Flashback Review: Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle

In the year 2000, a film adaptation called Charlie’s Angels, was released on the big screen earning mixed to positive reviews and it also became a commercial success at the box office. Three years later, a follow up called Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle. Unlike its predecessor, it received mixed to negative reviews from critics and it was a box office success, however this sequel didn’t earn a lot like the other film.

I already did a brief history on Charlie’s Angels from my previous review, go and check it out. This article contains massive SPOILERS. If you haven’t seen this film or the first one, read at your very own risk!

Positive & Negative Aspects

Positive: Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, & Lucy Liu reprise their roles and they all did a good job on their performances.

Supporting Cast such as Bernie Mac, Demi Moore, Justin Theroux, Robert Patrick, John Forsythe, Robert Forster & Shia LeBeouf also did an ok job for their performances.

Action Sequences were spot on decent. Gotta love the part when the ladies use a silent takedown on armed men before they fight a small crowd of henchmen. This scene felt like “Batman: Arkham Asylum” six years before the game was made.

Like the first installment, certain songs are featured in the film, this was before James Gunn created Star-Lord’s Awesome Mix of songs from “Guardians Of The Galaxy” and its sequel.”

We get to learn more about Dylan’s (Drew’s character) backstory along with Thin Man from the previous movie.

Bruce Willis, John Cleese, The Olsen Twins, Pink, (the singer) Carrie Fisher, Chris Pontius, (Party Boy from MTV’s Jackass) The Pussycat Dolls, and Jaclyn Smith, (a familiar original cast member from the television series) make cameo appearances.

If you’re a male viewer like me, be prepared because the ladies are known for using their feminine charms as one of their “primary weapons.” If you’re a female viewer, you’re probably immune to them or not. If Scarlett Johansson, Kat Dennings & Natalie Portman starred in the 2019 reboot, I would’ve suffered a heart attack like Dick Cheney.

A ticket stub resembles “Mission Impossible II.” This along with the first Charlie’s Angels movie, both came out on the same year.

A Pause Worthy Moment with a photo of Bill Murray at Bosley’s home. Bill didn’t come back for the sequel, because he didn’t get along with Lucy.

Another Pause Worthy Moment with Cameron Diaz wearing “Spider-Man” undies again. Sony Pictures also distributed the Spider-Man films. I’ll also give this an extra point for playing the song “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head.” This song also appeared in Spider-Man 2.

Like the first movie, Melissa McCarthy has a small role. This is before “Bridesmaids” made her an A-List star.

Like its predecessor, bloopers are shown during the end credits with the cast having a good time together.

Negative: Charlie narrates about The Main Trio’s past. If you’ve seen the previous film, we all know about them and their personalities. Did the screenwriters forgot to rewatch the first film? That’s like showing Batman or Spider-Man’s origin all over again. Screenwriting 101, rewatch a previous entry of a movie in case you don’t want to recycle the same element.

A Plot Device features a ring like element called “Halo.” Halo is the name of a video game franchise which involves a giant ring like structure called Halo. featured as an important Plot Device. I’m surprised Mircrosoft didn’t sue Sony Pictures for “Trademark Infringement.” That could’ve been the biggest lawsuit of all time on episode of “Judge Judy!”

Fake looking Blue Screens are visibly shown. To put salt in the wound, there’s also fake C.G.I. bullets when the villain shoots The Trio.

When Justin Theroux & Crispin Glover’s characters Seamus & Thin Man fall to their death, earlier in the film, how did the ladies survive a fall to the ground at The Griffith Observatory?

Poor Editing involving Alex & Dylan, who are planting a tracking device on the car for Natalie to distract a surfer, they both disappear with Natalie all alone. One shot later, they somehow teleported behind Natalie. Did Nightcrawler from “X-Men” teleport them back off-screen?

Annoying Cartoon like Sound Effects are included in some scenes.

How the heck did Seamus walked his way through flames? In real life, he would’ve been on fire? This isn’t “The Terminator!”

Product Placement featuring the following brands including U-Haul, T-Mobile & Sony. I’ll give this flaw a pass, because I couldn’t find more brands to spot.

There’s no explanation about Bill Murray’s character, John Bosley, retiring as The Trio’s sidekick. Again, there’s a reason why he didn’t return for the sequel, is because of his on set feud with McG (the film’s director) and he didn’t get along with Lucy Liu.

The Marketing for the movie accidentally gave away Demi Moore as the main antagonist of the film. Filmmaking 101, you gotta keep the villain’s identity under wraps, otherwise the shock value will decrease.

An Extreme Closeup of Demi Moore’s face. When did the camera become a microscope? Do we really need to see her skin cells?

The Romantic Subplots for each girl felt distracting. Especially Cameron Diaz & Luke Wilson’s lack of chemistry together.

The Final Verdict: D-

In my opinion, this was an epic disaster. Although the sequel has some good stuff that I’ve listed as the positive elements. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy it that much. Full Throttle is the last film to star Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, & Lucy Liu. Which means a third installment will never happen, because a reboot is in the works and it is slated to come out in 2019.