Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle is a 2003 American action comedy film directed by McG and written by John August, and Cormac and Marianne Wibberley. It is the sequel to 2000's Charlie's Angels and the second installment in the Charlie's Angels film series, which is a continuation of the story that began with the television series of the same name by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts.

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMcG
Produced by
Screenplay by
Story byJohn August
Based on
Starring
Music byEdward Shearmur
CinematographyRussell Carpenter
Edited byWayne Wahrman
Production
companies
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • June 27, 2003 (2003-06-27)
Running time
106 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$120 million
Box office$259.1 million

In an ensemble cast, Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu reprise their roles as the three women working for the Townsend Agency. Crispin Glover, Matt LeBlanc and Luke Wilson also reprise their roles from the first film. It also features Justin Theroux, Demi Moore and Bernie Mac as John Bosley's half-brother while Robert Patrick, Shia LaBeouf, John Cleese and Ja'net DuBois appear in supporting roles. Jaclyn Smith reprised her role as Kelly Garrett from the original series for a cameo appearance. John Forsythe also reprised his role as Charlie's voice from the series and previous film for the last time. It was his final film role before his retirement and his death in 2010.

It was released in the United States on June 27, 2003 by Sony Pictures Releasing under its Columbia Pictures label and was number one at the box office for that weekend, also making a worldwide total of $259.2 million.[2] The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for the performances of Diaz, Barrymore and Liu, but criticism aimed at the "bland plot and lack of sense".

A third installment, Charlie's Angels, with a new generation of Angels, was released on November 15, 2019.

Plot

After rescuing U.S. Marshal Ray Carter (Robert Patrick) in Mongolia, the Angels: Natalie Cook (Cameron Diaz), Dylan Sanders (Drew Barrymore) and Alex Munday (Lucy Liu) together with John Bosley's adoptive brother Jimmy Bosley (Bernie Mac) are sent to recover H.A.L.O. (Hidden Alias List Operation) titanium rings stolen from the United States Department of Justice which can display the people listed in the witness protection program. DOJ official William Rose Bailey (Bruce Willis) and a protected witness, Alan Caulfield (Eric Bogosian) are among those killed. At Caulfield's house in San Bernardino, the Angels track his assassin Randy Emmers (Rodrigo Santoro) to a beach where they meet with former Angel Madison Lee (Demi Moore). During the Coal Bowl motorcycle race, Emmers targets another witness named Max Petroni (Shia LaBeouf), but is killed by the Thin Man (Crispin Glover) because he was protecting Max. Inside Emmers' pocket, the Angels discover the photos of Caulfield, Max, and, surprisingly, Dylan, under her birth name, Helen Zaas.

Dylan reveals that she is a protected witness after sending her former boyfriend, Irish mob leader Seamus O'Grady (Justin Theroux) to prison. O'Grady has since targeted those who wronged him; including Dylan and Max, whose parents O'Grady killed. Max is sent to the home of Bosley's mother (Ja'net Dubois) for his protection. At a monastery, the Angels learn about the Thin Man's past from the Mother Superior (Carrie Fisher), who reveals his name, Anthony. Afterwards, the Angels track O'Grady's mob at San Pedro and manage to get the rings, but O'Grady threatens Dylan with the murder of everyone she loves. While Natalie attends her boyfriend, Peter Kominsky (Luke Wilson)'s high school reunion at Hermosa Beach and Alex returns home to find her action star boyfriend-under-timeout, Jason Gibbons (Matt LeBlanc) telling her awestruck father (John Cleese) about her exploits (only for him to mistake her for being a hooker), Dylan leaves the Angels and heads to Mexico. When Natalie, Bosley and Alex notice her letter, Alex becomes upset while Natalie understands that Dylan fled to protect them. When she asks how O'Grady got out of jail, Charlie reveals someone had him released on good behaviour. While hiding out in Mexico, Dylan is convinced to return after seeing an apparition of former Angel Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith).

Natalie and Alex deduce that Carter is a part of O'Grady's scheme after seeing him return Bosley's keys without any pain, despite claiming to have broken his ribs beforehand. Following him, the two witness him killed by Madison, the true mastermind. Though Dylan arrives to back the group, the Angels are shot by Madison, who takes the rings; though they survived via Kevlar vests. Back at the base, Charlie reprimands Madison for what she's done and confronts her for endangering her former teammates' lives, the reason why he fired her in the first place. Madison responds by shooting the speaker and blowing him off. The Angels realize that Madison, with O'Grady's protection, is going to sell the rings to the Antonioni Crime Family, the Tanaka Yakuza, and the Diablo Cartel at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where Jason's film premiere is about to commence. The Angels arrange for the three groups to be arrested by the FBI while they confront Madison and O'Grady. Anthony comes to the Angels' aid, helping Alex as well, he comes to Dylan's aid when she is being attacked by O'Grady, he begins to fight O'Grady and kicks him off the roof. Anthony grabs Dylan and chokes her at first, but they ended up sharing a kiss and Anthony pulling Dylan's hair out, just as he was about to say something, possibly confessing his love and admiration for Dylan, O'Grady allegedly kills him. O'Grady nearly succeeds in killing Dylan as well, but she blinds him; causing him to lose his footing and fall to his apparent death. Not entirely gone, He then attempts to get back up but is stopped by Anthony, who was still alive. Dylan accidentally knocks over the "E" sign and it falls on O'Grady, possibly Anthony as well (In the unrated cut, Anthony uses O'Grady as a human shield so he does not get hit, it is unknown if he had survived.) The Angels fight Madison all the way to an abandoned theatre, where they kick her into a chamber filled with gas and she inadvertently triggers an explosion; killing herself.

