennes is the very dapper John Steed and Uma Thurman is the smartly catsuited E...
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The Avengers inhabited an extraordinary landscape of aristocrats mad scientists and ... more
spies having only a tenuous connection with the realities of 1960s England. Filmed in a variety of locations in southeast England many of the settings are easily accessible and remain virtually unchanged after 40 years. This guide to the locations for The Avengers and numerous other classic television shows from the 1960s and 1970s is an absorbing gazetteer of strangely familiar follies pubs hotels and country lanes. Then and now photos accompany many of the entries in this compelling alternative history of cult television.
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For the first time Patrick Macnee tells all! The never-before revealed secrets of the hit ... more
TV series "The Avengers" are laid bare by the man who was John Steed.Lavishly illustrated with many unpublished stills behind-the-scenes photos and snaps from Macnee's private collection this is a very personal portrait of the world's best-loved cult action-adventure series and its classic sequel "The New Avengers".In unflinching detail Macnee reveals the true story behind the show including his relationships with all four Avengers girls - Honor Blackman Diana Rigg Linda Thorson and Joanna Lumley - on and off the set!
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This 8 disc collector's edition of the New Avengers Series 1 and Series 2 follows the ... more
adventures of John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and new accomplices Purdey (Joanna Lumley) and Gambit (Gareth Hunt) as they have to deal with extravagant plots and scandalous villains.Episode list:Series One:- The Eagles Nest.- The Midas Touch.- House Of Cards.- The Last Of The Cybernauts....?- To Catch A Bat.- Cat Amongst The Pigeons.- Target!- Faces.- The Tale Of The Big Why.- Three Handed Game.- Sleeper.- Gnaws.- Dirtier By The Dozen.Series Two:- Hostage.- Trap.- Dead Men Are Dangerous.- Medium Rare.- Angels Of Death.- Obsession.- The Lion And The Unicorn.- K Is For Kill: The Tiger Awakes (1).- K Is For Kill: Tiger By The Tail (2).- Complex.- The Gladiators.- Forward Base.- Emily.
Whenever the forces of evil threatened mankind the Avengers were always earth's ... more
unstoppable heroes - until they fell to the malevolent robot Ultron and all hope seemed lost. But kept secret by Tony Stark (Iron Man) the world's future lay in the hands of four amazing teenagers. James (Son of Captain America and Black Widow) Torunn (Daughter of Thor) Azari (Son of the Black Panther) and Pym (Son of Wasp and Giant Man) must now fight a battle that even their super parents could not win. The odds are stacked against them but joined by the arrow-slinging son of Hawkeye they just might have a chance if they can find the missing Hulk and come together as the heroes of tomorrow to defeat Ultron and become...the Next Avengers!
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The Children of Heroes past are our only hope for the future!Whenever the forces of evil ... more
have threatened mankind, Earth's mightiest heroes, The Avengers, were there to stop them - until they made the ultimate sacrifice in their final fight with the indestructible robot, Ultron.Now the time has come for the children of The Avengers to rise as the new heroes of tomorrow and to avenge their parents' deaths. James (son of Captain America and Black Widow), Torunn (daughter of Thor), Azari (son of the Black Panther), Pym (son of Wasp and Giant Man) and the arrow-slinging son of Hawkeye have to bring the remaining original Avengers, Iron Man, Hulk and Thor together to finish Ultron off and come together as...the Next Avengers.
Production Year: 1977 - Action/Adventure - Director: Clint Eastwood - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Advantages: It's a reprise of a fantastic series Disadvantages: The series did it first and did it better
...can be no doubt that the original series of 'The Avengers' with Honor Blackman and Patrick McNee was ground-breaking stuff. When Dianna RIgg and McNee came out karate chopping together it got even better. Possibly by the time Linda Thorenson was part of a team of Avengers the series had seen better days.
