After 20 yrs, I finally got around to seeing the big screen version, that came out in the States in the late summer of 1998..wow, 20 yrs later...and I can see why it was trashed so bad by critics and fans...first of all, it was edited from 115 minutes..down to the 89 minute mark...Problem in watching it, it has a beginning and ending, but the whole middle of the film, was edited right out..
Now Warners has stated there will be no ORIGINAL release, or in blu-ray, and Warners has decided not to take the time to re edit it...Myself, as bad as it was I still would love to see the missing footages....and see if it does improve what was viewed as an failed film...grossing 48 million, on it's 60 million dollar budget....
The Avengers film from 1998
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mousemeat
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wow...what a train wreck it must have been for him..I understand the studio hi jacked the film from him..hence gutting the middle out of the film...making it one hot mess...I still hope that someone besides WARNERS, WOULD put it out on blu ray, with the missing footages. re edited etc...mariocki wrote:There’s a 6 page article on the film in the latest (May) issue of Empire
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MRotten
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No amount of re-editing and/or reassembling can change the simple fact that the movie was horrible. The leads were TOTALLY miscast, with ZERO chemistry between them. Unknowns should have been cast but then it wouldn't have been what every Hollywood movie has to be, a "blockbuster". Haven't we had enough of those? How about something that makes sense, is well cast, and has some sort of purpose for being besides how many millions it is calculated to make.
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Avengerholic
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cyberrich
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It was a real shame they got all the key ingredients wrong with the film. Namely the script which was merely a mish-mash of excerpts from the tv series minus the wit, and the two leads who were a terrible choice. It might have helped if someone with a real passion for the original had been involved. I actually didn't mind it too much when I watched it at the cinema, but it doesn't stand up to repeated viewings. If they'd have got it right, who knows there might have been a series of films.
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darren
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It seemed to promise so much with hints of casting.
It's Kubrick's fault that Nicole Kidman didn't star instead of Uma Thurman (who I like but she was totally wrong for whoever this Mrs. Peel was).
It's a pity that Brian Clemens wasn't brought on as adviser. He'd enough experience to guide them (even if they'd ignored most of his advice).
The biggest liability is the script. Don MacPherson did a great adaptation of the Uncle Silas for the BBC (directed by Peter Hammond) but he wasn't right for this, it's a bit like bad fan fiction. They should have done something like Warlock, where Steed and Cathy get involved as she starts doing her own investigations, rather than her being a suspect and all the double nonsense.
I think the kind of pace of an Indiana Jones film (or more recently...ish the Sherlock Holmes films) would work for The Avengers on the big screen. Make it good fun with witty repartee. Feature lots of unique, unusual locations to keep it interesting and very visual.
The design work by Stuart Craig (who worked on all the Harry Potter films) in the film was strong but it was all a little too dark even for something set in the summer. Roger Pratt (also on some big films like Burton's Batman) cinematography is excellent but it doesn't work me.
I feel sorry for Jeremiah Chechik and hope he is doing well these days. Again like the writer, I just think he was wrong for the production. As Clemens said in an interview in an old TV Zone magazine I read the other day - the Avengers should look like a commercial. It needed someone with far more sense of style.
Poor Joel McNeely composed a pretty decent if understandably rushed score. Shame we never got to hear Michael Kamen's original score for the test screening.
There's people doing good solid individual work on the work but it all came together in something so unsatisfying.
Would I love to see a directors cut...? Of course! It would be fascinating as long as they included both scores. A version without the mechanical bee chase.
Of course Warner have no interest sadly.
It's Kubrick's fault that Nicole Kidman didn't star instead of Uma Thurman (who I like but she was totally wrong for whoever this Mrs. Peel was).
It's a pity that Brian Clemens wasn't brought on as adviser. He'd enough experience to guide them (even if they'd ignored most of his advice).
The biggest liability is the script. Don MacPherson did a great adaptation of the Uncle Silas for the BBC (directed by Peter Hammond) but he wasn't right for this, it's a bit like bad fan fiction. They should have done something like Warlock, where Steed and Cathy get involved as she starts doing her own investigations, rather than her being a suspect and all the double nonsense.
I think the kind of pace of an Indiana Jones film (or more recently...ish the Sherlock Holmes films) would work for The Avengers on the big screen. Make it good fun with witty repartee. Feature lots of unique, unusual locations to keep it interesting and very visual.
The design work by Stuart Craig (who worked on all the Harry Potter films) in the film was strong but it was all a little too dark even for something set in the summer. Roger Pratt (also on some big films like Burton's Batman) cinematography is excellent but it doesn't work me.
I feel sorry for Jeremiah Chechik and hope he is doing well these days. Again like the writer, I just think he was wrong for the production. As Clemens said in an interview in an old TV Zone magazine I read the other day - the Avengers should look like a commercial. It needed someone with far more sense of style.
Poor Joel McNeely composed a pretty decent if understandably rushed score. Shame we never got to hear Michael Kamen's original score for the test screening.
There's people doing good solid individual work on the work but it all came together in something so unsatisfying.
Would I love to see a directors cut...? Of course! It would be fascinating as long as they included both scores. A version without the mechanical bee chase.
Of course Warner have no interest sadly.
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Frankymole
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