Review of Charlie`s Angels: Full Throttle

Introduction

In the spirit of discovery, I put the R2 version of this movie on my Christmas list so I could compare the version of the movie released theatrically in this country with the "unrated" R1 version. As it is ostensibly the same movie, there will be a fair bit of this review that has been lifted from my R1 review. Here comes a bit now.

I`m going to stick my neck out here and contradict just about every review I`ve ever read about this picture. I liked Charlie`s Angels: Full Throttle, and I think it`s a better movie than the first. McG has delivered a deliciously stupid confection that is best viewed with one`s brain set well below gas mark one (140degrees C/ 275degrees F). The story follows and betters the old maxim "Keep It Simple (and) Stupid". FBI idiots encode details of everybody on the witness protection programme on two rings. Both ringbearers wind up kidnapped or dead (lucky Frodo doesn`t work for them...) and the rings fall into the clutches of former Angel turned Bitch Madison (Demi Moore doing a Madonna in the body stakes). Charlie sets the Angels to recover the rings.

Into the mix are thrown little side stories like Natalie (Cameron Diaz) moving in with her boyfriend; Alex (Lucy Liu) telling her father (John Cleese) about working for Charlie and him misunderstanding and thinking she`s become a hooker; and Dylan (Drew Barrymore) fretting about the team splitting up, on top of her inclusion in the witness protection files under her real name Helen Zaas.

The files on the rings are to be sold to the highest bidder and the Angels` investigations take them to plenty of places where they can show their wire-work and process-screen prowess on surfboards and motocross bikes, as well as dress up and occasionally undress, although everything happens well within the bounds of a 12 rating.

This edit of the movie is Charlie`s Angels: Full Throttle as seen at the cinema worldwide. The UK cut was trimmed of a very very few seconds for the usual "imitable technique" of a headbutt. Compared with the "unrated" cut, however, a large number of scenes of violence were added to that version - primarily the rooftop fight at the end of the movie where substantial changes were made.

Video

The movie is presented in dazzling, flawless 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen. However, colours are so vivid they`re almost fluorescent. Fortunately, the PAL version of the movie appears to be a lot more colour-stable than the NTSC version. There`s one scene at Griffith Park Observatory where the colour of the sky is so enhanced there`s a white halo around everything. Unfortunately, the sheer amount of material on the single disc means that there have been some compromises made with compression and there are at least a couple of instances where compression artefacts are startlingly visible for such a premium title.

Audio

Dolby Digital 5.1 that really gives your speaker system a workout. Showing his music video roots, McG has filled the soundtrack with pulsing rock tracks and musical movie references.

Features

The extras on the UK disc comprise all of the extras on the R1 "unrated" disc. Unfortunately when the extras were originally being announced, somebody (probably McG) got overexcited and announced a number of extras that ultimately there was no room for on the disc. As it is, there are some noticeable compression artefacts down to the sheer amount of stuff included with the movie.

In all, there are two yak tracks, one by McG (which includes the information that the leader of the Mongolians in the opening gambit is the wirework stunt coordinator Cheung-Yan Yuen and his opening line after lighting his cigar with the burning axe is - in Mandarin - "I burned my frickin` nose!"). This is a "telestrator" commentary, which means McG can scrawl on the screen like a football pundit banging on about Rio Ferdinand. The second is by the writing team. Sadly the "Bernie Mac Mac Attack" commentary and the Angels "Pyjama Party" commentary haven`t happened, so there`s hope for a two disc Superbit Edition. Or maybe not.

There is a screen specific trivia track like the one on the last Bond movie. Most of the observations made are about the locations or movie references.

In the featurette line there are the "unrated" exclusives: "Turning Angels Into Pussycat Dolls" which is a gushathon about the real Pussycat Dolls dance troupe (Hollywood`s answer to Hot Gossip - remember them?) "Rolling With The Punches" is a short about the stunt work while "XXX-treme Angels" is about the tiresome motocross stunt sequence the movie needed like a hole in the head. I`d have rather had more of Cameron Diaz`s AWB. There are another five featurettes that are more of the same.

"Full Throttle Jukebox" has intros to all of the music tracks used in the picture by McG and music supervisor John Houlihan which segue (nice musical term) into the sequences in the movie where the music features. There is also the Pink music video "Feel Good Time".

Lastly there`s a "cameography" which features all of the cameo roles featured in the movie from Bruce Willis to Carrie Fisher. DVD-ROM content includes links to online content. The movie has full English and Hindi subtitles.

Conclusion

This movie is dumb in the extreme and a delight to watch. Watch it with the yak-tracks and realise it`s a smarter movie than you gave it credit for. Also realise the people who had told you this film was a clunker are dumber than you gave them credit because they obviously haven`t got a quarter of the references or followed the action properly.