The Angels attend the premiere, where they learn that Mama Bosley is adopting Max. Peter postpones his engagement with Natalie by buying for them a puppy named Spike while Alex terminates her timeout with Jason. The Angels celebrate their victory together with Bosley.

Cast

  • Cameron Diaz as Natalie Cook
  • Drew Barrymore as Dylan Sanders / Helen Zaas
  • Lucy Liu as Alexandra "Alex" Munday
  • Demi Moore as Madison Lee, a former Angel turned independent operative
  • John Forsythe as the voice of Charles "Charlie" Townsend, the owner of the Townsend agency
  • Bernie Mac as Jimmy Bosley, successor and adoptive brother of John Bosley
  • Crispin Glover as the Thin Man / Anthony, a mysterious assassin
  • Justin Theroux as Seamus O'Grady, Dylan's ex-boyfriend and head of the O'Grady Irish Mob
  • Robert Patrick as Ray Carter, Director of the U.S. Marshals Service
  • Matt LeBlanc as Jason Gibbons, Alex's boyfriend
  • Luke Wilson as Peter "Pete" Komisky, Natalie's boyfriend
  • John Cleese as Mr. Munday, Alex's father
  • Rodrigo Santoro as Randy Emmers, a surfer assassin hired by Madison
  • Shia LaBeouf as Maxwell "Max" Petroni, an orphaned teenager targeted by the mob after his testimony
  • Ja'net DuBois as Momma Bosley, Jimmy's mother and John Bosley's adoptive mother
Cameos

Bill Murray, who played John Bosley in the first installment, also appears in archival footage.

Production

Charlie's Angels: Animated Adventures, an animated prequel series explain how the Angels got there and their mission, concluded by the very introduction of the film.[4]

The Seamus O'Grady prison introduction scene is a direct reference to Robert De Niro's prison-set introduction in Cape Fear.[5]

The scene where the Angels go to investigate the body of Agent Caufield dressed as crime-scene professionals is a homage/parody of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, complete with the theme "Who Are You" by The Who.

The song "Feel Good Time" is the film's main track, and is performed by Pink. Whenever Seamus O'Grady (Justin Theroux) appears, he is accompanied by Bernard Hermann's theme from Cape Fear.

The Thin Man character perhaps pays homage to the Thin Man in 1927 German Expressionist film Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang. In the film, Thin Man is ordered by Joh Frederson, master of Metropolis, to spy on his son Freder.

Reception

Box office

The film had a production budget of $120 million. It grossed $100,830,111 at the United States box office and had to depend on earnings from the international box office to make profit. By the end of its run, the film had grossed $259,175,788 worldwide, underperforming its predecessor by $5 million.

Critical response

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle received mixed reviews and earned a rating of 42% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 185 reviews, with an average rating of 4.97/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Eye candy for those who don't require a movie to have a plot or for it to make sense."[6] On Metacritic the film has weighted average score of 48 out of 100, based on reviews from 38 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[7] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[8]

Roger Ebert gave the film 2 12 stars out of 4,[9] a higher score than the half star he gave to the first film.[10] Ebert explained "I realized I did not hate or despise the movie, and [...] I decided that I sort of liked it because of the high spirits of the women involved."[9] Amy Dawes of Variety magazine wrote: "Bigger, sleeker and better than the first, sequel Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle is a joyride of a movie that takes the winning elements of the year 2000 hit to the next level."[11]

Accolades

The film received seven nominations at the 24th Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture, Worst Actress for both Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz, Worst Screenplay, and Worst Excuse for an Actual Movie (All Concept/No Content), winning two trophies for Worst Remake or Sequel and Worst Supporting Actress for Demi Moore.[12] The film also received seven nominations at the 2003 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards: Worst Director (McG), Worst Actress (Barrymore), Worst Screenplay for a Film Grossing More Than $100 Million Worldwide Using Hollywood Math, Most Intrusive Musical Score, Worst Sequel, Least "Special" Special Effects, and Worst On-Screen Group (the Angels). It won for Worst Director and Most Intrusive Musical Score.[13]

Demi Moore was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain, but lost against co-star Lucy Liu for her role as O-Ren Ishii in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 1.[14]

