In
Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, the Angels deal with personal
problems (their private lives are
not exactly perfect) while fighting crime,
as undercover agents,
dressed in incredible costumes.
CHARLIE'S
ANGELS:
FULL THROTTLE (2003) Film Review
This
page was created on June 26, 2003
This page was last updated on
May 30, 2005
Directed
by McG
Television series: Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts
Story by John August
Screenplay
by John August, Cormac Wibberley, Marianne Wibberley
Cameron Diaz .... Natalie Cook
Drew Barrymore .... Dylan Sanders
Lucy Liu .... Alex Munday
Demi Moore .... Madison Lee
Bernie Mac .... Jimmy Bosley
Justin Theroux .... Seamus O'Grady
Robert Patrick .... Ray Carter
Luke Wilson .... Pete Komisky
Matt LeBlanc .... Jason Gibbons
John Forsythe .... Charles Townsend (voice)
Mary-Kate Olsen .... Herself
Pink
Rodrigo Santoro .... Emmers
Jaclyn Smith .... Kelly Garrett
Produced
by
Drew Barrymore .... producer
Patrick Crowley .... executive producer
Amanda Goldberg .... associate producer
Leonard Goldberg .... producer
Nancy Juvonen .... producer
Stephanie Savage .... associate producer
Betty Thomas .... executive producer
Jenno Topping .... executive producer
Original Music by Ed Shearmur
William Orbit (song "Feel Good Time")
Pink (song "Feel Good Time")
Cinematography by Russell Carpenter
Film Editing by Wayne Wahrman
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for action violence, sensuality
and language/innuendo.
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM,
and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG
They’re
beautiful, they kick butt and they work for Charlie.
On
June 27, 2003, America’s greatest secret weapon will be unleashed
again as Natalie Cook (Cameron Diaz), Dylan Sanders (Drew Barrymore)
and Alex Munday (Lucy Liu) reunite for a challenging new adventure
in Charlie’s Angels®: Full Throttle, a sequel to the blockbuster
action comedy, directed by McG and inspired by the phenomenally
popular television series.
The
Angels prepare to strike without warning as they go undercover to
retrieve two missing silver bands. These are no ordinary rings.
They contain valuable encrypted information that reveals the new
identities of every person in the Federal Witness Protection Program.
When
witnesses start turning up dead, only the Angels, using their expertise
as masters of disguise, espionage and martial arts, can stop the
perpetrator, a mysterious ‘fallen’ Angel (Demi Moore).
Aided by their trusty colleague, Jimmy Bosley (Bernie Mac), the
Angels’ adventure begins at a remote Mongolian outpost and
ends only after Dylan (Barrymore) is forced to face a dark secret
from her past -- a secret that puts the lives of her two best friends
in danger.
Review
by
DAVID BRUCE
Host of HollywoodJesus.com
ONLY
FALLEN ANGELS USE GUNS
Demi Moore returns to the screen. She was the highest paid actress
in Hollywood when she dropped out a few years back. Good to see her
again. In this story she represents unfair competition (use of gun
violence) and a refusal to resort to inner developed resources to
win the battle. Anti-gun violence is an important theme in the current
revision of Charlie's Angels.
HEAVENLY
ANGELS DON'T USE GUNS
Personal ability and achievement are the human qualities that get
the nod. Human creativity, and accomplishment are celebrated. Guns
represent a dehumanizing evil, as well as uncheck power. Guns for
sport -sure. Guns on people -no! Drew Barrymore was clear that this
revision not use guns. Unearned and dehumanizing might is not right.
Heavenly Angels use hands and brains on a level playing field.
A
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD -BREAKING INTO MALE TURF
There is an insistence that life should be conducted on a level playing
field. Welding, motocross, wrestling, and surfing are sadly all male
dominated. --The Angels participate -and win- in this turf dominated
by men --the film makes quite a statement in this regard. There is
a sense here that anyone should be able to participate in any and
all areas of culture life; that all gender barriers should come down.
Equality should be based on our common humanity. Qualification should
be centered on just that, and not gender, nor class, nor race. As
director McG says,
“We all wanted to make this film decidedly more muscular and
show that these girls can hang with the guys. We ramped it up to include
wrestling, motocross, car crashes and leaps off tall buildings. The
Angels hold their own in arenas normally reserved for idealized male
action heroes. We wanted to put them in those environments and still
have them be beautiful and comfortable in their own skin.”
BLONDE,
BRUNET AND BLACK HAIR.
Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu. The Angels represent every
woman! The film is a statement about the importance of every person
-no matter what her hair color is. It is also a coming together of
the various races and types. Midwestern European, Californian Scandinavian,
and Asian American pretty much says it all in a fun way. Of course
the other two members of the team are the males: Bernie Mac (African-American)
with the voice of John Forsythe (WASP senior citizen), so ultimately
it is a coming together of all kinds. This is the direction of planet
earth -thank God. It's wonderful to see so many barriers come down.
GENDER
CHANGE IN HOLLYWOOD
Look at the list of women who produced this film: Barrymore (producer),
Patrick Crowley (executive producer), Amanda Goldberg (associate
producer), Nancy Juvonen (producer), Stephanie Savage (associate
producer), Betty Thomas (executive producer) and Jenno Topping (executive
producer). Not to mention screenwriter Marianne Wibberley and the
fact that the tree top billers are woman! It was not that long ago
that Charlie's Angeles was considered anti-woman: "Woman as
mindless sex objects" -you know, that sort of thing. Today,
glamour and brains are not considered opposed to each other. Equal
rights can be fun, rather than in your face political. A new day
has dawned.
I'D
REALLY RATHER SETTLE DOWN, BUT...
Luke Wilson as Natalie’s boyfriend Pete Komisky. The couple
has finally made the commitment to live together. And there’s
the suggestion that Pete wants to take the relationship even further.
“I think the fact that Natalie, the basic all-American girl,
is with a decent, hardworking guy like Pete, tells us a lot about
them,” says Wilson. “She might be an Angel with all that
entails, but at heart she’s just a normal woman who likes this
stable guy.” But, it's that hesitation, I think, that reflects
a generations feeling about long term commitment (marriage). And,
can you blame it? "We are the generation of the divorced,"
a Gen Xer so aptly put it!
LOVE
AND DEVOTION BETWEEN THE GENERATIONS DESPITE LACK OF UNDERSTANDING
According to John Cleese, the role of Alex's father presented an interesting
challenge for him. “It was explained to me that I was playing
the part of a woman called ‘Mrs. Munday,’ who was a very
high-powered Jewish socialite from New York. But they said the part
was going to be rewritten -- which I thought was a frightfully good
idea. I thought it was wonderfully eccentric casting to have me be
Alex’s father,” Cleese adds. “And there is so much
humor in the fact that he doesn’t really have any idea of what
she does for a living. And every time she tries to explain it to him,
he becomes more befuddled.”
BOTTOM
LINE: BEING THERE FOR ONE ANOTHER
Barrymore
comments about her character,
Dylan, “She’s such a concrete character. I relate to
her on so many levels: Her need for stability, for family, her need
to go out there and protect the ones she loves and be the best that
she can be.”
In fact it is the idea of synchronicity that speaks to Barrymore.
“We are constantly looking out for one another. It’s
rare to find that kind of consistent support and encouragement.”
So there it is, both on and off the set, the main message of the
film is Being-There-For-Others.
In
a clever cameo Jaclyn Smith (an original TV Angel) appears as a
heaven-sent angel to assure the current angels that even heaven
is there for them. True friendship is a taste of heaven.
The film ends
with a vision of heaven and a fiery hell (literally)
for those who wish to do evil things to others.
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