Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle on DVD

“Sexy women wear sexy clothes. Things blow up.”
“Great, here’s $90 million.”

It’s hard to imagine that Hollywood meeting going any other way, because it’s not hard to tell from the final result that that’s pretty much what was going on in their heads.

Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle re-teams Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu for another round of style minus the substance.

A device called “H.A.L.O.” has been stolen by someone who wants to take over the world, so our sexy heroines are forced back into action to stop the evil villain from achieving global domination.

Yep, that’s pretty much it. It would be hard to go into more detail, since the wafer-thin plot is just an excuse to string together some action and dance sequences.

To be fair, there is some good action here. Director McG has an MTV-worthy style that works for such a movie, and it always helps to have such a willing cast. There are scenes involving dirt bikes, surfboards, Pussycat Dolls, and various forms of martial arts. All are well staged, choreographed, and executed, but you can’t help but feel as if you’re getting stupider by the minute. And don’t be fooled by this “comeback” performance by Demi Moore. She has maybe ten minutes of screen time and her acting chops haven’t improved over the last few years.

On a positive note, while the movie is completely ridiculous, fortunately it knows it. It never expects you to take it seriously; it gets by strictly on flair. It never tries to make you think you’re watching something artistic or deep; it simply says “We’re here if you want to have a good time.” And that’s respectable in itself.

Besides, they made good use of their $90 million budget.

Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle is about the shallowest movie to come out of Hollywood since…well, probably since the first Charlie’s Angels, but it just wants to have fun and bring you along for the ride. If you can get past the fact that this is 107 minutes you’ll never get back, you just might be able to enjoy yourself. Somewhat.

Even though the first movie wasn’t a spectacular hit (less than $130 million gross; $90 million budget), a sequel was quickly greenlit, another $90 million set and the same Angels and director brought back. Even less of a hit, Full Throttle had to work really hard to cross the $100 million mark at the box office. But it will undoubtedly find a broader audience on video, so Columbia Tristar has invested a few more dollars to spring for a pretty good special edition.

Presented in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen, this is a great looking DVD. There are plenty of bright colors that are sharp, don’t bleed, and aren’t blinding. Plenty of skin is shown throughout the course of the movie, so the fleshtones are understandably well done. Blacks aren’t too dark, and overall detail is very good. It’s always nice to have a movie with so much action have excellent picture as well. It makes it that much more enjoyable.

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, and it, too, is excellent. Dialogue has good separation, which is uncommon but pleasant, score is restricted to the front, while the multitude of sound effects (some of which aren’t so pleasant) are spread between the five channels. Speech is a little quieter than we’d like, but considering the movie, we’re pretty sure we didn’t miss a whole lot.

McG provides a “telestrator” commentary, which means he uses those little pens that sports commentators often use. Unlike most sports commentators, however, it’s always pretty obvious what McG is talking about, so the pen just seems superfluous. Next up are 35 minutes of featurettes, each of which is pretty bland. “Pussycat Dolls” is a feature on the real-life Pussycat Dolls, where they basically try and make us believe they’re doing something great. “Rolling with the Punches” focuses on the fight choreography; “XXX-Treme Angels” is all about the three stars and their stunts, and “Full Throttle Jukebox” centers on the music.

Other extras include a trivia track, a commentary by the writers, a music video, cameo-graphy, and a few more very short featurettes on the cars, costumes, makeup, and style.

This so-called "Unrated" version of Charlie's Angels is pretty much about as unrated as the unrated version of Pearl Harbor. It features a few extra shots of gratuitous violence and a bit more sexuality, but in a case like this, people are going to expect some nudity, only to go away sorely disappointed. If you're going to add the tag "Unrated" onto a DVD box, you should make sure there's something inside that warrants it. Otherwise, you're undoubtedly going to lose a portion of your fanbase.

Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, from Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment
107 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1) 16x9 enhanced, Dolby Digital 5.1
Starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, Bernie Mac and Demi Moore
Produced by Leonard Goldberg, Drew Barrymore and Nancy Juvonen
Screenplay by John August and Cormac Wibberley & Marianne Wibberley
Directed by McG

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