BOOTYLICIOUS BUTT-KICKING
 Jul 30th, 2003
(Jul 31st, 2003)
Advantages:
Gorgeous babes, impressive stunts
Disadvantages:
Tries to be something it isn't
Recommendable:
No
Detailed rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
Soundtrack
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  mattwood
About me:
I'm a 21-year-old student of Modern History and German at Hertford College, Oxford, currently living...
Member since:31.12.2002
Reviews:47
Members who trust:75
Review rated by 57 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
What’s this? Three delectable young women whose ability to kick butt is only rivaled by the skimpiness of their attire? This can only mean one thing: Charlie’s Angels is back with a vengeance! All this sounded good to Matt for obvious reasons, so, accompanied by one of his only-partially-interested lady-friends, Matt went to check it out. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept behind Charlie’s Angels, I’ll quickly recap it for you. It started out some 25 years ago as a television series, centering around three young women employed by private investigator Charles Townsend. When I say employed … they didn’t really know him; their only communication was when Charlie got onto their assistant Bosley to feed them details of their latest assignment, each one of which was traditionally completed with a great panache and lots of butt-kicking action.
Incredulous as it may seem, Charlie hasn’t been sleeping in the time he’s been away from our screens. Instead, he’s been busy recruiting new Angels to replace those who can’t fit into those skimpy clothes any more. For the Angels’ big-screen debut in 2000, he came good with three real stunners – Lucy Liu as the sexy Alex Munday, Cameron Diaz as the bubbly and beautiful Natalie Cook, and Drew Barrymore as the streetwise Dylan Sanders. All three are retained for this second installment. So what’s the story this time? Well, in an attempt to protect the real identities of those protected by the federal Witness Protection Program, the government has encrypted this information onto two titanium rings, the idea being that each ring will have a separate guardian, and that the rings will not reveal their information unless both are brought together. One is issued to Agent Ray Carter, the other to a Senator. Anyone like to hazard a guess at what happens? You’ve got it; the bumping-off of one of the ring-bearers
releases the ring out into the open. Fearful that the other ring may too fall into evil hands, the Government deploys its secret weapon, Charlie’s Angels, to make sure Ray Carter keeps a firm grip on that other ring.
The opening sequence to the film sees the Angels inserted into a remote location in Mongolia to save Carter from a large number of men who look like they mean business. Although Carter gets away with his life courtesy of some Matrix-style fighting from the Angels, the ring is lost. Worse is to come; when protected witnesses start turning up dead, the Government has a potentially embarrassing and life-threatening problem on its hands. Who do you suppose is deployed to clean up this mess? Right again – the Angels themselves. Right from the beginning, you get a strong idea of what to expect from the rest of this film. The above opening sequence, which features the deliciously bendy Alex being inserted into the crime scene inside a box, and the perennially-smiling Natalie arriving as an interesting diversion when things start to look nasty, is all action right from the beginning. Deserving of particular mention is the end of this scene, in which the Angels makes their escape by flooring four dozen men and then legging it sharpish in a truck, which subsequently gets immersed in water. The stunts are impressive, and if you think this is just for the purpose of a bold entrance you’re wrong, for the whole movie is equally action-packed and outrageous.
Naturally the rest of the movie revolves around the Angels' skimpily-clad efforts to return the rings to their rightful owners, but there are too some sub-plots. One of these is somewhat pivotal to the movie, as we learn that Dylan herself received a new identity under the threatened Witness Protection Programme, after witnessing a brutal murder at the hands of Seamus of the infamous O’Grady criminal family, who also happened to be her boyfriend. On his release from prison, we can be sure that O’Grady will have some scores to settle with Dylan. Pretty lucky that Dylan received a new identity really; as her original name was … wait for it … Helen Zass. Geddit? Unfortunately, this is an example of what I disliked about this film, which I’ll come onto later. Another character with scores to settle is gun-toting ex-Angel Madison Lee, played with a sexiness denying her age by Demi Moore. After growing tired of doing Charlie’s bidding, Madison has elected to work for herself, and would like nothing more than to see the back of those pesky Angels, which she aims to ensure with some Matrix-style shooting: “When I was an Angel, we had guns.”
A slightly more serious edge is added to the film by Natalie’s imminent marriage to her boyfriend. This gets Dylan and Alex rather het-up – they consider for the first time having to find an new Angel if Natalie leaves, which they seem to consider an inevitability. In general, the casting of this film is very good. Liu, Diaz and Barrymore are just perfect for the roles of the Angels; they’re stunning and sexy, whilst refusing to take themselves too seriously. It’s plain to see that all three of them enjoyed filming this movie immensely, and this shines through in an accomplished performance from all three. Cameo appearances from Pink and Bruce Willis among others add some nice touches to the movie. The acting isn’t perfect, however. Bernie Mac has taken over the part of Bosley, the Angels’ link to Charlie, from Bill Murray; rumour has it that Murray didn’t get on with Lucy Liu too well! This is definitely to the detriment of the movie; Bernie always looks a little uncomfortable and out-of-place here, and his character a little contrived. It’s a blemish on an otherwise fine acting performance.
The stunts and special effects of Full Throttle rival those of The Matrix. In fact, many of them could have been borrowed straight from The Matrix, notably the slow-motion movements. These all look very impressive, and must have cost a fortune to pull off! Unfortunately, I think it was all a little wasted; whilst this sort of thing is just fine in Matrix, which is after all predominantly a sci-fi movie, stunts like jumping twenty feet between moving motorbikes can’t help but look a little out of place in Full Throttle, which is more of an out-and-out action film. Humour is used to good effect in the film, as you’d expect. I’ve yet to read a review of the film which doesn’t mention the scene involving cocks and beavers! You’ll have to see it to find out! Humour comes predominantly from the sexual innuendoes intrinsically associated with a film like Charlie’s Angels. It’s a winning formula – why change it?
So – Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle has something which bears a definite resemblance to a plot, the acting is generally pretty good, the stunts are high-budget and impressive, it’s pretty funny, and best of all it has Diaz, Liu and Barrymore in skimpy outfits. So why have I only given the film three stars? I’ll tell you why. Because, despite all this, I came out of the cinema feeling vaguely unsatisfied. In fact, it was more than that – I felt rather bored half an hour before the end of the film, and began rebelliously fiddling with my mobile. It took me a while to pin down exactly what it was that caused this.
The first thing was that the film was simply too long. It’s nine minutes short of two hours, which is just too long for a film lacking the intricate and involving plot of Lord of the Rings et al. We came to see an action movie, and for all its stunts and bootylicious babes, it all felt a little too padded out. The second thing was that it was just too outrageous. Yes, I know these films are supposed to be outrageous, but when it goes over-the-top it just detracts from the film somehow. As I mentioned before, some of the stunts just weren’t suitable for a film of this type.
You almost feel that if Full Throttle had never even pretended to have some semblance of a serious film, and had instead gone for all-out silliness and action, it could just about have pulled it off. But, instead, there are the sub-plots such as the Angels’ fears on the loss of Natalie, and Dylan’s worries about her identity being discovered. All of this doesn’t quite work given the character of the film; it all feels a bit insignificant and farcical. For these scenes to work, I think the film should have taken itself more seriously. As it is, it would have been preferable just to leave them out totally. Some films just weren’t meant to have a plot, and this is one of them. Overall, there were parts of this film which I enjoyed immensely, particularly those scenes which saw the Angels kicking butt. There were also facets to the film which I found a little prolonged, and at times downright unnecessary. With any Charlie's Angels film, you go to the film expecting to see the indiscrepancies of the plot washed over by the action sequences; the film-makers know that all you’re looking for is to pass an afternoon looking at gorgeous babes! On the other hand, if you’re looking for a plot, stay well away!
The problem was that I fell into the former category, but ended up disappointed. Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle just tried to hard to be something it was never intended to be: a serious film. Ultimately, I thought this let it down. Thanks for reading my first-ever film review!
Matt
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![Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle [DVD] [2003]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78525022.jpg)
by (2%):
by (2%):
04.08.2006 18:49
I agree with your evaluation of this film. Very Good Review.
22.11.2005 10:39
birlliant review very helpful thanks ash
28.10.2003 14:46
And what a great film review it is! You should write more! I thought this film was ok but the humour felt forced and someone should really think about teaching that Demi Moore to act. xxxxxx