Soundtrack

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
Studio album by
Various artists
ReleasedJune 24, 2003 (2003-06-24)
GenrePop
Length49:57
LabelColumbia
Charlie's Angels soundtracks chronology
Charlie's Angels
(2000)
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
(2003)
Charlie's Angels
(2019)
Singles from Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
  1. "Feel Good Time"
    Released: June 20, 2003
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[15]

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle is the soundtrack album from the 2003 film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. The album was released on June 24, 2003 by Columbia Records.[16]

No.TitleWriter(s)Performed byLength
1."Feel Good Time"Pink featuring William Orbit3:56
2."Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)"Nickelback featuring Kid Rock 
3."Rebel Rebel"David BowieDavid Bowie4:22
4."Danger! High Voltage"
  • Steve Nawara
  • Tyler Spencer
Electric Six3:34
5."Livin' on a Prayer"Bon Jovi4:11
6."Any Way You Want It"Journey3:24
7."Surfer Girl"Brian WilsonThe Beach Boys2:26
8."Working for the Weekend"
Loverboy3:42
9."A Girl Like You"Edwyn CollinsEdwyn Collins3:59
10."Nas' Angels...The Flyest"
  • Nasir Jones
  • Pharrell Williams
  • Chad Hugo
Nas featuring Pharrell Williams3:47
11."I Just Want to Be Your Everything"Barry GibbAndy Gibb 
12."This Will Be"
Natalie Cole2:51
13."U Can't Touch This"MC Hammer4:16
14."Last Dance"Paul JabaraDonna Summer3:17
Total length:49:57

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
New Zealand (RMNZ)[17] Gold 7,500^
United States (RIAA)[18] Gold 500,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Other songs are not included in the soundtrack

Sequel

Following the release of Full Throttle, the franchise was confirmed for a third and fourth film, but in 2004 the idea was cancelled. A fictional sequel titled Charlie's Angels III: The Legend of Charlie's Gold (2007) was presented within the 2001 Futurama episode "I Dated a Robot", with Lucy Liu reprising her role; the film follows the Angels dealing with an outbreak of vampires.

On September 15, 2015, The Hollywood Reporter has reported that Sony are rebooting the film with Elizabeth Banks both producing with her producing partner and husband Max Handelman and the studio are in negotiations with her to direct the film.[19] On April 13, 2016, Sony has confirmed that Banks will direct the reboot.[20] It was later revealed that the new movie won't be a reboot or a remake of the franchise, but rather a continuation that will incorporate the events of the original TV series and the McG-directed 2000s films.[21]

The third installment stars Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska as the new generation of Angels. Banks and Djimon Hounsou also star as Charlie's assistants, known as Bosleys, while Patrick Stewart replaced Bill Murray in the role of John Bosley and Jaclyn Smith reprised her role as Kelly Garrett for the second time for a cameo appearance. It is also the first installment to feature Robert Clotworthy as the voice of Charlie; replacing John Forsythe, following his death in 2010.

References

  1. "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (12A) (CUT)". British Board of Film Classification. June 18, 2003. Retrieved October 28, 2016.
  2. Jonathan Crocker. "Take 1: Movie firsts that changed cinema forever". MSN Movies. Archived from the original on February 28, 2009. Retrieved June 5, 2009.
  3. "Pink to Write Her Own Movie". December 8, 2004. Retrieved June 5, 2009.
  4. "Charlie's Angels: Animated Adventures". Archived from the original on May 4, 2009. Retrieved June 5, 2009.
  5. Mitchell, Elvis (June 27, 2003). "Film Review; The Strained Family Ties Of Three Athletic Angels". The New York Times. Retrieved June 30, 2013. Seamus O'Grady (Justin Theroux), a color Xerox of Max Cady from Cape Fear
  6. "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
  7. "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle". Metacritic. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
  8. "Cinemascore". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  9. Ebert, Roger (June 27, 2003). "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle". Chicago Sun-Times.
  10. Ebert, Roger (November 3, 2000). "Charlie's Angels". Chicago Sun-Times.
  11. Dawes, Amy (June 22, 2003). "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle". Variety (magazine).
  12. "'GIGLI' Really Wows RAZZIE Voters" (Press release). The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation. 2004. Archived from the original on June 20, 2012. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
  13. "Past Winners Database". The Envelope at LA Times. Archived from the original on August 15, 2007. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
  14. "MTV Movie Awards 2004". MTV. June 4, 2004. Archived from the original on April 23, 2008. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  15. "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle - Original Soundtrack". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  16. "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle – Music from the Motion Picture". Amazon. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  17. "New Zealand album certifications – Soundtrack – Charlie's Angels 2". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  18. "American album certifications – Soundtrack – Charlie's Angels". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved July 9, 2019. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
  19. Kit, Borys (September 15, 2015). "Elizabeth Banks in Talks to Direct New 'Charlie's Angels' Movie (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter.
  20. Franich, Darren (April 13, 2016). "Sony confirms Charlie's Angels reboot, Jump Street-Men in Black crossover". entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 13, 2016.
  21. Shirley Li (April 12, 2019). "Charlie's Angels first look: See Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska in Elizabeth Banks' update". ew.com. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
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