It was a wonderful programme. Each week the enemies were incredible and surreal. Would the localised weather cloud catch up with ... ...martial arts robot in the trilby hat and mac batter them? Would they meet their end in the deserted air-base? Would they be outwitted by malevolent clowns or would the time-controlled spike in the fountain pen go off in Steed's pocket before he realised it was there?
And all the time the interplay between Steed and Mrs Peel was terribly, awfully English, dahling. Added to which Mrs Peel was gorgeous and had the air of being one step ... more
There can be no doubt that the original series of 'The Avengers' with Honor Blackman and Patrick McNee was ground-breaking stuff. When Dianna RIgg and McNee came out karate chopping together it got even better. Possibly by the time Linda Thorenson was part of a team of Avengers the series had seen better days.
It was a wonderful programme. Each week the enemies were incredible and surreal. Would the localised weather cloud catch up with our heroes in a field and drown them, would the martial arts robot in the trilby hat and mac batter them? Would they meet their end in the deserted air-base? Would they be outwitted by malevolent clowns or would the time-controlled spike in the fountain pen go off in Steed's pocket before he realised it was there?
And all the time the interplay between Steed and Mrs Peel was terribly, awfully English, dahling. Added to which Mrs Peel was gorgeous and had the air of being one step ahead of the game in the brainy-spy department.
What was the exact forumla for this series? Was it the actual actors? Probably. Was it the sense of cutting edge story telling in a spy-genre that included humour and science fiction with a blend of surrealism? Yes, it probably was that too.
And so, perhaps as a tribute to that great television series, Uma Thurman and Ralph Fiennes were cast as Mrs Peel and John Steed in a modern film adaptation. It was called 'The Avengers' and it was based around their attempt to defeat the evil-doing of Sir August De WInter - a loony scientist who has developed the means of controlling the weather. He is holding nations to ransome with his lightning storms.
An odder choice of villain is Eddie Izzard who says almost nothing in the entire movie. That, in anyone's book, has to be the wasted opportunity of the century as talking is what he's a genius at doing.
One of the things that made this film hard to watch for me was that its release was followed by a panning by the critics. I'm not sure I actually read a single criticism but this movie was never mentioned without that negative proviso.
It certainly made it less enjoyable to think that it had been received so badly. Nevertheless, it was the first DVD I ever bought and I was determined to give it a go. After all, set against the 'panning from the critics' were all those years as a child chuckling whilst hanging onto the arms of my chair, breathless with excitement.
Even at the advanced age of 50 I couldn't help noticing that Uma Thurman was a mighty attactive choice for Mrs Peel. Dianna Rigg had been such a beauty that this could have been no easy task. To take someone so English and have such a good go at reproducing their manner and attitude would be difficult for anyone - and for an American it was a tribute to her training as an actress that she could do it as well as she did.
The same might be said of Ralph Fiennes who's impeccable English accent rolled out suitably throughout the film. His Steed seemed rather too young and handsome compared to the craggy old Steed portrayed by McNee.
McNee, interestingly has a cameo part. I thought this was a lovely touch showing respect for the original character by including him in the movie. You don't see him but he's there all right. That's a puzzle you can only solve by watching the movie yourself.
Without wanting to give too much away I think that two images from the film need mentioning. I'll take them in isolation from the plot so as not to spoil the movie for anyone.
The first is a swarm of robot bees. This is straight out of the old television series. I don't mean it was ever in it, just that the idea is so whacky that if they could have done it and if they'd thought of it back in the 60s, they surely would have done. It was just the sort of thing 'The Avengers' was about.
The second is a board meeting where everyone has to wear disguises and of all the things to pick the baddies choose huge teddy-bear costumes.
Now, I know this is a film that the critics pounced on. And I know that McNee and Rigg were always going to be an impossible act to follow, but for me the sight of Connery's cronies turning round to face the camera dressed as huge teddy-bears was a complete winner.
