The Avengers (1998) (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

 

The link below will take you directly to the product on Amazon.  If you are using an adblocker you will not see link.

 

 

 

[paul_austin]

Liked this much maligned film, I will be excited to add it to my collection, deleted scenes would be great. I remember a website that had covered a lot of material that was cut.

 

[Osato]

Liked this much maligned film, I will be excited to add it to my collection, deleted scenes would be great. I remember a website that had covered a lot of material that was cut.

I'm excited about this one coming to blu too! I really hope that WB will include extras and the full cut of the film. It was edited heavily before theatrical release. The novel of the book has the full story and missing scenes. Also the soundtrack score of the film also included music from the full cut of the film.

Here's a great website resource for the film as well:
http://www.theavengers-movie.com/

The movie helped me to discover the 60s show and The New Avengers during the 90s. I love both of those shows too!

 

[Osato]

60283_large.jpg
The link below will take you directly to the product on Amazon. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link.

Preordered. Thanks Ron!

 

[davidHartzog]

Having watched The Avengers in the 60s, and then for decades in reruns, the movie was a huge disappointment. It was made by people who apparently had never seen the show. Thankfully, at least the Diana Rigg years are now available on DVD.

 

[ahollis]

THE AVENGERS-great concept, with poor execution. No, it was terrible execution.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Of course because of this and the tv series when Marvel's The Avengers came out they re-named it Avengers Assemble in the UK, another tidbit of info is that Sean Connery turned down the role of Harry Stamper in Armageddon to play the baddie in this film, bad choice, i really enjoyed Armageddon and it would have been even better with Connery as the lead.

 

[John-Weller]

I never thought I'd see the day! The Avengers (THAT one) on Blu-ray!

 

[Will Krupp]

THE AVENGERS-great concept, with poor execution. No, it was terrible execution.

I hate to thread crap so I'm glad somebody said it before me! Terribly cast, terribly directed, and a script that was no great shakes even its long form, I'll never forget the positively painful experience of seeing this on opening weekend and watching every single scene fail to live up to even the slightest bit of potential it may have had. It was the longest 90 minutes of my life (and I'm someone who sat through PROSPERO'S BOOKS in a theatre!) Dreadful!

 

[Keith Cobby]

When I joined HTF I decided I would try to not be too negative. However for every rule there has to be an exception and this is it. I too saw this at the cinema and am still waiting for a refund of my time and money.

 

[JohnMor]

Another fan of the series who was woefully disappointed in the film. BUT, I am glad it's coming to blu for its fans. (I wish that the series was, too! )

 

[Osato]

So Michael Kamen originally scored the film!! It would be great to hear his score for the film!!

http://rejectedfilmscores.150m.com/info.html


The Avengers
Composer: Michael Kamen, R.I.P. Score Details:
Additional Score: Michael Columbier, R.I.P..
Chief Sound Engineer: Geoff Foster.

Here is an excerpt of a Michael Kamen interview published in a French movie mag (called "Starfix") in September 1998. The interviewer: Didier Lepr?Ye. (roughly translated from French by MightyMcT):

Interviewer: "- What happened exactly on THE AVENGERS?"

Kamen: "It's a long story! First, Jeremiah chose me after having seen 101 DALMATIANS (the live version). He wanted the same tongue-in-cheek tone for his movie. We talked a lot, about the project, the actors, the music, etc. I then started to work on the project around September/October 1997. I had lots of ideas. In December, we did a demo with the very first cut. Everything was fine."

Interviewer: "Did you re-use the Laurie Johnson theme?"

Kamen: "At first, I didn't want to. But the people from Decca made me change my mind. So I created a main theme mockingly inspired by Laurie Johnson's work. His theme was there, but with a twist, some more crazyness, especially in the percussions."

Interviewer: "And how did you get fired?"

Kamen: "The sneak previews, always the sneak previews! First, in the States, the producers showed some dailies to a targeted audience: it went wrong, the movie was not working. There was maybe one hour worth of footage, with the broad lines of my score played by an american orchestra. That's when the producers freaked out and decided to come to England to do the real test. It occured in mid-March, in London. There, the previews went even worst: they were disastrous!

"Interviewer: "So what happened next?"

Kamen: "From that point, all things were rushed. I had to cancel all the concerts I had scheduled mid-March at the Carnegie Hall in New York to re-score the picture. Jeremiah now wanted a closer identification to the original Laurie Johnson's music, and to the TV series, but I was not particularly interested in doing that. THE AVENGERS score ... turned into a James Bond movie score, see? In the Bond movies, I was always able to predict when the Monty Norman theme would play, because the musical and scriptwriting approach was so obvious. On LICENCE TO KILL, I tried to play that tongue-in-cheek, but, again, they did not like it and made me change it. On THE AVENGERS, what they wanted was: some Michael Kamen, then the Laurie Johnson theme, then some more Michael Kamen ... there was no room for identity, and certainly no room for playing it tongue-in-cheek. Yet I managed to rewrite my score, for a new cut of the movie, which was faster and dryer. Unofficial recording sessions took place here in London, then we came back during April. Then, the clash. Nobody understood my approach, or should I say noboby tried to understand it..."

Interviewer: "And you finally decided to walk away?"

Kamen: "Sort of. I'm not good at pastiche. My job is not to do scores "in the style of...". There are other composers out there who do that very well. But I feel somehow bitter about THE AVENGERS ... I'm sure it will be a huge hit, no matter what. Sean Connery is very good in it and the audience will just love the new Steed/Peel. With my non-stereotyped score, it simply would have been even greater!"

 

[Osato]

This is also very interesting. It would be nice to see the film in its full form to correct the continuity issues...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Avengers_%281998_film%29


Mick LaSalle, of the San Francisco Chronicle, warned against poor editing and direction, explaining,

There's.......some business involving a dead ringer for Emma going around causing trouble, and there's some mention of the word "cloning." Then all talk of that is dropped. Everything is dropped. After a slow opening, the 90-minute movie jolts into climax mode. What happened to the middle? Clearly, this wasn't just edited but gutted. No doubt they did us all a favor, but it doesn't help. Instead of just being a bad picture, the missing middle makes The Avengers a bad and weird and strangely off picture. One example: There's never a moment when Emma and Steed realize who the villain is. At first, they don't know. Next they're in a titanic battle to the death. At one point Emma is shackled and floating around in a hot-air balloon. I don't know how she got there. I must have blinked.[4]

Due to internal wrangling at Warner Brothers, the decision was made to vastly cut down the running time after test screenings, reducing the 115-minute film to 87 minutes, sacrificing much coherence and continuity in the process. Key scenes removed included the opening sequence in which "Mrs. Peel" infiltrates and destroys the Prospero science installation; early trailers included the scene where she says the words "How now brown cow" in a false telephone box to gain admittance. The movie was originally scored by composer Michael Kamen, who included the original Avengers theme; however he was unable to re-score the film after the radical editing, so was forced to drop out. The recut version of the film was scored by Joel McNeely. The original shooting script was used for the film's novelisation and includes all the material shot and then removed from the film. The original cut has yet to surface; Warners are apparently not interested in releasing a director's cut or special edition in any form, even though director Jeremiah Chechik has offered to recut the film for nothing.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Yeah IMDB has the full list of scenes cut, it would have been nice to see the 115 minute version.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118661/alternateversions

The original cut of the film ran around 115m., according to advance reviews. Many of the scenes cut include:

[*]The original opening sequence featured the "Evil Emma" infiltrating a secret base, the Prospero Project. She drives up to the base in a blue Jaguar on a secluded London highway, and enters through a red phone booth by uttering the words "how now brown cow? After gaining access to the base, she proceeds to kill several of the scientists and security personnel, and destroys the base by blowing it up.
[*]The scene of Sir August De Wynter playing organ was originally shown after the opening. As the base blows up, he exclaims "let our revels begin!"
[*]When Emma Peel enters the Gentlemen's club, the attendant who insists that she not enter because she is a woman continues to prevent her from entering, and which point she Karate chops him, which sends him flying down a flight of stairs.
[*]A scene of Sir August De Wynter, dressed in the teddy-bear suit, rhythmically slicing the face of a scientist to classical music while trying to figure out the clues to the Prospero Project.
[*]The first meeting between Emma Peel and John Steed was originally longer. You can see her walking through the corridors before she finally makes her way into the sauna. The dialogue is longer, more frank, and it isn't dubbed, as it is in the theatrical release.
[*]A more coherent explanation of why Emma's Jag exploded after the mechanical bee attack.
[*]Emma Peel drops from De Wynter's arms as she is escorted to his room. He doesn't let go of her, and brings her back up swiftly.
[*]When Sir August De Wynter has Emma Peel in his bed, he lowers the zipper on her shirt just a little more.
[*]More scenes of Peel and Steed walking through the corridors of Wonderland Weather.
[*]Emma Peel bounces back and forth between the walls of her padded cell.
[*]Sir August De Wynter drives to the World Council meeting in a Rolls Royce snowplow after it begins snowing heavily as a result of his weather machine.
[*]More shots of Mother witnessing the worldwide destruction that the weather machine is causing.
[*]More scenes of Peel and Steed walking through De Wynter's headquarters after they lower in through the telephone booth.
[*]An extra shot of Big Ben exploding, shown from slightly farther away.
[*]During the climactic battle between John Steed and Sir August De Wynter, De Wynter slices Steed with his sword several times. De Wynter raises his arms as the battle nears it's end. Steed becomes enraged toward the end of the battle. Note how Steed's shirt is inexplicably cut and bloodied after the fight begins.
[*]After the Prospero Project self-detonates, a countdown clock begins to tick, nearing toward the explosion. When the explosions begins, the silver dome in the headquarters ( the one Steed and Peel pass when they enter) is shown exploding.
[/list]

@Osato

Good interview with Michael Kamen, i'm glad he didn't get to do the tongue in cheek stuff, especially with the Bond theme, there was enough tongue in cheek stuff during the Roger Moore years and Licence To Kill was a more serious tone for Bond.

 

[Osato]

Yeah IMDB has the full list of scenes cut, it would have been nice to see the 115 minute version.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118661/alternateversions

The original cut of the film ran around 115m., according to advance reviews. Many of the scenes cut include:

[*]The original opening sequence featured the "Evil Emma" infiltrating a secret base, the Prospero Project. She drives up to the base in a blue Jaguar on a secluded London highway, and enters through a red phone booth by uttering the words "how now brown cow? After gaining access to the base, she proceeds to kill several of the scientists and security personnel, and destroys the base by blowing it up.
[*]The scene of Sir August De Wynter playing organ was originally shown after the opening. As the base blows up, he exclaims "let our revels begin!"
[*]When Emma Peel enters the Gentlemen's club, the attendant who insists that she not enter because she is a woman continues to prevent her from entering, and which point she Karate chops him, which sends him flying down a flight of stairs.
[*]A scene of Sir August De Wynter, dressed in the teddy-bear suit, rhythmically slicing the face of a scientist to classical music while trying to figure out the clues to the Prospero Project.
[*]The first meeting between Emma Peel and John Steed was originally longer. You can see her walking through the corridors before she finally makes her way into the sauna. The dialogue is longer, more frank, and it isn't dubbed, as it is in the theatrical release.
[*]A more coherent explanation of why Emma's Jag exploded after the mechanical bee attack.
[*]Emma Peel drops from De Wynter's arms as she is escorted to his room. He doesn't let go of her, and brings her back up swiftly.
[*]When Sir August De Wynter has Emma Peel in his bed, he lowers the zipper on her shirt just a little more.
[*]More scenes of Peel and Steed walking through the corridors of Wonderland Weather.
[*]Emma Peel bounces back and forth between the walls of her padded cell.
[*]Sir August De Wynter drives to the World Council meeting in a Rolls Royce snowplow after it begins snowing heavily as a result of his weather machine.
[*]More shots of Mother witnessing the worldwide destruction that the weather machine is causing.
[*]More scenes of Peel and Steed walking through De Wynter's headquarters after they lower in through the telephone booth.
[*]An extra shot of Big Ben exploding, shown from slightly farther away.
[*]During the climactic battle between John Steed and Sir August De Wynter, De Wynter slices Steed with his sword several times. De Wynter raises his arms as the battle nears it's end. Steed becomes enraged toward the end of the battle. Note how Steed's shirt is inexplicably cut and bloodied after the fight begins.
[*]After the Prospero Project self-detonates, a countdown clock begins to tick, nearing toward the explosion. When the explosions begins, the silver dome in the headquarters ( the one Steed and Peel pass when they enter) is shown exploding.
[/list]

I agree it would be nice to see. I hope WB makes it happen with this release of the film on blu ray.

I am a bit curious on why they decided at this time to release it on blu ray. I know there are many who do not care for the film, but there are some (like myself) that do like the film.

I wonder if WB thought about doing it as a VOD release?

Has the film been shown in HD via on demand or online services? I'm looking forward to seeing it in HD.

**** I just looked online and noted that Amazon on Demand has it for rent in HD.

 

[FoxyMulder]

I agree it would be nice to see. I hope WB makes it happen with this release of the film on blu ray.

I am a bit curious on why they decided at this time to release it on blu ray. I know there are many who do not care for the film, but there are some (like myself) that do like the film.

I wonder if WB thought about doing it as a VOD release?

Has the film been shown in HD via on demand or online services? I'm looking forward to seeing it in HD.

**** I just looked online and noted that Amazon on Demand has it for rent in HD.

I doubt Warner Bros will spend money on restoring the original running time, it's been years since i saw this film, probably 14 years so i can't recall too much other than a feeling of disappointment, it felt disjointed, i guess now we know why, it was edited down from the original running time, i wonder if the 115 minute cut was too violent for the PG-13 certificate or maybe just too quirky for USA audiences. I had also been used to seeing Sean Connery as the hero so to see him as a bad guy also took me out of the film.

 

[Osato]

I doubt Warner Bros will spend money on restoring the original running time, it's been years since i saw this film, probably 14 years so i can't recall too much other than a feeling of disappointment, it felt disjointed, i guess now we know why, it was edited down from the original running time, i wonder if the 115 minute cut was too violent for the PG-13 certificate or maybe just too quirky for USA audiences. I had also been used to seeing Sean Connery as the hero so to see him as a bad guy also took me out of the film.

I believe there was some comments that the audience felt that the film was too British. Based on the preview it sounds like WB really panicked and then cut the film down. It's too bad that Michael Kamen was not allowed to score the film too.

I still think the film is a lot of fun to watch. I think adding the cut material back in would help make the film feel less disjointed too.

I would think a preview print of the film still exists and that it would be easy to assemble it for a blu ray release.

I thought that Connery played a dark character in Marnie. Even though he is still a hero character in the film.

 

[SilverWook]

I'll never understand why studios put so much weight into what preview audiences say. They always manage to get a group of people together who seem to be exactly the wrong audience.

Anyone who thinks something is "too British" probably isn't into British super spies in the first place.

 

[Osato]

I'll never understand why studios put so much weight into what preview audiences say. They always manage to get a group of people together who seem to be exactly the wrong audience.

Anyone who thinks something is "too British" probably isn't into British super spies in the first place.

Agreed. One wonders what the film would've been like with its original cut and Michael Kamen score as well.

Hopefully it does happen at some point.

 

[Jason_V]

I remember seeing The Avengers in the theater (and the on video with my parents) and knowing it was a terrible movie each time...but not knowing what the actual problem. I don't think we're going to be getting the original version; that would be something Warner would be trumpeting everywhere and would have been leaked somewhere by now. Besides, it would take some money to get the original footage into HD shape. Considering the bomb this movie was, why would Warner spend any more money than it had to on the release?

The $10 price point right now is indicative of that. If the movie was going to be a big SE or extended cut, the cover would mention that as well.