DVD Review - Austin
Powers:
International Man of Mystery
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Austin Powers:
International Man of Mystery
New Line Home Video - © 1997 - 90 Minutes - Snapper Case
"It's a smashing shagadelic party as Mike Myers (Wayne's World 1 & 2, So I Married an Axe Murderer) and Elizabeth Hurley (Dangerous Ground) star in this non-stop, hilarious comedy-adventure.
Frozen in the 60's, secret agent Austin Powers (Myers) is thawed back into action to once again battle his arch-enemy Dr. Evil. With his sexy sidekick Ms. Kensington (Hurley), Austin must stop Dr. Evil's outrageous plot to control the world. But first, this time-warped swinger must get hip quick and discover that there's no free love in the 90's!"
Features
Bring on the Sexy DVDs, Baby!
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery was the funniest movie of 1997. So when we heard the news that New Line would be releasing the film on DVD (a full five months before it would be available for purchase on VHS), we hoped that the disc would include a lot of special features. We were not disappointed.
New Line has produced yet another great disc. At the time of its release, no title matched Austin Powers in terms of image quality and extras.
The film itself looks gorgeous, thanks to a great, anamorphic transfer. Colors are overly vibrant (on purpose), especially during the intro credits where Powers dances and prances around the streets of London, Eng-a-lend with his entourage of babes and bobbies. The rest of the film is just as vivid and ultra-clear. The 'B' side of the disc features a Pan & Scan version of the movie.
The audio, presented in English in a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack sounds nice, but the film's soundtrack doesn't make as much use of the surround effects as many other titles on the market. Probably the most "exciting" surround effect is Powers' psychedelic jumbo jet landing in Vegas...not very inspiring. Still, the audio quality is very good, with music sounding full and rich, and dialog mixed at the appropriate level to come through loud and clear. There's also a French stereo soundtrack.
Aside from picture quality, this DVD really shines in terms of its fantastic array of special features...
The chapter search screens are animated, so that instead of a static image of each scene, there is a short, looping video clip that represents each chapter.
A "Spy Genre Retrospective" is a text and still image repository of information on the various spy films and television programs that inspired Austin Powers, such as the very obvious James Bond movies, as well as the somewhat lesser known Matt Helm, Derek Flint and Harry Palmer movies, as well as shows such as "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."
The disc's Cameos menu allows you to jump directly to the scenes of the supporting cast of stars: Carrie Fisher, Tom Arnold, Burt Bacharach and Rob Lowe (whose one scene was cut from the film...but also included on the DVD!). There is also a filmography for each of the four stars on this screen.
Next are the Deleted Scenes. There are two alternate endings, both of which were cut in favor of the ending that finally stuck. In addition are five short scenes that were cut from the film. We have to say that we're glad that they were cut. It's interesting to see them, but none of them is as funny as the rest of the movie (although Cheeses of the World and the Fendi Briefcase scenes probably came pretty close).
The theatrical trailer for Austin Powers is also included.
The Cast screen leads to short biographies and good filmographies for each of the film's main stars (Mike Meyers, Elizabeth Hurley, Robert Wagner, Mimi Rogers and Michael York). In addition, several of the cast members' screens include scenes from other New Line videos. Hurley's filmo includes a scene from "Dangerous Ground." Mimi Rogers' screen includes scenes from both "Monkey Trouble" and "The Rapture," as well as an advance preview of New Line's upcoming "Lost in Space" (which looks like it will make an excellent DVD title!). Michael York's filmo includes a scene from "Wild Sargasso Sea."
There are two more "special features" that are fairly inane, but that faithfully uphold the mystique behind...Austin Powers. The "Music to Shag By" feature plays a crazy, psychedelic rash of swirling colors and animated "cutouts" of cast members. The "Swedish Made Penis Enlarger Pump" feature leads the viewer through a series of screens in which key phrases such as "Oh behave!" and "Shall we shag now or shall we shag later?" are played. On our test system (an upgraded Toshiba 2006 running through a Kenwood 1090VR), the first bit of each audio snippet was cut off. No big deal, since this is such a trivial part of the disc, but DVD authors should keep in mind that when switching tracks, the first second or so of audio can sometimes get lost.
The only quibble we have with this disc is that New Line did not author the title in such a way to permit you to jump to different soundtracks with the DVD player remote control's Audio button. You have to go through the menu to select a different track. While most people will not switch between the English and French tracks, I imagine a fair number of people would like to have been able to quickly switch between the English track and the Audio Commentary track. I know I would have appreciated that capability.
In all, "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" is a fantastic DVD. If you liked the movie, this is a must-have disc. If you haven't seen the movie, you could be in for a real treat. If you saw the movie and didn't like it, you're a real square, baby. Oh behave!
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