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Review by: Jack Foley | Rating:
Two
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES: McG's telestrator commentary; Writers'
commentary; Angel Vision Trivia Track - Angel Scouts location
featurettes; 'Angels Makeover' Hansen Dam featurette; 'Designing
Angels' featurette. 'Dream Duds' featurette; 'Full Throttle' featurette;
'There's No Such Thing as a Short Shot, Only an Overworked Producer'
featurette; Music video - Pink featuring William Orbit 'Feel Good
Time'; Cameo-Graphy - list of the celebrity cameos. DVD-ROM link
to website; DVD-ROM link to the Charlie's Angels animated shorts;
Angels Film School; Easter Eggs; McG interviews various crew 'Pussycat
Dolls' featurette; 'Rolling with the Punches' featurette; 'XXX-treme
Angels' featurette; Full Throttle Jukebox.
HAVING taken more than $250 million world-wide first time around,
the idea of making a sequel to Charlie’s Angels must have
seemed like a heavenly option; yet while the ensuing movie is
mostly fun, there are times when Full Throttle ventures into OTT
hell.
How much you take from it, largely depends on whether you enjoyed
the first film, so if you thought the original was a waste of
time, then the sequel is likely to appeal even less.
But then this is the type of Summer blockbuster which thrives
on its playful stupidity; coming across as less of a movie, and
more of an extended pop promo designed to deliver nothing more
than its massive quota of eye candy.
Hence, the central trio of Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy
Liu get to indulge various fantasies (both for themselves and
our viewing pleasure!), while doing very little to exercise the
brain.
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The result is a guilty pleasure - one which is knowingly cheesy,
and not-so knowingly crap, but one which remains enjoyable in
spite of itself.
The ‘plot’ this time around finds the Angels going
undercover to retrieve two missing silver rings, which contain
valuable encrypted information that reveals the new identities
of every person in the Federal Witness Protection Program.
The ensuing search forces one of the heroines (Barrymore’s
Dylan) to confront a dark secret from her past, while the others
find themselves pitted against Demi Moore’s mysterious fallen
Angel.
Yet the story is little more than a thinly veiled excuse to serve
up the action, which starts off fun, but becomes increasingly
tedious the more ridiculous it becomes.
Director, McG, a veteran of countless pop videos and nothing
much else, turns Full Throttle into a visceral assault on the
senses, bombarding you with enough gratuitous shots of bums and
cleavage, fights and explosions, to leave your head in a spin;
but runs out of steam halfway through, and allows events to spiral
out of control.
By the time you reach the movie’s overblown finale, you’re
likely to have had enough, which threatens to cast a shadow over
the pleasure of what’s come before.
On the plus side, however, the movie begins well, kicking off
with a completely wild Mongolian rescue, before taking in an exhilarating
dirt-bike sequence, a bikini-clad stake-out and a bone-crunching
fight at the docks.
The obvious sense of fun enjoyed by its stars translates well
to the audience, while Bernie Mac (replacing Bill Murray as Bosley)
is also good value, wise-cracking well in between the bouts of
action, and it’s good to see Moore back on-screen, and showing
a self-depreciating sense of humour.
The film even plays some well-observed sight gags at the expense
of others (The Matrix,
in particular), while throwing in the odd surprise cameo (which
I won’t ruin).
It’s just a shame that it doesn’t know when to stop
- taking that ‘nothing succeeds like excess’ motto to
the Mac and letting its halo slip as a result.
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