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In Short: The sequel and its DVD are twice as good; twice as funny, twice as many extras as well as excellent audio/video quality. Fun menus, too.
The Movie:
Star Wars? Forget about it. In a Summer where we've already had a "Star Wars" that was slightly skewed towards disapointing, we now recieve the reward for sitting through endless Taco Bell ads pushing "The Force". In a world where sequels rarely ever surpass the originals, Mike Meyers has taken the "Austin Powers" series to new heights in a film that is classic in its attempts to do just about anything for a laugh.
Where the original would present gags as if it was testing the audience, slightly unsure just how they'd go over, the sequel pushes through with full, agressive force, loading nearly every moment of screentime with hilarious gag after gag.
This time, Austin Powers is back, starting in this film right where the original left off. Dr. Evil is still in his Big Boy statue, but not for long. And Austin doesn't find himself married for long, either; he recieves a rather unpleasant surpise during his honeymoon with Mrs. Kensington(Elizabeth Hurley in a cameo). Austin's reaction to this otherwise tragic event is nothing short of a scream, sending the film off with an incredibly hilarious dance number that tops the parade that kicked off the original.
And it only gets better.
Soon, Dr. Evil is back, planning to take over the world yet again and meeting back with son Scott on nothing less than the Jerry Springer show. I was already laughing harder than I had in ages. The Springer scene is classic- there are some classic comedic lines from Meyers as Evil if you listen closely. Soon after, we find out the plot of Dr. Evil: to go back in time and not only steal Austin Powers's mojo, but blow up Washington, DC from the safety of the moon.
Austin, "mojo-less" goes back in time after Dr. Evil and teams up with CIA agent Felicity Shagwell( Heather Graham, light as cotton candy and just as sweet in the role). You know the plot: the two must find Dr. Evil and stop him.
Back to the general discussion: I could go on forever about just how many amusing or downright hilarious moments there are, but I'd be writing for ages. I'll just focus on some of the more memorable ones. Best is the decision to feature Dr. Evil more than Austin this time. There are bits that Meyers has crafted for Evil this time even that surpass the hilarity that he brought to the role for the first film. The character is a brilliant creation and Meyers expands it, but always keeps the lines fresh and fast, even when there are callbacks to gags from the original(of which, there are actually fewer than I'd expected.) Speaking of speed, director Jay Roach keeps things going at a far faster, giddier, joyful pace than a lot of the original film. Even the cinematography by Ueli Stiger is more energetic and bright than the work done in the original.There's a desire to push jokes to the limit here that hasn't worked so successfully since the Farrelly Brothers made "Kingpin" a few years ago, a movie that made my list of the best films for that year, and "Powers" will very likely make my list of best pictures this year.
There's just more going on here in the sequel as well: Dr. Evil has been given a tiny clone of himself named Mini-Me. Since son Scott is still in the picture, it sets up many moments of fierce sibling rivalry which are just a few very funny moments that are part of the seemingly millions that the film has in store. The relationship between Evil and Mini-Me has some scenes that are so incredibly funny(including a song number) it would be a crime to ruin them here by revealling their details.
Meyers really has found the perfect role for himself and hopefully, we'll be seeing much more of the "Austin Powers" films in the future. Heather Graham is obviously having a lot of fun in her role and it shows; she's a lighter, sunnier hero than Elizabeth Hurley was and she's wonderful with Meyers. Even some of the less successful creations that Meyers has spawned for this film(he plays a very fat villian named Fat Bastard as well as his roles as Austin and Dr. Evil) are at least sort-of funny. What's so refreshing about this film though is how hard it works for a laugh. Where other comedies seem to be content to sit back and throw out a few "sitcom-type" one-liners, the "Austin Powers" sequel is a force, trying to cram every minute, every second with something, anything for at least a smile. There's a certain joyfulness that Meyers has brought to the role that completes it and wraps it all up in an impressively entertaining package. I read the version of the screenplay that was passed around the internet a few months back and I laughed. There's nothing that really could have prepared me for exactly how funny Meyers made this material onscreen, though.
"Austin Powers 2" really is a solid, well-done effort that Meyers, cast and crew should be congratulated for. I haven't laughed so hard....ever, probably. By 20 minutes into the movie, I'd already come to a decision: I'm seeing this again. Easily the funniest film I've seen in ages; the jokes here are in a seemingly endless supply. The original was wonderful, but this film is just far funnier.
Do I want to see another sequel? Yeah, baby!
The DVD
VIDEO:
Nothing wrong with this, nothing wrong at all. New Line does it again with one of their best anamorphic transfers that I've seen from them, with the other most impressive work that they've come up with being Blast From The Past. The image is everything you'd expect from a New Line effort: images that are bright, crisp and razor sharp throughout as well as great looking colors. The colors, as in the first movie, are the visual highlight, and the work here by cinematographer Ulei Steiger is wonderful. The DVD does complete justice to his work, capturing the bright, vibrant colors perfectly, with no bleeding. Colors are perfectly saturated throughout. Flesh tones are completely natural and accurate throughout the presentation. Detail is good, but not great throughout. Still, the pros on this image far outweigh the cons.