In fact, I had this image as as screen saver on my daughter's PC for at least two years. For me it was one of the best bits.
My overall judgement runs something like this: 'The Avengers' as a movie makes a brave attempt to capture the spirit of the original fantastic television series and personally that's good enough for me.
I'd recommend this movie because the 60s are over and even though the original series is now also available on video, it will surely be so dated and McNees stunt doubles so obvious as to be amusing, that time and our changing expectations will make it seem somewhat of a museum piece. At least with this tribute to those merry and mad early episodes you get the benefit of great film production quality and a pretty good shot at capturing something of the spirit of the original.
The Avengers is available from Amazon at £5.99 and if you fancy a trip down memory lane as well here's a link to box sets of everything you missed or might like to see again.
...we do, we're stuck in the middle of such a period right now. In the void left by zero ideas, Hollywood is forced to go back and try to adapt older material and one of the great resources available is the medium of television. Of course with a decent budget and all the skill and professionalism that is the film industry the end product is bound to just fabulous. Oh we're in for a grand mauling here.
When a top secret government installation is broken ... ...but even more expert is the slightly eccentric August de Winter. But unless our eyes are deceiving us, it looks as though Mrs Peel IS on the side of badness and nastiness...as well as being on the side of truth and justice. With their investigations proceding, Steed and Mrs Peel are faced with greater and greater challenges until they discover the real agenda here, and it looks like winter is going to be mighty cold this year.
Blimey that was tough ...
TheNeil 18.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Avengers (DVD)
Advantages: good opening scene Disadvantages: bad direction, bad script, doesn't make sense
...critics on release I knew The Avengers would someday be destined to show up on Channel 5 and tonight was that time. John Steed (Ralph Fiennes) and Emma Peel (Uma Thurman) team up to save the world from Sir August de Wynter (Sean Connery. De Wynter has a weather changing device that could bring destruction to the world unless he is paid (cue extreme camera zoom in) millions of dollars! Anyway I think this is the plot because it's not made very clear ... ...time of over two hours. The final cut clocks in at an hour and a half. All I can say is IT REALLY SHOWS. This film is an muddles mess of editing. We jump from scene to scene with nothing really making any sense whatsoever. I knew things were going downhill once De Wynter holds a meeting with his cronies who aren't allowed to see each other. So instead of wearing blindfolds it seems they all dress in big colurful oversized bear costumes-as the abbreviation ...
utero 04.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Avengers (DVD)
Advantages: Great production design, nice score, occasional moments of charm Disadvantages: Committee filmaking, butchered by Warner Brothers
If the Avengers movie had any influences, then it surely wasn't from the David Keel, Cathy Gale or Emma Peel eras, but more likely plum in the final deathknell season that featured Tara King. Smug and glib, with inventiveness smothered beneath self conscious 'wackiness' and an approach to writing that was an insult for all that had gone before. Perhaps half the problem was that the director, producer and script writing team all professed to be fans ... ...who thought they knew the Avengers so well that they hardly needed to bother with the details.
What ended up on screen shows rare instances of Avengerdom, but really feels more like an excited school childs rendition of 'The Forget-Me-Knot' or some other sub standard episode. Fan fiction rarely works as the writer is so comfortable with the material that they often forget to fill in the details and concentrate soley on all the bits that feel precious ...
dadmancat 14.03.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Avengers (DVD)
...most people who ever watched the television series The Avengers fell in love with its campy charm. We may not have watched it religiously but it was always watchable and a fun diversion if anything else. Weh they announced they were making a movie there were the usual mutterings of decent but no one really expected it to be that bad. When rumours started filtering out from the film set we may have been a little worried, and then when the movie company ... ...started jangling...then came the critical reviews - universally panning it - and with gusto.
