Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Starring: Mike Myers, Heather Graham, Michael York, Seth Green, Verne Troyer
Studio: New Line Cinema
Austin Powers is Back! Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me is the sequel to International Man of Mystery, and Dr. Evil is once again up to trouble. Austin (Mike Myers) and Vanessa (Elizabeth Hurley) are still celebrating their honeymoon (despite the two year difference in the movies) and all is well until Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) sends them an unusual wedding present. Austin now knows that Dr. Evil is back, and it’s time once again to stop him.
Vanessa’s absence from the rest of the movie is explained poorly, but you wouldn’t really notice once they bring in the new lady of movie. The new “Powers Girl” is Felicity Shagwell, played by the beautiful Heather Graham. Upon first glance, she seems a little too dumb to be playing the part of a secret agent, but after a few viewings of the movie, she seems like a good choice for the part.
The story this time around is that Dr. Evil is trying to take over the world, but this time it’s back in the 60s. Yes, Dr. Evil came up with a way to travel through time, and it’s easy enough that the Ministry of Defense came up with a vehicle for Austin to travel back as well. (I had no idea that time travel was this common!) In addition, Dr. Evil has stolen Austin’s mojo, and he’s powerless without it. In any case, Austin & Felicity must invade Dr. Evil’s new secret layer to get Austin’s mojo back and stop his evil plans from being completed. It’s a pretty standard story.
There were a few new characters introduced this time around, one of which was played again by Mike Myers. This character is named Fat Bastard, and rightfully so, as he’s a big fat bastard. Mike dons a gigantic sumo wrestler style body suit for the part, and has a few funny scenes in the movie as one of Dr. Evil’s underlings. The other major character to be unveiled in the sequel was Mini Me (Verne Troyer). This is “clone” of Dr. Evil, only 1/8 his size. Dr. Evil instantly embraces him as a good son, while his real son Scott (Seth Green) begins to get jealous. Scott and Mini Me have their moments of tension throughout the film.
The pursuit of Dr. Evil leads Austin to his secret moon base, where the climax of the movie takes place. Of course, all of this is taking place in the 60s, and we all know how easy it is to build a base on the moon. … As long as you can suspend disbelief for the abundant use of time/space travel in this movie, you should be able to have a good time. Still, it does detract from the overall feel.
In any case however, the movie overall is very fun. Austin still has his hip attitude, and with the gain of another 60’s swinger, the movie still has the sexy appeal that the first one had. The gags are still fun this time around, but some of them are rehashed from the first movie. Still, I enjoyed the movie, and things are very fun in the world of Austin Powers.
Overall: 8/10
Additional Information:
Rating: PG-13
Run time: 115 minutes.
DVD Special Features:
Over 20 minutes of Deleted Scenes
Music Videos
Behind the Scenes Featurette
Director's Commentary
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