Austin Powers Collection: Shagadelic Edition (Blu-ray)

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---

As for myself, I have been delightfully poisoned by these films over the years, and they are the only movies where I have collected novelty items. I have bobble heads of Austin and Dr. Evil, a Dr. Evil throw pillow, a Dr. Evil T-shirt, and an old Austin Powers mouse pad. Where I work, anytime we have group meetings, I always sit at the end of the table and do my best impression of Dr. Evil, which still gets plenty of laughs even today. Ever since the introduction of "Austin Powers" in 1997, I still have friends and family members bring up various quotes from the movies and impersonations of the many funny characters. Even if you are someone who finds these films ridiculous, you have to admit they have had an astounding effect American culture, and, in my opinion, they are icons in the world of silly comedies.

Austin Powers is the creation of Mike Myers ("Wayne's World," "Shrek"), with the direction of Jay Roach. Together, they embarked on the idea of spoofing the British spy genre, especially the James Bond franchise, with the first installment, "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery." I should note that the first film never took off at the box-office and started out as an overlooked film for its time. However, the DVD did very well and was a top seller for some time. During the early days of DVD, it was one of the best DVD's I owned because it came with more special features than I had seen on any other disc. Had the DVD sales not taken off the entire project may have been scrapped. Not to mention, before the release of the third installment, "Austin Powers: Goldmember," MGM had issues with Myers and Roach titling their films so closely to the title of Bond movies. The dispute was settled but the conditions were that the two creators could no longer name future films after any of the Bond franchise movies.

"International Man of Mystery":
In the first movie, "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" we are introduced to Austin's world of the swinging sixties where promiscuous sex being common place and, apparently, having bad teeth is apparently sexy. Austin Powers (Mike Myers) is a swinging British spy with the mission of capturing his nemesis, Dr. Evil (also, Mike Myers). Dr. Evil manages to escape the first attempt and cryogenically freezes himself in a Bobs' Big Boy rocket orbiting the Earth. Austin then has himself cryogenically frozen until Dr. Evil's return. The two obviously come out of their frozen states and the rest of the film is a parody of how two men from the sixties adapt to a new life in the mid 1990's. The formula makes for some of the best comedy of all time.

Not to overlook, the movie is filled with a strong cast of characters and fun cameos. On the side of the bad guys, we have Robert Wagner as Dr. Evil's top henchman Number-Two; Mindy Sterling as the yelling, Nazi woman Frau Farbissina; and Will Ferrell as the assassin Mustafa, who becomes very badly burned but remains alive. Then there's Seth Green as Dr. Evil's son, Scott Evil. He, of course, has a big chip on his shoulder from not seeing his father while he was cryogenically frozen. On the side of the good guys, there is the hotness of Elizabeth Hurley as special agent Vanessa Kensington, Austin's partner. His other partner from the 60's was Mimi Rogers as Mrs. Kensington. As you can see, that makes Vanessa Mrs. Kensington's daughter, but it never keeps Austin from hitting on the ever sexy Vanessa. There is also Michael York as Basil Exposition; try to think of Basil-like "Q" from James Bond and you'll have it. There are also cameos from Burt Bacharach, Tom Arnold, and the king of cameos, Clint Howard.

"The Spy Who Shagged Me":
By the time we get to "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," Dr. Evil has gotten away once again, and Austin married Vanessa only to find out she's a Fembot (an assassin robot) sent to kill him. This leaves the spot for a new Austin girl, Heather Graham as Felicity Shagwell. Otherwise, we get mostly the same cast of characters as in the first film. Other new additions are Mini-me (Verne Troyer), Dr. Evil's clone but only four-feet tall; and Mike Myers taking on a third role as a 380-pound Scottish henchman named Fat Bastard. Of course, Fat Bastard is where a lot of our gross-out humor comes from. Some of the same cameos appear, including is a funny cameo by Tim Robins as the U.S. President and Jerry Springer as himself.

I like the second effort the best out of the lot. There's a lot of fun with time travel, the jokes go for everything imaginable, the gross-out humor is actually gross, and the film is a good representation of the times as Seattle's Space Needle is turned into a Starbucks. This film quite literally has a laugh around every corner. It has become commonplace in my home to watch the movie at least a few times a year with friends and family. I love how it still uses a good sense of stupid humor and is not afraid of being on the edge of going too far. Granted, in the second film we are beginning to see Myers stretch the Dr. Evil character a bit, and, let's face it, Evil does overshadow Austin in many ways. Nevertheless, this movie has more laughs than a pile of movies in a Wal-Mart, $5.00 DVD bin.

"Austin Powers in Goldmember":
"Austin Powers in Goldmember" would be my least favorite in the bunch. However, the opening cameo sequence has to be the best comedy piece that year. The cameo cast includes Kevin Spacey as Dr. Evil, Danny DeVito as Mini-me, Gwyneth Paltrow as Dixie Normous, and Tom Cruise as none other than Austin Powers. We also get Steven Spielberg as himself in this hilarious opening sequence. Also new to this film are Beyonce Knowles as Foxxy Cleopatra, Austin's new love interest, Mike Myers taking on a fourth role as the villain Goldmember, and the introduction of Austin's father, Nigel Powers, played by Michael Caine. Other cameos include Nathan Lane, Quincy Jones, Britney Spears, the Osbourne family, and John Travolta.

