Had Sequels never been made, I think so.
This film was so true and pure. Now it's legacy is terrible catchphrases and Seth Green.
I remember that for a brief time this movie was a cult hit, 1997-98 were the purest years in man's existence...
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I agree about the sequels not living up to the first film. However if you were alive in 1997 you would have known the catchphrases were the only reason this film ever got popular.
It didn't do that well in theaters, but as the months and eventually years passed the few people who saw it just keep saying "Yeah baby, yeah!" and other lines. Eventually all the people who had blown it off were required to go back and watch the film to get what the hell these people were talking about. By the time Austin Powers 2 came out in '99, Austin Powers 1 was more popular than it was in '97.
I guess they wanted to milk the people dry, because what I remember most vividly about watching The Spy Who Shagged Me for the first time was how they had re-hashed every joke from the first film, and about 50% of the plot. They added Fat Bastard and Mini Me and that was about it. Part 3, while hilarious at the time, was a terrible Austin Powers movie. It had a lot of jokes and hip cultural references, but clearly they had run out of material by then, and had no plot.
I think the combination of Austin Powers being a long time sleeper hit like Office Space, and the fact that the two sequels immediately sought to milk out every bit of originality, Austin Powers isn't remembered as well.
I mean, come on a f$cking 7 on IMDb, and a 6.9 on Rotten Tomatoes. This film was freaking revolutionary. Can you watch Austin Powers and not see films like Old School, Anchorman, or shows like Family Guy getting 100% of their humor from it? This was the father of all major comedy in the last decade and these little kids retroactively have given it a 7, and I'm sure the sequels had a hand in souring things.
>>This was the father of all major comedy in the last decade
>>Posted Wed Jul 11 2012
You do realize that the last decade was the 2000s right and that this movie was realeased in the 90s, correct?
Even if you meant decade in the sense of "the last ten years", that would still mean 2002-2012.
This movie was released in 1997.
Just saying.
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I recently purchased the Austin Powers set (all 3 films for $9, yeah baby). I've seen them before, but in re-watching them...
Austin Powers 1 - I forgot just how funny this film was. Despite having a "direct to home video" vibe, it was brilliantly hysterical. Good spoofing of James Bond films, some toilet humor, and Mike Myers signature sensibilities made this the surprise hit that it was.
Austin Powers 2 - A bigger budget, and while it doesn't break any new ground, it was still fantastically funny, and a good successor to the first film. The addition of Mini-Me is delightful, and Mike Myers as Fat Bastard is mad funny. Myers always had a thing about poking fun at the Scottish. See "So I Married An Axe Murderer" for reference
Austin Powers 3 - Biggest budget yet. Arguably packed with some of the funniest scenes yet. The Big Budget Spielberg opening, brilliant. The flashbacks to a young Dr. Evil and Powers in school, fantastic. The Hard Knock Life musical number, absolutely silly. Yet, despite all this, the story seems to fall apart and ultimately disappoints. The Goldmember character is neither funny or memorable. Easily the worst of the three. Still fun to watch, but does not invite multiple viewings.
Perhaps, I think what set both of them back was that they didn't seem to know where exactly to take the characters to, part 2 was kinda a repeat of the first movie but in a different setting, the third one became only more lost in in the absurdity and pop culture references. I also could've done without Fat Bastard and Min-Me.
I've got an ignore list longer than a Chinese phone book.
The first one had a character arc that was meaningful, a swinging-sixties guy brought back to the late 1990s. There was a James Bond theme underlying, but story-wise the Sixties-Nineties thing had more real meaning, the Bond stuff is only farfetched silliness.
In the second and third there was only the farfetched silliness.
The first one had more heart as a result.
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My views on the three:
Part 1: A nice little comedy film. Was very stylish and effective for a small budget (for the series anyways.) Nicely picked cast and they nailed the roles down easily. The story was good and the whole adjustment subplot made some comedy and even some minor drama. Myers was at his best here, and he admitted that he was desperate to prove himself as not a one hit wonder, he did fine here. Elizabeth Hurley was great as Vanessa too, imo her career role so far.
Nice little cult film but I for one was not happy with it ending there. It felt too good to end. For a while it looked it would be the only one but the VHS industry proved it's worth.
Part 2:The big budget successor to the original (double the original budget.) Out was Elizabeth Hurley (I still hate the Fem-bot deal) and enter Heather Graham in a Bond style lead girl change. The original cast was back besides the addition of Rob Lowe as the 60's #2, and they stayed consistently good. The issue of time travel is introduced this time around and is a nice but standard plot cliche. Style stylish as the original and even in some ways more advanced, and even a better soundtrack. The new sub characters, Mini-Me and Fat Bastard were added and became icons in their own right, even if some hated them.
This is where the die hard call foul, but in my opinion this is the best of the series. The movie got more help behind it and the movie was better than it would have been without it. Heather Graham was no Elizabeth Hurley but she was fine. Just a well made film for the time and one the late 90's defining films imo
Part 3: This is where I felt the series went the wrong way. By 2003 it just seemed that Austin Powers was overran by the crappy teen films of the period. They had to change some stuff in order to appeal to audiences, so gone were the clever comedy and pop culture references and enter shameless cameos and more references. The first movie tried the cameo deal and it didn't work (all scenes were cut for the most part)but part two used them the right way and it all worked. This time they all had a role as it's a movie within a movie deal (ex: Spielberg, Cruise, Devito, Travolta) but there are just some ones that make no sense at all and are in to have more stars in the movie (ex:Britney Spears, Katie Couric, The Osbournes.) Out was Heather Graham (No reason this time) and entered Beyonce Knowles. Also in the mix for some reason was Michael Caine, who gave this some credibility creditability.
Overall this film was not as good as it could have been, but the story was a nice conclusion if they don't do a new one. Characters had no roles in the story and new storylines were offered, plus the major twist was not that surprising. Beyonce, even if she tried, was not very good in this. She was nowhere near the previous two and was miscast in my opinion. Besides that the cast was good and did not give off the vibe that signals disaster. The movie stayed away from the old formula, took chances and worked in some places. That parts that failed were rather glaring, those could have used some work. But overall not a total failure of an entry, but the worse of the three.
In my opinion the series made the right choice by having sequels, they just were not handled right after part 2. But they are fine in their own right, and every fan of the series has their own view, I just presented mine.