The cons? There really aren't any. There are no instances of shimmering or pixelization throughout the picture and the print is in fine shape. Another example of excellent work from New Line. The image is letterboxed at 2.35:1.
SOUND:
"The Spy Who Shagged Me" is slightly better than the usual "comedy" sound mix. It makes occasional, effective uses of the surrounds, but a good majority of the sound does come from the front. The score, full of great rock and pop hits, sounds wonderfully rich, deep and excellently recorded. It's really the highlight of the audio, with the songs coming from all around. Dialogue is clear and free of problems. I found this to be a really enjoyable soundtrack.
MENUS:: Wonderfully done menus by New Line: Meyers as Powers introduces each of the menus as well as each of the special features.
EXTRAS:.
Commentary: A commentary track again from Mike Meyers and director Jay Roach(who did the commentary track on the first film) and who are joined by co-screenwriter Michael McCullers. The three are very funny together and talk quite a bit about how improv figures into the movie, in both bits that were come up with on the fly, but also casting people who were able to think quickly and come up with a joke when needed. The three also talk about how they stepped up from the first film and the differences in not only writing but production between the two.
This (as well as the original "Austin Powers" commentary) is more focused on the acting and the writing than the technical aspects of filmmaking, with a lot of talk about working with members of the cast of the original film, as well as talking about the challenges of casting parts like Mini-me. And of course, there are quite a few tidbits about the inspiration behind certain scenes, and which films (like "Thomas Crown Affair") inspired certain scenes. Meyers also talks about where the Austin Powers character was born in a very funny story. There are a few short bits about the technical details, though: a few bits about filmmaking from director Jay Roach and some notes about the film's special effects.
I was a little suprised by a number of short pauses, but overall, the commentators are able to talk for the majority of the movie. McCullers adds tidbits nicely, talking here and there throughout the commentary track. It's an interesting and entertaining track, and as good as the track from the first picture's DVD.
Deleted Scenes: There's nearly 20 minutes of deleted scenes that are included on this DVD, and there are actually some that really should have been left in the movie, or put in place of some of the scenes that ended up in the final film. There are a ton of scenes, some of which seem more like extended bits of scenes that are already in the picture, and some of which are actual deleted scenes. A few of the early bits, such as extended Starbucks and Jerry Springer bits had me laughing incredibly hard. There are also a few scenes included that just don't work, but they're still fun to see. All of the scenes are letterboxed at 2.35:1.
Canned Ham: The Doctor Evil Story: This is a hilarious parody of the "biography" series, only by Comedy Central. It takes a look at the history of Dr. Evil, with interviews from all of the characters involved in the story, including some hilarious bits from Seth Green, who plays Scott Evil. This is a fairly long documentary, running about 20 minutes. There are quite a few interview bits with Meyers as Dr. Evil talking about what it takes to rule the world that are incredibly funny. This is one of the hidden features on the "Dr. Evil" page, which can be accessed if you wait a little while on the special features page.
Jump to Songs: Also available on the secret Dr. Evil page, this feature allows the user to jump directly to Mini-Me and Dr. Evil performing either "Just The Two Of Us" or "What If God Was One Of Us?".
Evil Schemes Gone Awry: In the Dr. Evil section, this is a section of text notes about past bad guys whose evil schemes have failed.
Music Videos: Madonna's "Beautiful Stranger" (which was directed by "Rush Hour" director Brett Ratner), Lenny Kravitz's "American Woman" and Scary Spice's "Word Up".
Trailers:: Full Trailers for the original "Austin Powers" as well as "The Spy Who Shagged Me"'s full trailer and 2 teaser trailers.
Behind The Scenes: A 26 minute behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie that's a very enjoyable and in-depth look at the production of the movie, with plenty of interviews with not only Meyers, but the rest of the cast and crew. Again, like the commentary, there are some notes again about the films and styles that inspired the whole "Austin Powers" series. What I really liked though, and what's different from the usual "documentary" is that instead of showing clips of the movie between interviews, we're shown clips of the production at work, which I like. I think this documentary takes us further into the production than most features which I've seen lately, especially with all of the fun and interesting looks at the production at work. Great stuff and probably one of the best DVD documentaries I've seen all year.
Cameos:: Not only can you jump to scenes where certain starts make a brief appearance, but you get their biographies as well.
Cast and Crew Bios: The usual in-depth bios for almost all of the cast, as well as director Jay Roach.
DVD-ROM: Sample round of the "Austin Powers" trivia game, the "Austin Powers" website, cast and crew information and more.
Final Thoughts At the low New Line price($24.95 or less) there's no reason not to pick up this great disc. Very good audio/video, fun extras and most imporantly, the movie is hilarious.
The Film: 90/A- = (450/500 possible points)
Video 93/A = (372/400 possible points)
Audio: 89/B+ = (356/400 possible points)
Extras: 95/A = (285/300 possible points)
Menus: 94/A = (188/200 possible points)
Value: 95/A = (285/300 possible points)
TOTAL POINTS:1936/2100
Average:92%/A
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