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Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery (New
Line Platinum Series)
review by Ren C.
Rated PG-13
Running Time: 96 Minutes
Starring Mike Meyers, Elizabeth Hurley
Studio: New Line
Written by Mike Meyers
Directed by Jay Roach
Retail Price: 24.99
Features: Theatrical Trailers, Commentary with Mike
Meyers and Jay Roach, Music To Shag To, Original Animated
Sequence, Deleted Scenes, Bios
Specs: 1.90:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.33:1 Full Screen
Dolby Digital English 5.1, French Dolby Surround, English
Captions, Spanish Captions, French Captions, Chapter
Search
Just in case there's anyone out there that actually
hasn't seen this movie, I'll give you the thumbnail version.
Mike Myers plays Austin Powers, a 60's swinging British
secret agent, in the vein of James Bond. As with any good
secret agent, Powers needs an evil counterpart, in this case
Dr. Evil, also played by...Mike Myers. The film begins with
Powers and his partner Mrs. Kensington (Mimi Rogers) trying
to apprehend evil at a '60s club. Evil escapes by
cryogenically freezing himself, and his cat Mr.
Bigglesworth. Powers is also frozen, should the need ever
arise and Dr. Evil resurface.
Naturally, Dr. Evil does resurface, otherwise it would be
a very short movie. Powers is brought into the 90s as well,
and is forced into a "fish-out-of-water" plotline, by having
to become acclimated to both the 90s in general, and his new
partner, Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth Hurley), daughter of
the original. Dr. Evil is also doing some acclimating of his
own, namely to his son Scott (Seth Green). The film
progresses from here with Powers getting into any number of
zany situations on the way to a confrontation with Dr. Evil.
While my preview may not do proper justice to the movie,
let me just say that this is the funniest movie I have seen
in years. I didn't understand what all the fuss was about
until I saw the movie for the first time. I've seen it at
least five times since then, and each viewing just seems to
enrich the movie that much more. Mike Myers does a great job
as both Powers and Dr. Evil, to the point where I tend to
forget that it's the same person playing the role. Jay
Roach, as well, has done a great directing job, in that he
wasn't married to the script, and gave the actors some room
to ad-lib, leading to scenes that were above and beyond what
was originally written in the script.
For a 1997 film, and an early DVD, this holds up. The
colors are bright and rich, in both the widescreen and (ugh)
pan-and-scan versions. There is little-to-no artifcating,
and in all a very nice transfer.
Again, holds up very well. The movie sounds very
psychedelic, with both effects and dialogue coming through
very clearly. New Line delivers with their discs, and this
is no exception.
To paraphrase Powers, "features are my bag, baby", and
this disc does not disappoint. There is a commentary by
Myers and Roach, which is generally entertaining, although I
do have one nitpick. The two participants have a tendency to
lapse into awkward silences, and when this happens the
volume of the movie stays down. While I can generally fill
the gaps in from memory, this can definitely be annoying to
someone new to the experience. The next feature is a series
of deleted scenes. These are very entertaining, although
somewhat rough-looking from being cut from some of the
initial footage. Surprisingly, some actors were cut
completely out of the movie by being cut from these scenes
including Rob Lowe and SNL's Cheri Oteri, who has a very fun
turn as a stewardess here. Also, a nice little surprise is
included in the filmographies. These are quoted on the case
as film highlights, which feature the stars of the movie in
other endeavors. Included is a full trailer for "Lost In
Space", and several other short movie trailers. Also
entertaining is the "Music to Shag To" original animated
sequence, which cannot be done justice in words. This is one
of those features that has to be seen to be believed.
Rounding out the disc are the usual trailer and biographies,
which I generally consider to be more standard issue than
features, per se.
Considering this was one of the very early DVD's, it
stands up very well. The movie is absolutely hilarious, and
the features are icing on the cake. If you liked the movie
and don't own this, buy it. If you haven't seen the movie,
definitely give it a rent first, it's a great movie, but
it's not necessarily everyone's cup of tea. High
recommendation.
 (4.5/5, NOT included in
final score)
 (4/5)
 (3.5/5)
(3.5/5)
(4/5,
NOT an average)
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