Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Dolby Digital Trailer-Canyon Menu Animation & Audio Audio Commentary-M McCullers (CoWriter), M Myers, J Roach (Dir) Deleted Scenes-21 Featurette-Behind The Scenes (26:01) Music Video-3 Theatrical Trailer Biographies-Cast & Crew Easter Egg-Music Videos, Evil Schemes Teaser Trailer-2 Trailer-Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery
Rating
Year Of Production	1999
Running Time	91:07
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (81:13)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Jay Roach
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Mike Myers Heather Graham Michael York Robert Wagner Seth Green Elizabeth Hurley
Case	Village Roadshow New Style
RPI	$34.95	Music	George S. Clinton

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (320Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (320Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, both during and right at the very end

    The first Austin Powers movie, Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery, was a sleeper hit world-wide in 1997, with the loveable and daggy antics of Austin Powers and his arch-nemesis Dr. Evil delighting audiences everywhere (and irritating beyond belief those few who didn't like it).

    Well, he's back. This time around, Austin Powers (Mike Myers) is settling down to married life with Vanessa (Elizabeth Hurley) when he discovers Vanessa is in fact a fembot on a lethal mission for Dr. Evil (Mike Myers). Dr. Evil's plan for world domination this time around revolve around destroying Washington and other major capital cities from his base on the moon unless his ransom is paid. First, however, he plans to immobilize Austin Powers by travelling back in time and stealing Austin's mojo (libido).

    Returning to reprise their roles from the first Austin Powers are Number Two (Robert Wagner), Scott Evil (Seth Green), Frau Farbissina (Mindy Sterling), Basil Exposition (Michael York) and Mustafa. Newly introduced in this movie are Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham) as Austin's new love interest ("Shagwell by name, shag very well by reputation"), Mini-Me (Verne J. Troyer) who is a 1/8th miniature clone of Dr. Evil, a Young Number Two (Rob Lowe), and Fat B****** (Mike Myers).

    One of the things that can be done when you create characters as memorable as Austin Powers, Dr Evil and their entire entourages is that you can recycle the same jokes and skits as were used in the first Austin Powers movie, and get away with it. In this movie we see a reprise of the strategic food placement skit, a reprise of the misfortunes of Mustafa, and many other references and homages to the previous Austin Powers, as well as some great homages and send-ups of movies from Star Wars to The Thomas Crown Affair.

    Invite some friends over, have a few drinks, and enjoy Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. And make sure you watch all of the way through the end credits.

Video

    It is presented at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is extremely clear and very sharp throughout, without ever suffering from any symptoms of over-sharpening of the image. The image is magnificently detailed. Shadow detail, what there is of it, is exemplary, and there is no low level noise whatsoever.

    The colours can only be described by one word; vibrant. Brilliant, perfectly saturated hues of red, yellow, green, purple and any other colour of the rainbow that you care to nominate are splashed in all their glory across this transfer, with the transfer handling the high colour saturations perfectly and without even the slightest hint of colour bleeding. There was never even a suggestion of any colour oversaturation, despite the enormous use of colour throughout this movie.

    There were no MPEG artefacts seen. Film-to-video artefacts were not seen. Film artefacts were not seen, either. This has to be one of the cleanest, if not the cleanest film-based transfer that I have ever seen with not a speck of dirt nor any other image anomaly to be seen. Top marks to the folks at the bench for this transfer.

    The only glitch with this DVD was the fact that subtitles defaulted to ON on the player I used to review this movie - a Start SD-2010VNK.

    This disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change occurring at 81:13, between Chapters 28 and 29 during what appears to be a natural fade-to-black in the movie. It is not intrusive at all, and is very well placed.

Audio

    There are three audio tracks on this DVD; the default English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded soundtrack and an English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded track. There is no MPEG track whatsoever on this DVD, silent or otherwise. I listened to both the 5.1 soundtrack and to the Audio Commentary. Note that the 5.1 soundtrack is in fact encoded as Dolby Digital EX, meaning that a centre rear channel is matrix-encoded into the left and right surround channels, however I listened to this soundtrack via a conventional 5.1 speaker setup.

    The dialogue was always audible, completely clear, and easy to understand.

    Audio sync was not a problem at all.

    The musical score by George S. Clinton is perfectly suited to the on-screen action, complementing the Austin Powers style nicely and enhancing the overall experience of the movie.

    The surround channels were used frequently and at times aggressively to create a superbly immersive aural experience. Subtle atmospheric effects and special effects often found their way into the rear channels, and were precisely placed creating an excellent surround picture. More impressive special effects and explosions also utilized the rear speakers very well. The net effect of this soundtrack was to immerse you fully in the movie.

    The subwoofer was used steadily but subtly by this soundtrack and was nicely integrated into the overall mix, never calling specific attention to itself.

Dolby Digital Canyon Trailer

Menu

Audio Commentary - Mike McCullers (Co-Screenwriter), Mike Myers (Co-Writer, Actor, Co-Producer), and Jay Roach (Director)

    All-in-all, it is certainly worth a listen, but I have heard better.

Deleted Scenes (21)

Featurette - Behind The Scenes (26:01)

Music Videos

Theatrical Trailers

Cast & Crew Biographies

Authoring Credits

Easter Egg

• DVD-ROM content; Sample round of Austin Powers trivia game (we get a shot of the box and of one of the questions), Austin Powers web site, Screensavers, and Links.
• Hidden featurette - Comedy Central's "Canned Ham Presents: Dr Evil's Story". This is apparently quite a funny 20 minute featurette.

    The video is of reference quality.

    The audio is of reference quality.

    The extras are comprehensive.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall