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Travis Willock reviews

Distributed by
New Line Home Entertainment

Buy the R2 DVD from

Cert: PG-13

Cat.no: N6078

Running time: 95 minutes

Year: 2002

Pressing: 2002

Region(s): 1, NTSC

Chapters: 17

Chapters with Infinifilm Activated: 61

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0, DTS 6.1

Languages: English

Subtitles: None

Widescreen: 2.35:1

16:9-Enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: No

Disc Format: DVD 9

Price: $26.98

Extras: Infinifilm Fact Tracks, 4 Documentaries, Audio Commentary, World of Austin Powers, Visual FX Segment, Deleted/ Alternate Scenes, 4 Music Videos, Theatrical and Teaser Trailers.

---

Director:

Jay Roach

Screenplay:

Mike Myers and Michael McCullers

Cast:

Austin Powers/Dr. Evil/Goldmember/Fat Bastard: Mike Myers
Foxxy Cleopatra: Beyonce Knowles
Nigel Powers: Michael Caine
Basil: Michael York
No. 2: Robert Wagner
Scottie: Seth Green
Frau: Mindy Sterling

What is it? Year of the terrible sequels? With the exception of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings I'd say sequels have really taken a nose dive in quality this year. They weren't meant to be masterpieces or anything but anymore these are just rehashes. MIB II is the king of rehashes but this new Austin Powers flick hinges on some of the worst rehashes in cinematic history.

I'm not even sure what the plot was. Something about Goldmember trying to flood the world with a satelite named Preparation H with help from Dr. Evil. Then there's the whole father subplot and blah blah. It's really just a bunch of skits thrown in around a paper thin plot (hmm sounds like 'Die Another Day' all over again). The structure has almost no balance to the plot or what you could call it and you can really tell the series is running out of steam.

It almost seems as if everyone involved is in on the joke and you're not. Since so many scenes from Austin 2 are here they have to make it blatantly clear (the groan-inducing Osbournes cameo) that it becomes obvious of the inevitable. The genitalia jokes get old, REAL quick. I could ramble on and on but you'd fall asleep. The first film was good because they were just making a fun movie, the second was better because they got to do what they couldn't before, but this time they know it's going to be a hit so you can throw the story out the window. It was a still a huge hit by the way.

Despite the terrible movie New Line has again proved they know how to transfer films to DVD. Presented in a crystal clear anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen picture. Blacks are solid, colors are sharp, fleshtones are accurate. Everything is perfect. I noticed no pixelization but minimal edge enhancement.

Audio is presented in three flavors. Dolby 5.1, 2.0, and DTS 6.1. Obviously the DTS track shows much more ambience than the others and proves to be the best of the bunch. The track doesn't really pick up until the music segments which show much bass. Overall pretty good.

New Line's Infinifilm DVDs are great but the extras provided on them are sometimes less than stellar and this is one of those cases.

• Audio Commentary: A decent track featuring Mike Myers and Jay Roach. Suprising how serious Mike Myers can be.
• Beyond the Movie: Houses "MI-6: International Man of Mystery" which explains about the real British Intelligence and the comparisons to James Bond. "English, English" features the origin of the gibberish language Austin and his father use in the film. "Disco Fever" shows how deep production went to capture the disco feel. "Fashion vs. Ficition" looks at the costume design in the film. All are extemely short with the MI-6 featurette being the longest at 4 minutes. All are animorphic 1.85:1.
• Deleted Scenes: 15 in all, anamorphic 2.35:1. optinal commentary. 22 minutes long. Few are extended. Some come off as mildly funny but none make the movie any better.
• The World of Austin Powers: Several short featurettes with some branching vignettes. Put together they run 36 minutes. Most discuss character development and other aspects of the filmmaking process that somehow made the mess tha this film is.
• Visual Effects: Worthless test footage shot of the F/X car that runs 8 seconds.
• 4 Music Videos: "Work it Out" by Beyonce Knowles, "Boys" by Britney Spears, "Daddy Wasn't There" by Ming Tea, "Hard Knock Life" by Dr. Evil and Mini-Me. I just realized how much I hate music videos.
• Trailers: Four teasers an the theatrical trailer. Teasers are anamorphic 1.85:1 while the theatrical is anamorphic 2.35:1.

It isn't New Line's fault the extras are lacklustre as I'm sure they found everything they could. Maybe it's the movie's fault, huh? But the Infinifilm track saves it from the average 2.5.

Packaging is amaray with the poster being used as the cover, the Infinifilm banner rests on top, and the box it outlined in baby blue. There are 17 regular chapters while activating Infinifilm gives you a whopping 61. Menus are animated most of the time with some being static.

Overall, this film bores almost on a level I didn't think existed. The DVD is the only good part about the whole expierience. If you like watching the same thing you've seen before then knock yourself out, all others be warned of the turkey.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Travis Willock, 2002.

Email Travis Willock

DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.

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