THE AVENGERS

JOEL McNEELY

Rating:

Original Review: Only very occasionally does a movie come along and perform so incredibly badly at the box office as The Avengers did. Films like Ishtar and Heaven's Gate spring to mind. Ones that ended up crippling their respective film companies. Every aspect of The Avengers was troubled, from the screenplay, to the shoot, to the distribution, and even the music was affected by the commercial and critical disaster. Michael Kamen had been attached to the project for months and months, and it was only when he had to leave to do Lethal Weapon 4 that Joel McNeely arrived as a late, late replacement. Considering everything, McNeely's resulting score is about as well assured as could have been expected. Although it does not enjoy any kind of musical depth or complexity, it's not completely intolerable either, and is competent enough not to have the aura of something put together at the last minute. Some of the cues are quite enjoyable and, to be honest, McNeely has ended up being the only member of The Avengers' cast and crew with any shred of credibility remaining (I will certainly never be able to look at Sean Connery the same way again after that horrific teddy bear incident).

The best parts of The Avengers tend to involve action, with "Prospero Lab Destruction", "Sir August's Garden", "Flight of the Mechanical Bees", "Emma's Balloon Escape" and "Avenging Crimes" being particularly memorable set pieces. In addition, the "Main Title" is a rather funky affair with an X-Files style whistled melody and some bold violin strokes, and there are two attractive but rather bland string based love themes in "Are You All Right" and "DeWinter's Waltz", the latter of which underscores the scene where Connery tries to seduce Uma Thurman (lucky chap).

As a side note, "Invisible Jones" has an amusing little leitmotif that Danny Elfman would be proud of. Unfortunately, McNeely has padded out these few highlights with quite a lot of uninspired filler music that wanders aimlessly along with no real sense of purpose (much like the film itself) and no identifiable recurring themes. It's expertly put-together and is superbly performed by a full orchestra, but it leaves absolutely no lasting impression whatsoever. The other major disappointment is that Laurie Johnson's wonderfully retro four-note brass fanfare and theme from the TV series only appears in one cue - the conclusive "The Avengers Theme". Another missed opportunity to provide some coherence and a distinct link to its predecessor.

Ultimately, The Avengers is a glossy, professionally done score without any real trace of musical originality or style. It all functions perfectly adequately and, as I mentioned, some of the action cues are loud enough to be memorable. However, much as Joel McNeely tried, all you are left with in the end are fond memories of Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg, black leather, and thoughts of what might have been.

Track Listing: Running Time: 62 minutes 28 seconds

Silva Screen FILMCD-304 (1998)

Music composed and conducted by Joel McNeely. Orchestrations by David Slonaker, Joel McNeely and Jeff Atmajian. "The Avengers Theme" written by Laurie Johnson. Recorded and mixed by Shawn Murphy. Edited by Craig Pettigrew and Michael Connell. Mastered by Dave Collins. Album produced by Joel McNeely.

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