Film Review
The original series of James Bond films was winding down when Mike
Myers leaped in and thrust into our unsuspecting laps the ultimate Bond spoof, not only writing
the script (one of the daftest ever to go before a film camera) but
also playing the two main characters: groovy super-spy Austin Powers
("Oh, be-
have!") and his
deadly adversary Dr Evil ("Why must I be surrounded by frickin'
idiots?"). Myers knows his Bond inside-out and his screenplay is
absolutely saturated with references to the early James Bond films, all
with a suitably cruel comedic slant. The film also draws on other
1960s thriller influences, including the popular television shows
Adam Adamant Lives!,
Department S and
The Avengers and contemporary films
such as
The Ipcress File. Powers
is most recognisably a send-up of Sean Connery's hairy-chested,
über-cool Bond, but there is also more than a touch of Michael
Caine's Harry Palmer and Peter Wyngarde's Jason King in this
chauvinistic 1960s avatar. Whilst the bulk of the film is set in
the 1990s, it has a deliciously camp sixties feel to it and watching it
is like taking a wild joy ride in the age of the swingers.
Austin Powers: International Man of
Mystery is not only a spirited parody it is also an inspired
piece of film comedy in its own right. Whilst the
film has great fun mocking the sexual mores and attitudes of the 1960s,
it does so in an affectionate rather than vicious vein, and Powers is a
far more sympathetic character than you might first think, not too far
removed from Jean Dujardin's agent OSS 117 in Michel Hazanavicius's
French film equivalent:
OSS 117: Le Caire nid d'espions
(2006). If the film has a subtext at all, it is that we should
never judge past eras by the standards of our own time.
Myers turns in not one but two tour de force performances.
Indeed, so well does he delineate his two characters - Powers and Dr
Evil - that it is hard to believe they are played by the same
actor. Dr Evil is the funnier of the two characters, a happy
synthesis of every Bond villain, surrounded by henchmen and henchwomen
who are scarily like their Bond counterparts (the best being Random
Task, a near-relation of Oddjob, whose one talent is decapitating statues by
throwing a shoe). Whilst Powers is struggling to adjust himself
to the sexual inhibitions of the 1990s, Dr Evil has an even bigger
challenge - to try and bond with the stroppy teenage son he never knew he had, even
resorting to a group therapy session (the film's funniest
sequence).
Elizabeth Hurley shows a totally unexpected penchant for knockabout
comedy as Powers' leggy sidekick and Michael York provides some superb
comedy backup as Basil Exposition, the M to Powers' Bond.
The star-studded supporting cast includes such unlikely contributors as
Robert Wagner and Carrie Fisher, although all are entirely eclipsed by
the omnipresent Myers, who is at his most outrageously
entertaining. The film's success resulted in two sequels (
The Spy Who Shagged Me and
Goldmember), but neither was as
fresh and inspired as this first Austin Powers outing,
one of the most hilarious comedies of the 1990s.
A fourth film is mooted to be in the offing, but only
time will tell if and when Britain's coolest
secret agent will return to utter those immortal words "
Yeah, baby, yeah".
© James Travers 2012
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
In 1967, Britain's top secret agent and number one hipster, Austin
Powers, is on the trail of his deadly archenemy Dr Evil, the world's
greatest criminal mastermind. Aware that he is walking into a
trap. Powers confronts Dr Evil in his London nightclub, but his nemesis
escapes in a space rocket cunningly disguised as a Bob's Big Boy
statue. Realising that Dr Evil has cryogenically frozen himself,
Powers subjects himself to the same treatment. Thirty years
later, Dr Evil is back on Earth and plans to steal a nuclear missile so
that he can hold the world to ransom. During his absence, his
criminal empire has grown to become one of the world's leading
international conglomerates, run with ruthless efficiency by his Number
Two. Dr Evil is less happy to hear that his vile henchwoman Frau
Farbissina has given him a son, Scott Evil, from a frozen sample of his
sperm. Realising that Austin Powers is the only man capable of
thwarting Dr Evil, British Intelligence revives the 1960s spy, who is
all too pleased to be partnered with Vanessa Kensington, the daughter
of his former colleague. Vanessa is at first disgusted by Powers'
out-dated chauvinistic attitude towards women and his obsessive
interest in sex, but she too ultimately succumbs to his irresistible
charms (after he has taken on board her advice about dental
hygiene). Vanessa's resourcefulness and Powers' deadly sex appeal
make a powerful combination, but will this be enough to defeat Dr Evil?
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.