Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle Blu-ray Review

THE MOVIE — 1.5/5

Plot Synopsis: The Angels — Natalie (CAMERON DIAZ), Dylan (DREW BARRYMORE) and Alex (LUCY LIU) — are ready to go undercover, with the help of Bosley (BERNIE MAC), to retrieve two missing silver wedding bands containing valuable encrypted information: the new identities of every person in the Federal Witness Protection Program. When witnesses start to turn up dead, only the Angels can stop the perpetrator, one of their own (DEMI MOORE), by using their expertise as masters of disguise, espionage, and martial arts.

Quick Hit Review: Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle is a movie that epitomizes the early 2000s of cinema. Re-watching this for the first time in 15 years, I marveled not only how lousy the movie is and the humor that landed like a piece of led, but there were some aspects that were utterly dated (like Matt LeBlanc as Liu’s sort-of boyfriend not to mention the music choices or cameos by the Olsen twins). The action here I believe was a parody of the likes of Mission: Impossible 2 (capped off with a parody movie within the movie) and for the most part I spent the bulk of the time just wishing the torture would end.

The thing of it is, it’s not like I don’t appreciate ridiculous action, look no further than the Fast and the Furious franchise which has had more than its fair share of outrageousness, however for the most part I’ve had a lot of fun with how outlandish it is. Comparatively, the scenes in Full Throttle just never landed the same way, and it doesn’t help the acting from a generally respectable cast, felt like they were phoning it in.

As talented as this core cast is, and going from my memory, it seems like they played the roles better in the first movie than here, where the plot feels slapped together with cameos galore but nothing that felt genuine, most scenes done to get a laugh, and failing spectacularly. I will say, and she doesn’t give any sort of incredible performance, but I did like Demi Moore in the villain role at least.

Just for fun, as it’s no longer available online, I managed to find a raw file of my original movie review from the time period, and lo and behold, all these years later, my opinion, and rating for that matter, pretty much remained the same, though my mindset has changed where the whole T&A aspect really holds little weight, for whatever reason; like to think its maturity, but I doubt it as I do tend to laugh at juvenile humor.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 4.0/5

This release comes with a semi-glossy slip cover and redemption code for the Digital HD copy. Most of the features from the DVD have been ported over.

Check Out the New Charlie’s Angels (2:16) — Promotional video advertising the reboot.

Commentaries:

• Telestrator Commentary — Director McG guides viewers through the process of making the sequel. You can watch it with him using a telestrator or just the audio.
• Writers’ Commentary with John August, Cormac Wibberley & Marianne Wibberley

Angel-Vision Trivia is a track with pop-ups with various tid-bits about the movie and in-jokes.

Featurettes:

• Pussycat Dolls (4:55) featurette is on the filming of the “Treasure Chest” dance sequence.
• Rolling with the Punches (6:07) looks at the stunt work done by the stars and stuntpersons; also includes some behind-the-scenes footage and on-set interviews.
• XXX-Treme Angels (9:05) is on the x-bike scene.
• Full-Throttle: The Cars (17:51) breaks down the exotic vehicles that were utilized.
• Designing Angels: The Look (7:26) — This featurette is about McG’s “style” for the film.
• There’s No Such Thing as a Short Shot, Just an Overworked Producer (8:51) — This descriptive title is a featurette about producer Patrick Crowley.
• Angels Makeover: Hansen Dam (4:06) — Short featurette looking at the opening sequence.
• Angel Scouts (6:49) examines the process of scouting locations.
• Dream Duds (4:11) — Breaking down the costumes featured.
• Cameo-Graphy (3:37) allows you to watch all of the cameos including Bruce Willis, Robert Forster and others.
• Full Throttle Jukebox (33:54) are a set of featurette-like segments where McG sounds off on the variety of music featured in the film.
• Angels Film School (11:47) are some mini-featurettes and interviews with the crew including the First Assistant Director, Script Supervisor, Storyboard Artist, etc.

Music Video (4:17) for “Feel Good Time” by Pink.

Trailers: (4:26): Teaser Trailer and Theatrical Trailer.

VIDEO – 4.0/5

AUDIO – 4.25/5

OVERALL – 2.25/5

Overall, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle exemplifies the early 2000s so damn well, and yes I realize McG was parodying the action schlock from that time period (like M:I2) but doesn’t do it very well, or at least the humor rarely lands, which is a shame as the three actresses are talented. If you want to see a parody of an “old” show done right, check out 21 Jump Street, don’t bother with this one.