Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
When the announcement came that there was to be a brand new Charlie’s Angel with a new cast coming this year in theaters I had a pretty good guess that we were FINALLY going to see Sony put out their sequel to the 2000 Charlie’s Angels on Blu-ray. It’s been strange, as Sony released the Blu-ray of the “original” remake with Drey, Lucy and Cameron back in 2010, but for some strange reason never put out Full Throttle over the last nine years. I mean, when you’re releasing a back catalog title it’s USUALLY good practice to put out the sequel at the same time. Especially a sequel that made nearly the same amount of profit as the previous film did too! Fans have been kind of grumbling and wishing that Sony would release the sequel on Blu-ray, but with the release of the new movie they FINALLY decided to not only release the first film in 4K UHD, but the sequel in Blu-ray for the very first time (AND the original series in a Blu-ray boxset from Mill Creek I might add).

The film opens up with a ridiculous rescue scene where the government super spy trio Natalie (Cameron Diaz), Alex (Lucy Liu) and Dylan (Drew Barrymore) have to rescue a high ranking official from a Chinese prison. Unfortunately they didn’t get his H.A.L.O. ring (super duper spy ring) with it, meaning the three angels have to go out and find it again. As they track down who has the ring, they uncover a secret plot to control the world with a former angel, Dylan’s ex lover Shamus (Justin Theroux) is out to take revenge for her putting him in jail years ago, and the three have to break in a new Bosley (Bernie Mac) in while get used to the fact that their romance lives might actually have them going different directions some day. All in a days work.

This was actually director McG’s (yes, that’s his name) second feature film, with his first being the predecessor to this one. He seems to have lost a grasp on what made the first movie a fluffy fun action movie, and instead just thrown everything including the kitchen sink at the wall in hopes of something sticking. The action is off the wall insane, with the characters punching and kicking more for humor than girl power this time around, and the copious sub plots unnecessarily padding the movie just a bit. The real saving grace is the three main stars and copious cameos that crop up throughout the film. We have everything from a 15 year old Shia LaBeouf, John Cleese, Pink, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Robert Patrick, Rodrigo Santoro, Matt LeBlanc, Luke Wilson, and singer Eve. It’s a walking wall of faces to say “oh I know him/her!” and in many ways it works. They all get into the fun of it and just play around the entire time.

While Charlie’s Angels IS a distinct downward take from the first movie, it’s been one of those guilty pleasure movies of mine for some time. I don’t know what, but the absurdity and the over the top insanity of the movie is almost fun in it’s own right, and once again Crispin Glover just steals his few scenes with glorious ease (sadly his role is REALLY diminished from the first movie). It’s a fluffy, stupid, sometimes fun, and totally cheesy romp that just reeks of the early 2000 action movie syndrome.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for action violence, sensuality and language/innuendo / Not Rated by the MPAA (unrated cut)




Video:

Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle seems to be taken from a slightly dated transfer, and most likely is the reason why this one didn’t get a 4K UHD release along with the first one (most likely a suitable 4K master hasn’t been struck and they didn’t feel the need to expend more cash to restrike a new 4K master with cleanup). The 2.40:1 framed image is a still very clean and precise, with the hot burnished colors and overly blown out highlights of the film all intact. There’s an almost yellowish hue to the film throughout, with super hot primary colors (the reds in the opening scene literally looking like they’re about to burn through the screen and into your retinas), and the facial tones look a bit hot and overly brightened. Still, there’s plenty of fine detail to go around with only moderate levels of very natural looking grain levels. There’s a few scenes in the beginning where the black levels are a little crushed (rescuing Ray Carter from the Chinese den is the most obvious), but overall it’s a very pleasant looking transfer, even if it is a little soft at times.






Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is loud and aggressive, making good use of all 6 channels with the very action oriented track. The pop music score is peppy and spicy, while the action and explosions rock the sound stage with great surround response and a very powerful bass response. It’s not one that will literally shake foundations or go into single digits (or even close to 20hz for the most part), but the bass is definitely loud and copious, but that doesn’t mean it’s overbearing or mixed too hotly for the rest of the mix. The dialog is well defined and perfectly intelligible at all times, and evenly balanced with the rest of the craziness in the movie’s mix.








Extras:

• ALL-NEW: Sneak peek at the new 2019 Charlie's Angels film with an extended clip from the film
• Telestrator Commentary with Director McG
• Writer's Commentary
• Angel-Vision Trivia Track
• Full Throttle: The Cars of Charlie's Angels
• Dream Duds: Costuming an Angel
• Angels Makeover: Hansen Dam
• Designing Angels: The Look of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
• Learn Why: There's No Such Thing As a "Short Shot", Only an Overworked Producer
• Music Video: Pink Featuring William Orbit "Feel Good Time"
• Cameo-Graphy
• Turning Angels into Pussycats Dolls
• Rolling with the Punches
• XXX-Treme Angels
• Full Throttle Jukebox
• Angel Scouts: A Look Into the Gorgeous Locations
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle is the perfect example of how NOT to do a sequel. This was McG’s second feature film outside of doing music videos, and he decided to amp up the action and craziness from the first movie to level 11, while forgoing plot and character development. Everything but the kitchen sink is thrown directly at the viewer, barely giving them a chance to process what they’ve seen before throwing something else at them. The real redeeming feature for the film is the all star cast with the girls, and a TON of popular cameos such as Bruce Willis, John Cleese, Shia LaBeouf and many more. The Blu-ray itself comes with good video, good audio and all of the old extras from the DVD set as well as a new sneak peak at the 2019 film that is the sole reason this was even released on Blu-ray. It’s a cheesy movie, but kind of a guilty pleasure from my youth, so whole it’s not a masterpiece by ANY stretch of the imagination I still think it’s fun for what it is.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Lucy Liu, Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Bernie Mac, Crispin Glover, Justin Theroux, Robert Patrick, Demi Moore
Directed by: McG
Written by: John August, Cormac Wibberley, Marianne Wibberley
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Sony
Rated: PG-13 (Theatrical) / NR (unrated cut)
Runtime: 106 minutes (Theatrical) / 107 minutes (unrated)
Blu-Ray Release Date: October 22nd, 2019

Recommendation: Cheesy Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I only enjoy this series for the eye candy. lol.