Now you can't always believe the critics but there was a certain sense of almost desperation to keep us away from seeing this movie, like they really didn't want us wasting these moments of our lives on something quite so bad. So I gave it a miss, usually I tend to ignore them. Not so long ago though this movie made its way onto terrestrial television and ...
wampyrii 11.10.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Avengers (DVD)
Advantages: retains some of the originals quirkiness Disadvantages: cut too much
...strange weather around London & the Ministry (a sort of MI5 establishment) headed by Mother (a codename) has been tasked by the PM to find out what is going on. In steps Steed, sort of a 007 character who manages to get by without a gun, just a bullet proof waistcoat, bowler hat & sword concealed in an umbrella.
They think that the adverse weather conditions are related to a government project called Prospero so a meeting is arranged with the former ... ...Prospero is a bit like the American star Wars project in so much as there is an umbrella (weather puns throughout the film) covering the country to protect from attack which uses lighting & tornadoes to block missiles. She thinks that the mostly likely person to investigate is Sir August De Wintyr disgraced head of the project & leader of BROLLY (British Royal Organisation for Lasting Liquid Years). He seems to have lost the plot a bit since he thinks ...
earlofaldgate 11.08.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Avengers (DVD)
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Advantages: Entertaining superhero fare Disadvantages: Ultimate reworking of characters a distraction for older fans
Ultimate Avengers is the story of the creation of one of Marvel comics longest running and most successful superhero teams. It is though based on the "Ultimate" comic line so has been modernised slightly from the original version to bring it more up to date. Most viewers including my children wouldn't notice but older viewers like myself may spot these slight distractions with the benefit of the nostalgia of childhood comic reading.
The plot explores the history of World War 2 hero Captain America his rescue from suspended animation and recruitmant to lead a mixed bag of heroes, Iron Man the inventor of a high powered battle suit, Thor is he really the Norse god of thunder? The Wasp and Giant Man a married couple with the power to change size and The Hulk whose uncontrollable rages may prove to be a bigger challenge than the foe ...
Advantages: Enjoyable violent spoof of 80s horror, gore and vigilante films. Disadvantages: Quite rubbish at the same time.
Lloyd Kaufman's cheesy and violent horror spoof 'The Toxic Avenger' was the first film produced by Troma Entertainment and remains their most popular, in a cultish, B-movie way. A daft send-up of violent vigilante films, it succeeds by balancing out the stupid humour with an equal degree of over-zealous gore and an actual plot, though this primarily involves getting the titular monster between increasingly extravagant assaults in the shortest time possible.
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Advantages: Good CGI with intriguing concept about the human's mind. Disadvantages: Lacking developments on characters and storylines.
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Back to present future, Combat 21 realises that he can perhaps tap into 100% of the mind without using the Power Glove by using stealing Belle's power. Belle was soon kidnapped and the evil Combat 21 unleashes a poisonous gas into the dark city in order to gain control and to manipulate the citizens to do what he wants.
An Officer Dark came into the scene to ensure Combat 21 will be defeated. Dark was once the best friend of Thunder and also, one of the 100 guinea pig police officers with Thunder and Combat 21. With Dark's help, Nova and his new befriend Iron need to open up 100% of the No Access Area of the brain in order to defeat Combat 21 and to save mankind.
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TEKKEN
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'The Avenging Fist' seems to have many English titles, however one that particularly stood out was 'Legend of Tekken'. It was said that ...
A spy-spoof based on the television series of the 1960s which finds Steed called to the Ministry's secret agency to investigate the strange weather systems affecting the country.
"...[A] quirky adaptation....A sly cocktail of offbeat action, stylish leads, and striking visuals..." (Premiere, p.22, 01/08/1998)
DVD Description
In the AVENGERS feature film, the characters of the cult 1960s television show are back at it again. The suave John Steed (Ralph Fiennes) and the sultry Emma Peel (Uma Thurman) team up to thwart the nefarious plans of Sir August de Wynter (Sean Connery), who is out to control the world's weather. Watch for Patrick Macnee, who played the original Steed in the TV series, as Invisible Jones.
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