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When Austin Powers first came out, everybody loved it. Fresh, yet familiar. Smart, yet slapstick. Above all, hilarious. It appealed to grown-ups and kids alike, with its enthusiasm, sillyness, and visual humour.
It was only a matter of time before the sequel came, and when The Spy Who Shagged Me landed, complete with a new plot, a new Mike Myers character (Fat B*stard) and a new clone 1/8th of Dr Evil's size (Mini Me), the fans lapped it up...however, it was not quite as good as number one. We all know the trend is for the third movie in a trilogy to be the worst one, but did Goldmember buck the trend?
Enough of the fanfare introduction, you clicked on this subject to read an Austin Powers 3 review and by golly, I'll give it to ya!
I knew what I wanted, going into the film. I wanted to laugh. Unfortunately, I wasn't a big fan of Mini Me (and I seem to be in the true minority with that), or Fat B*stard for that matter (I've grown out of the toilet humour phase, y'see), and was decidedly apprehensive when I saw trailers. Goldmember, the eponymous villain, is another Myers-based mastermind; this time, though, he's from Holland. Just listening to a few lines made me cringe...but that's nothing compared to when I saw the female lead...
That's right, the fit one from Destiny's Child, Beyonce Knowles, made her big screen debut as Foxy Cleopatra, a dancer at Goldmember's club in the 70's. In the previews, she sits beside Austin in his Shaguar and spouts, in an incredibly annoying way: "I'm a WHOOOOLE LOTTA WOMAN!" Talking to my friends, online and off, I became more and more convinced that AP3 would be terrible because of Ms Knowles. I was ruining the film for myself, by already believing it was bad not having seen any more than 2 minutes of clips.
I should never have worried. That seemed to be the only scene where Foxy spoke like that (thankfully), and save for her putting "sugar" at the end of every other sentence, I was not in the last bit perturbed. Goldmember does not have a huge role in the film, but there are bits of his character not revealed in the film...like his athletic prowess, and skin peeling...and chewing(!) which make him quite funny.
The story, as you may have heard, centres around the kidnapping of Austin Powers' father, Nigel Powers. He is used as a bargaining chip to keep Austin at bay whilst Dr Evil, in conjunction with Goldmember, readies to flood Earth by melting the ice caps. The great bit is: Nigle Powers is played by none other than MICHAEL CAINE. He plays the part to self-parody perfection, every bit as suave and sophistacted and sexy (*cough* well, the girls like him. I don't...uh...) as his 'son'. There are other elements, such as the two double agents, one of which is The Mole (played by that kid from the Wonder Years). His scenes were some of the funniest, with Austin Powers, Dr Evil and Mini Me all gawping at his huge mole ("Nice to mole you...meet you. Your mole. DON'T SAY MOLE!")...and there's a few Fat B*stard appearances, which did not change my opinion of him at all (even though, in the last scene, he gets the best line of the film).
Austin Powers was for Austin. The Spy Who Shagged Me was Dr Evils...but Goldmember finds the right balance. There are the customary running jokes (Dr Evil and Scotty's 'shush/zip it' shtick comes to mind), and sublime sight gags (the water fountain part will have you in stitches, as will the examination scene). Scotty's character grows from 'that kid that's quite funny' to a possible main player if there is an Austin Powers 4 (trying not to give away too much here), and Mini Me is involved in not only more funny bits, but more brilliant 'fight' scenes.
As per usual, Dr Evil gets most of the best bits, be it rapping with Mini Me in prison, making corny jokes or reminiscing about Belgium, but all of the characters make you laugh at some point, which doesn't happen all that often in films these days. Alright, so some of the father/son bits are stupid, and like Minority Report, the end is considerably weaker than the rest...but go see this film. It may not be quite as brilliant as AP1, but it's close. Righting the 'wrong' that was TSWSM, Goldmember raises the bar on Bond spoofs. Heck, I might go and see it again just for that brilliant first ten minutes...I haven't even spoken about it, as I don't really want to ruin it for you all. Suffice to say that Goldmember is a very funny film, one of the funniest films of 2002.
So go on, pop down to the Odeon, or UGC, or wherever, and get a ticket. You'll laugh at the jokes, you'll drool over Beyonce's bikinis, and remember why you want to be an International Man of Mystery.
Thanks for reading.
-El Swandre
It was only a matter of time before the sequel came, and when The Spy Who Shagged Me landed, complete with a new plot, a new Mike Myers character (Fat B*stard) and a new clone 1/8th of Dr Evil's size (Mini Me), the fans lapped it up...however, it was not quite as good as number one. We all know the trend is for the third movie in a trilogy to be the worst one, but did Goldmember buck the trend?
Enough of the fanfare introduction, you clicked on this subject to read an Austin Powers 3 review and by golly, I'll give it to ya!
I knew what I wanted, going into the film. I wanted to laugh. Unfortunately, I wasn't a big fan of Mini Me (and I seem to be in the true minority with that), or Fat B*stard for that matter (I've grown out of the toilet humour phase, y'see), and was decidedly apprehensive when I saw trailers. Goldmember, the eponymous villain, is another Myers-based mastermind; this time, though, he's from Holland. Just listening to a few lines made me cringe...but that's nothing compared to when I saw the female lead...
That's right, the fit one from Destiny's Child, Beyonce Knowles, made her big screen debut as Foxy Cleopatra, a dancer at Goldmember's club in the 70's. In the previews, she sits beside Austin in his Shaguar and spouts, in an incredibly annoying way: "I'm a WHOOOOLE LOTTA WOMAN!" Talking to my friends, online and off, I became more and more convinced that AP3 would be terrible because of Ms Knowles. I was ruining the film for myself, by already believing it was bad not having seen any more than 2 minutes of clips.
I should never have worried. That seemed to be the only scene where Foxy spoke like that (thankfully), and save for her putting "sugar" at the end of every other sentence, I was not in the last bit perturbed. Goldmember does not have a huge role in the film, but there are bits of his character not revealed in the film...like his athletic prowess, and skin peeling...and chewing(!) which make him quite funny.
The story, as you may have heard, centres around the kidnapping of Austin Powers' father, Nigel Powers. He is used as a bargaining chip to keep Austin at bay whilst Dr Evil, in conjunction with Goldmember, readies to flood Earth by melting the ice caps. The great bit is: Nigle Powers is played by none other than MICHAEL CAINE. He plays the part to self-parody perfection, every bit as suave and sophistacted and sexy (*cough* well, the girls like him. I don't...uh...) as his 'son'. There are other elements, such as the two double agents, one of which is The Mole (played by that kid from the Wonder Years). His scenes were some of the funniest, with Austin Powers, Dr Evil and Mini Me all gawping at his huge mole ("Nice to mole you...meet you. Your mole. DON'T SAY MOLE!")...and there's a few Fat B*stard appearances, which did not change my opinion of him at all (even though, in the last scene, he gets the best line of the film).
Austin Powers was for Austin. The Spy Who Shagged Me was Dr Evils...but Goldmember finds the right balance. There are the customary running jokes (Dr Evil and Scotty's 'shush/zip it' shtick comes to mind), and sublime sight gags (the water fountain part will have you in stitches, as will the examination scene). Scotty's character grows from 'that kid that's quite funny' to a possible main player if there is an Austin Powers 4 (trying not to give away too much here), and Mini Me is involved in not only more funny bits, but more brilliant 'fight' scenes.
As per usual, Dr Evil gets most of the best bits, be it rapping with Mini Me in prison, making corny jokes or reminiscing about Belgium, but all of the characters make you laugh at some point, which doesn't happen all that often in films these days. Alright, so some of the father/son bits are stupid, and like Minority Report, the end is considerably weaker than the rest...but go see this film. It may not be quite as brilliant as AP1, but it's close. Righting the 'wrong' that was TSWSM, Goldmember raises the bar on Bond spoofs. Heck, I might go and see it again just for that brilliant first ten minutes...I haven't even spoken about it, as I don't really want to ruin it for you all. Suffice to say that Goldmember is a very funny film, one of the funniest films of 2002.
So go on, pop down to the Odeon, or UGC, or wherever, and get a ticket. You'll laugh at the jokes, you'll drool over Beyonce's bikinis, and remember why you want to be an International Man of Mystery.
Thanks for reading.
-El Swandre
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Don't listen to this El Swandre he is down playing this film loads, it is funny from start to finish much better than the first everyone in it is really funny probably because Mike Myers plays most of them but that does not matter, Dr Evil has got funnier everyones got funnier and the end is brilliant.
If you don't see this film you are missing out on a whole lot you have got to see this film
If you don't see this film you are missing out on a whole lot you have got to see this film
Best start of a movie....EVER.
But I still liked it, liked it even more than number 2.
But I still liked it, liked it even more than number 2.
Walking out of the cinema, my friend announced that the film was the biggest pile of rubbish he'd ever seen. Although I found bits of it funny, I can't help see his point of view- the film was bland, fragmented and never really got going. It was a string of already-done jokes!
It started off with so much promise though. Not wanting to spoil it, the first 5 minutes has so many stars that I actually thought the film was going to be great. But alas. Not so.
It started off with so much promise though. Not wanting to spoil it, the first 5 minutes has so many stars that I actually thought the film was going to be great. But alas. Not so.
Stryke wrote:
> Bloke who wrote this post wrote:
>
> (I've grown out of the toilet humour phase, y'see),
>
> --
>
> But surely all the Austin Powers are toilet humour? Don't argue, they
> are. Still funny, but don't try and act like they mean anything.
OK then, I've grown out of MOST toilet humour. The water fountain scene was still funny though.
> Bloke who wrote this post wrote:
>
> (I've grown out of the toilet humour phase, y'see),
>
> --
>
> But surely all the Austin Powers are toilet humour? Don't argue, they
> are. Still funny, but don't try and act like they mean anything.
OK then, I've grown out of MOST toilet humour. The water fountain scene was still funny though.
Bloke who wrote this post wrote:
(I've grown out of the toilet humour phase, y'see),
--
But surely all the Austin Powers are toilet humour? Don't argue, they are. Still funny, but don't try and act like they mean anything.
(I've grown out of the toilet humour phase, y'see),
--
But surely all the Austin Powers are toilet humour? Don't argue, they are. Still funny, but don't try and act like they mean anything.
Ugh, it was a joke. By definition, opinions can be neither right nor wrong.
So, because I don't agree with you, that means my opinion is wrong? We live in a democratic society in which we're able to express our opinions on something, and that's my opinion, so don't go telling me I'm wrong, because I'm not. I never said you were wrong in liking it, because that's your opinion.
If you didn't like Austin Powers, your opinion is wrong.
Best line, Snuggly, was the Fat B*stard one at the end, like I said.
Best line, Snuggly, was the Fat B*stard one at the end, like I said.
I went to see it on Friday and I thought it was really good. I hadnt seen any of the previous films before so it was new to me.
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