By the last installment, the jokes get old, and in some cases Myers reaches for material he did in other films. It has one of the funniest openings ever, but the end seems to drift away from the edginess that once made the series so funny. In some ways, "Goldmember" is borderline schmaltzy, but the overall story manages to stay intact. Nevertheless, while there are still some good laugh-out-loud moments, it is also easy to tell the fresh-idea department was starting to run out of steam. The film simply starts out great, and then turns into having an atrocious, sappy finish. However, I wouldn't say it's a horrible film by any means, and it still stands up a little better than some of the ridiculous comedies we get today. Nonetheless, it's just not the better of the three movies.

If I were to rate each film separately, I'd give "International Man of Mystery" an 8/10, "The Spy Who Shagged Me" a 9/10, and "Goldmember" a 6/10. Even with "Goldmember" getting a lower score, the Austin Powers films are some of my favorite comedies of all time. You can call them the stupidest films ever made, but that's exactly what makes them the golden, comedy-genius films they are. Even today when I feel I need a good laugh, these films never fail to entertain. And now that you can get all three on Blu-ray, it is truly a blessing for comedy fans everywhere.

Tim's Film Rating for the Three Movies: 8/10

Video:
New Line engineers present the picture for all three movies in a 2.40:1 aspect ratio (although IMDb lists the ratio for "International Man of Mystery" at 2.00:1), using a VC-1 codec and a single-layer BD25 for the first two movies and a BD50 for the third. The colors are quite uniform from one film to the next, bright and gaudy, as expected, but rich and deep, with definition ranging from near perfect in some scenes to slightly soft in others. Still, overall, you'll find the video quality quite striking, with particularly realistic skin tones and well-detailed close-ups throughout.

Audio:
The discs offer up audio in either regular Dolby Digital 5.1 or Dolby TrueHD 5.1, which is what I listened to. In TrueHD, "International Man of Mystery" is quite unspectacular, with a limited frequency range, limited dynamics, and very little surround activity. There is nothing wrong with it, but it is perfunctory at best. On "The Spy Who Shagged Me" we get a little more surround activity, with a wider front-channel stereo spread and bit more punch. And "Goldmember" is best of all, with a much wider stereo spread, better dynamic impact, and a lot more rear-channel action.

Extras:
The "International Man of Mystery" disc comes with an audio commentary by star Mike Myers and director Jay Roach; three deleted scenes, totaling a little over six minutes; two alternate endings at about five minutes; and a theatrical trailer, all in standard definition. In addition, there are twenty-four scene selections; English as the only spoken language; and English captions for the hearing impaired.

"The Spy Who Shagged Me" comes with more extras than "International Man of Mystery." Things begin as before with an audio commentary by star Mike Myers and director Jay Roach, this time accompanied by co-writer Michael McCullers. After that are about nineteen minutes of deleted scenes; a twenty-six-minute behind-the-scenes featurette; a twenty-minute Comedy Central item, "The Dr. Evil Story," which in some ways is funnier than the movie itself; and four music videos: "Beautiful Stranger" with Madonna; "American Woman" with Lenny Kravitz; "Word Up" with Mel B (aka Scary Spice); and "Just the Two of Us" with Dr. Evil and Mini-Me.

Things finish up on the second disc with two teasers and a theatrical trailer; thirty scene selections;
English, Spanish, and Portuguese spoken languages; Spanish and Portuguese subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.

"Goldmember" comes with the anticipated audio commentary by star Mike Myers and director Jay Roach. That's followed by a series of "Focus Points," brief featurettes you can watch during the film (you click on an icon each time it's appropriate) or separately. After that is a "Fact Track," subtitled trivia notes that play during the movie. Then, we find about eighteen minutes of additional scenes.

For you musically inclined, you'll find four music videos: "Work It Out" with Beyonce, "Boys" with Britney Spears, "Daddy Wasn't There" with Ming Tea, and "Hard Knock Life" with Dr. Evil and Mini-Me. Finally, there are four teasers and a theatrical trailer; eighteen scene selections; English and Spanish spoken languages; Spanish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.

The three discs come housed individually in ultrathin, translucent-blue plastic cases, the cases further enclosed in an attractively embossed and appropriately gaudy cardboard slipcase.

Parting Thoughts:
Although the "Austin Powers" movies may not be the greatest comedies of all time, they are surely among the more well known. As Tim pointed out, it's hard to forget specific characters and specific moments that stick with you no matter how silly they are. Personally, I find a little of Mike Myers goes a long way, but the first movie and a few parts of the second movie are still funny enough probably to justify the price of the set.

---

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---