Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) |
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Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Comedy |
Menu Animation Biographies-Cast & Crew Featurette-Untitled (4 1/2 mins) Music Video-(2 1/2 mins) |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 1997 | ||
| Running Time | 95 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Programme | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Jay Roach |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Mike Myers Elizabeth Hurley Michael York Mimi Rogers |
| Case | Village Roadshow Old Style | ||
| RPI | $34.95 | Music | George S. Clinton |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English MPEG 5.1 (256Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | None | Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
Dr. Evil's plan is to blow up the world unless his initially modest demands are met. Austin Power's plan is to stop him, shagging everything in his path on the way. Elizabeth Hurley plays Vanessa Kensington, the daughter of Mrs Kensington, whom Austin lusted after in the 60s. Austin lusts after Vanessa in the same way, but this is the 90s, baby. "When do we get to shag?" no longer works as well as it used to as a pick-up line.
There are lots of bad puns, lots of bad jokes, and lots of bad teeth in this movie. If you liked Wayne's World, then you will like this movie. I personally count it among one of my favourite comedies, though I must admit that I preferred the Dr. Evil character to the Austin Powers character.
The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced. The original theatrical aspect ratio for this movie was 2.35:1. The movie appears significantly cropped at the sides, with at least one very bad pan evident - on top of the bus in Las Vegas. Image composition appears very cramped with characters disappearing to the sides of the frame frequently. There is one short sequence where the correct aspect ratio is restored, which is the sequence where the Big Boy is spotted and the military are called. This is where the screen is divided into up to 8 squares (at 7:50). Ultimately, this means that this transfer is fundamentally a Pan & Scan transfer rather than a widescreen release.
The transfer was sharp and clear at all times. Shadow detail was excellent, and there was no low level noise.
The colours were vibrant, and very highly saturated indeed. One of the characteristics of this movie is huge splashes of bright colours, and they come across on the DVD superbly with no sign of chroma noise or blooming.
No MPEG artefacts were noted. Aliasing was only rarely present. Some image wobble was present early on during the credits, but this fortunately rapidly settled down. Film artefacts were very rare.
Dialogue was always completely clear and easy to understand.
There were no audio sync problems with this disc.
The musical score is by George S. Clinton. It was frequently present, without being remarkable, and suited the on-screen action.
The surround channels were reasonably used for ambience and for music, though more could have been done with them.
The .1 channel was lightly used.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This DVD has been withdrawn and replaced with Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery Special Edition. Refer to that review for a current R4 vs R1 comparison.
The video quality is generally excellent with the big proviso that we are essentially getting a cropped Pan & Scan version of this movie rather than one presented at its original aspect ratio. This was a significant problem for me, since it destroyed the screen composition. Otherwise, the image was generally excellent.
The audio quality is reasonable without being remarkable.
The extras are the typical Roadshow Home Entertainment crop of extras.
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| Audio | |
| Extras |  |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Pioneer DV-505, using S-Video output |
| Display | Loewe Art-95 (95cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL). |
| Audio Decoder | Denon AVD-2000 Dolby Digital decoder. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | 2 x EA Playmaster 100W per channel stereo amplifiers for Left, Right, Left Rear and Right Rear; Philips 360 50W per channel stereo amplifier for Centre and Subwoofer |
| Speakers | Philips S2000 speakers for Left, Right; Polk Audio CS-100 Centre Speaker; Apex AS-123 speakers for Left Rear and Right Rear; Yamaha B100-115SE subwoofer |