opening scene analysis

1. Film Opening Analysis- Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) Directed by
Jay Roach
In the opening of the film, the audience can immediately see that this film is a parody of the
very well-known British film franchise “James Bond”. The film starts with an establishing
shot of where Dr.Evil’s (Mike Myers) evil base which is “somewhere outside Las Vegas”. This
is also is done in James Bond but much more precisely than just “somewhere” and so
creates a comedic effect. The scene then cuts to a classic Bond shot where the villains are
gathered around a table where the camera is placed for a subjective point of view shot
where we see the main villain but only the back of him so he is not immediately revealed to
the audience, he also to shown to be with his white cat a classic villain pet, however he is
given the name “Mr.Bigglesworth” which makes him seems almost childish. Dr Evil then
goes on to address “the deadliest assassins in the world” who failed to kill Austin Powers
who are all spoofs of classic James Bond villains whose costumes make them now seemall
very comical. The colloquial dialogue used by Dr.Evil also creates a comedic effect, as a
villain you expect him to be calm and collected and someone who should be taken seriously,
but as he goes to kill all the assassins that have failed him with chairs that tilt backwards
into a fire pit he shouts things such as “why must I be surrounded by such fricking idiots?”.
He then goes on to tell the rearming two assassins they must take out the top spy Austin
Powers. There is now a cut to London which is made clear with all the props used such as
double decker buses and schoolgirls in uniform with union jack school bags. The film really
plays on 1960’s British stereotypes that all create a comedic effect due to the filmbeing a
huge parody James Bond. The outfits used, the props, the very colourful background and
Austin Powers having bad teeth are all examples of these stereotypes Americans have of
both the 60’s and British people. Austin is then chased by many girls and his popularity is
shown when he gets a marching band to follow him. All of this and the constant breaking
into dancing by Austin and the people around him create a comedic effect due to the scene
prior to this one where Dr.Evil makes him seem like a very deadly and calculating spy. The
opening ends with Austin doing a front flip (made to look very fake) into a bond car with a
Union Jack which is also funny due to the actor (Mike Myers again) being quite old and
consequently is making fun of James Bond and how cool they try to make him look.