Austin Powers in Goldmember

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Travis Willock reviews

Austin Powers in Goldmember
(Widescreen Edition)
Distributed by
New Line Home Entertainment

    CoverBuy 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, Worldof Austin Powers, Visual FX Segment, Deleted/ Alternate Scenes, 4 MusicVideos, 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 ofHarry Potterand Lord of the Rings I’d say sequels have really taken a nosedive in quality this year. They weren’t meant to be masterpieces oranything but anymore these are just rehashes.MIB IIis the king of rehashes but this new Austin Powers flick hinges on some of theworst rehashes in cinematic history.

I’m not even sure what the plot was. Something about Goldmember tryingto flood the world with a satelite named Preparation H with help fromDr. Evil. Then there’s the whole father subplot and blah blah. It’sreally just a bunch of skits thrown in around a paper thin plot (hmmsounds like ‘Die Another Day’ all over again). The structure has almostno balance to the plot or what you could call it and you can really tellthe series is running out of steam.

It almost seems as if everyone involved is in on the joke and you’renot. Since so many scenes from Austin 2 are here they have to make itblatantly clear (the groan-inducing Osbournes cameo) that it becomesobvious of the inevitable. The genitalia jokes get old, REAL quick. Icould ramble on and on but you’d fall asleep. The first film was goodbecause they were just making a fun movie, the second was better becausethey got to do what they couldn’t before, but this time they know it’sgoing to be a hit so you can throw the story out the window. It was astill a huge hit by the way.

Despite the terrible movie New Line has again proved they know how totransfer films to DVD. Presented in a crystal clear anamorphic 2.35:1widescreen picture. Blacks are solid, colors are sharp, fleshtones areaccurate. Everything is perfect. I noticed no pixelization but minimaledge 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 andproves to be the best of the bunch. The track doesn’t really pick upuntil the music segments which show much bass. Overall pretty good.

New Line’s Infinifilm DVDs are great but the extras provided on them aresometimes 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” whichexplains about the real British Intelligence and the comparisons toJames Bond. “English, English” features the origin of the gibberishlanguage Austin and his father use in the film. “Disco Fever” shows howdeep production went to capture the disco feel. “Fashion vs. Ficition”looks at the costume design in the film. All are extemely short with theMI-6 featurette being the longest at 4 minutes. All are animorphic1.85:1.
  • Deleted Scenes:15 in all, anamorphic 2.35:1. optinal commentary. 22minutes long. Few are extended. Some come off as mildly funny but nonemake the movie any better.
  • The World of Austin Powers:Several short featurettes with somebranching vignettes. Put together they run 36 minutes. Most discusscharacter development and other aspects of the filmmaking process thatsomehow 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 BritneySpears, “Daddy Wasn’t There” by Ming Tea, “Hard Knock Life” by Dr. Eviland Mini-Me. I just realized how much I hate music videos.
  • Trailers:Four teasers an the theatrical trailer. Teasers areanamorphic 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 theyfound everything they could. Maybe it’s the movie’s fault, huh? But theInfinifilm track saves it from the average 2.5.

Packaging is amaray with the poster being used as the cover, theInfinifilm banner rests on top, and the box it outlined in baby blue.There are 17 regular chapters while activating Infinifilm gives you awhopping 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. TheDVD is the only good part about the whole expierience. If you likewatching the same thing you’ve seen before then knock yourself out, allothers be warned of the turkey.

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALL
Review copyright © Travis Willock, 2002.

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