Review of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

Video

How do I start a review of Austin Powers 2? Well “Yeh baby yeh!” sums it all up nicely.

As befits a recent movie we are treated top a crisp and sharp transfer, made all the better for being an anomorphic transfer as well. It is hard not to draw parallels with the original Austin Powers disc so why resist :) The transfer on the original disc was superb and this one is every bit as good. Not one spec of film grain or any sign of atrifacting. Colours (of which there are allot in the sixties sequences) are very vibrant and the flesh tones are spot on (hmmmmmmm, Heather Graham, flesh tones, hmmmmmmmmmm).

The look of the movie is very well done and authentic but not having been around in the sixties what would I know :) The makeup job on the newest baddie (“Fat Bastard”) is incredible, even more so when he is naked (YUK!!). By the way it took 7 hours to get Mike Myers into the Fat Bastard suit!

This is a comedy and not a period piece that relies on epic sweeping scenery shots so I won’t dwell. Suffice to say a top class transfer.

Audio

Again faultless. It is getting harder and harder to fault some of these new release as there are allot of incredible work being done on DVD. Also how can you really criticize the sound on a comedy? What effects shots there are sound great but the majority of action is of course center channel based so don’t expect a spectacular speaker work-out.

There are allot of different music tracks throughout the film ranging from classic sixties tracks through to Madonna’s “Beautiful Stranger”. They all thump out nicely and never distract from the dialogue. Being an Austin Powers movie you get the obligatory appearance from Mr.Burt Bacharach, this time accompanied by Elvis Costello looking like he is just off to sell some copies of the “Big Issue”. Good to see that money hasn’t corrupted him . . . nor persuaded him to get some new glasses :).

Features

Features overload !!!!! Along with The Matrix this is the one to have. This is what all DVDs should be like.

I am going to start at the end and mention the DVD Rom content, for those of us who are totally addicted and have a DVD drive fitted in their computer :). You get all sorts of screensavers/desktop games/trivia quizzes here, along with the entire official web site. I am not really into DVD Rom content as, to be honest, most of it is rather cheesy and poorly done. On this disc, however, cheese works well so do give these features a look if you can.

Onto the regular features that you can access on an ordinary "standalone" DVD player. I am going to build up to my favorite part so stick with me. First up you get some great behind the scenes action and interviews, running at about 25 minutes. Very interesting. Next you have 3 music videos which all feature characters from the movie. There are 4 trailers as well.There is also a hidden "Dr.Evil`s special features" page. I would love to tell you what this is like but can I find it? NO!! If anyone out there can tell me how to access this page please leave a message in the forum for me :)

There is also a great commentary track with Mike Myers, Director Jay Roach and Co-Writer Micheal McCullers. When one of the movie`s stars takes part in the commentary they usually take a back seat and let the others waffle on, they are often a let down. Not the case here though as Mike Myers really gets involved and leads the whole commentary. The commentary is very amusing and definitely worth sitting through.

So, just one feature left. What was my favorite? Well, the award for "best extra on a disc titled Austin Powers 2" goes to the Deleted Scenes! You get 20 minutes of deleted scenes here that were probably cut out for reasons of running time. These are all hilarious and a real treat. If there is only one feature that you watch from this disc it has to be this.

Top marks all around, all discs should be like this!

Conclusion

The movie starts immediately after the first one and sees MR. and MRS. Powers on their honeymoon, featuring the lovely Liz Hurley. This is soon all tied up to leave Austin Powers free for some more shaggin` (but I won`t tell you how).Mike Myers plays the parts of Austin Powers, Dr.Evil and Fat Bastard. Austin Powers is even more outrageous, Dr.Evil is even more immensely stupid and Fat Bastard is totally disgusting as the new baddie. Mike Myers simply can`t do anything wrong in this movie as every character has his hysterical moments. Top class.

Heather Graham plays Austin`s new counterpart, Felicity Shagwell. What can I say about her but YUMMY! She is gorgeous, even more so than Liz Hurley which is no mean feat :). Aside from looking gorgeous she also plays her part very well, acting as the perfect counterpart to Austin Powers.

This film is a total riot. I was in stitches throughout and is the sort of film I am likely to go back to whenever I need cheering up. As it happens I watched this the other night after a particularly bad day at work and by the end of it I was laughing and had totally forgotten about my day. Always the sign of a great comedy :). This movie is packed with plenty of toilet humor to keep you chuckling, along with the customary Bond p*** takes. Also there are allot of set pieces, the sort of sequences that you will re-visit with your mates over a beer. I dare anyone to NOT laugh at the stool sample sequence. Also the tent sequence is a side-splitter. Great stuff!

If you didn`t like the first movie you are unlikely to find anything here to change your mind. If, however, you liked the first one then go and buy this one now! It is an hilarious movie and a first class DVD to boot. It would be a crime to miss this one to be honest. One of my favorite discs and the funniest movie I have seen for a long time.