The Avengers (1998)

Plot of The Avengers: John Steed, a secret agent working for a British secret agency headed up by ‘mother’ and assisted by ‘father’, is joined in a case by Mrs Peel, possibly another agent. They are up against Sir August de Wynter, a man who has a system at his disposal which can alter the weather on his command, and who demands of the council of minsters that they submit to his demands or he will terminate the world as we know it. Working for de Wynter, so it seems, is a clone of Mrs Peel who can be distinguished by the fact that she always wears the same black cat suit, while the real Mrs Peel appears in variety of exotic garments. Mother is a male and father is a female, and father turns out to be a traitor working for de Wynter, but Steed and Mrs Peel find out that the weather device is on an island which they get to and engage in the final confrontation.

Content: There is no sex or nudity, but mother smokes all the time. There are a lot of confusing scenes involving the cloned Mrs Peel and the real Mrs Peel. The cloned Mrs Peel shoots Steed with a large revolver, but he is saved by his bulletproof waistcoat. They drive about for a bit in Steed’s blower Bentley (1928) and also in Mrs Peel’s E-Type Jaguar. When in the Jaguar they are chased by a swarm of robotic bees, which are mostly shot down by Steed wielding a chain gun. There are scenes in de Wynter’s country house, the best possibly being a meeting of people wearing bear costumes, where two are killed.

A View: This is a distressed travesty of a much loved British series. Emma Peel, played by Diana Rigg, always wore a black cat suit, had a distant and non-sexual relationship with John Steed, and was undoubtedly the coolest woman on the planet. I found myself constantly bewildered by what was happening on the screen and was not surprised when I learnt that a lot of the original work had been cut by the studio, leaving an incoherent mess. It was nominated in virtually all categories of the Razzies and won ‘Worst Remake or Sequel’. So, particularly if you remember the original series, do not bother with this awful mess.

Fun fact: In 2003 Total Film Magazine voted Fiennes and Therman in The Avengers ‘The Worst Movie Double Act of All Time’.