Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery: Special Edition (1997)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Biographies-Cast Interviews-Cast Deleted Scenes-3 Theatrical Trailer-1.78:1 16x9 enh, DD 2.0 Featurette-(4:31) Music Video Audio Commentary-Mike Myers (Actor/Writer/Producer) & Jay Roach (Director) Menu Animation & Audio Dolby Digital Trailer-Canyon Trailer-Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Alternate Ending-2
Rating
Year Of Production	1997
Running Time	91:37 (Case: 95)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Jay Roach
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Mike Myers Elizabeth Hurley Michael York Mimi Rogers
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 (384Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (384Kb/s) English MPEG 2.0 silent
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, during

    Firstly, the movie has been presented in its Australian theatrical cut version, which has the correct timing of the pussy....cat line, and has the Orange Sherbert scenes and the Henchman Buck's Party cameo intact.

    Secondly, the movie has been presented in its correct aspect ratio, something that not even the Region 1 version can lay claim to.

    Thirdly, we have even more extras than those found on the Region 1 version of this movie.

    So, without further ado, here is my review of Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery - Special Edition.

    Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery is a spoof on spy movies. This is a movie you either love or hate. Groovy, baby. Mike Myers stars as both Austin Powers, a 60s super secret agent and his arch-nemesis, Dr. Evil. Both of these characters were cryogenically frozen in 1967, with Dr. Evil and hence Austin Powers, thawing in 1997.

    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.

Video

    The transfer is presented in the correct theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced. Comparing it with the previous release of this disc in Region 4 shows that this new version has significantly more side information present, and the overall effect is of a much more balanced presentation visually.

    The transfer is very clear and very sharp, except for one scene towards the very end of the movie which has deliberately utilized very grainy stock footage. I felt that some of the white levels were just a little bit too high with a resultant slight wash out of fine image details, but this is only apparent on close scrutiny. Shadow detail is good, and there is no low level noise.

    The colours were bright and vibrant. In conjunction with the very high white level of this transfer, this resulted in some of the scenes being a little less colour saturated than I would have expected, but again this is a minor complaint.

    There were no MPEG artefacts seen. Aliasing is basically non-existent, with the only aliasing seen being that of the roof of the house of the steamrolled henchman. Film artefacts were very rare, though a few popped up here and there.

    The running time of this movie is 91:37 minutes, not the 95 minutes as claimed on the packaging. This is one aspect of the packaging that Roadshow Home Entertainment still need to improve upon - they have improved by leaps and bounds in all other aspects of their DVD production and packaging.

    This disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change hidden so well that I was unable to place it.

Audio

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times.

    Audio sync was an issue at various points throughout the transfer, with a significant portion of this movie appearing to be on the verge of going out of sync. The early part of Chapter 5, on the aeroplane, is particularly noteworthy for being on the verge of going out of sync.

    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.

Menu

Cast Biographies

Deleted Scenes

Cast Interviews

Theatrical Trailer

Featurette

Music Video - Do The BBC

Audio Commentary - Mike Myers (Star, Writer, Producer) & Jay Roach (Director)

• Correct widescreen aspect ratio
• Audio commentary - on the Region 1 version, this is dialogue-only, with no movie soundtrack in the background.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is good, but given the marginal audio sync problems exhibited on my setup, it may be worth trying this disc out on your system before you purchase it.

    The extras are comprehensive and reasonably well presented.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall