What Went Wrong
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
By Shalimar Sahota
July 21, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Charlie’s Angels was released in 2000 and turned out to be a surprising success, both financially and even critically! The $264 million it earned worldwide justified a sequel. Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle was one of 14 sequels released during the summer of 2003. Opening in the US on June 27, 2003, it reached #1 that weekend with a decent take of $37.6 million. However, the following week it was down to #3, losing over 60% of its audience. The film took in $100.8 million at the US box office and $158.3 million internationally. Earning $259.1 million worldwide is a good result, but this was less than the first film, and Sony Columbia were clearly expecting more.
Reviews were also worse this time around, with many critics citing the insanely stupid story. The film rehashes an idea from the original, where the Angels, Dylan (Drew Barrymore), Natalie (Cameron Diaz) and Alex (Lucy Liu) save someone who just so happens to be a very bad person. It opens with the trio on a mission to rescue US Marshal Ray Carter (Robert Patrick). He owns one of two titanium rings that just so happens to be a database of information that holds the identities of everyone in a Federal Witness Protection Program. Despite the successful rescue, his ring has been stolen, and the owner of the other ring is shot dead.
The Angels are hired to retrieve the pair of titanium rings, and their suspicions lead them to a former angel, Madison Lee (Demi Moore), Dylan's former boyfriend Seamus (Justin Theroux) and former villain from the first film, The Thin Man (Crispin Glover). Towards the end, the film introduces a twist, where we discover that Ray is actually in cahoots with former Angel, Madison. It’s a twist that makes the film look more stupid, because you then start questioning why this guy would let himself get kidnapped. Supposedly it’s so Carter isn’t suspected, but the other ring is obtained so easily that it just makes the whole opening rescue sequence redundant.
This is one instance where you realise just how ridiculous the script is. Written by John August (who wrote the first film) and husband and wife duo Cormac and Marianne Wibberley, they even mention on the DVD commentary that the film doesn’t make much sense. “As long as you see the rings, you don’t think about the plot not making sense,” says August. It is instead more focused on presenting a collection of action and comedy set pieces, and they’re all tied together by lame excuses to explain what story there is; be it Sex Wax, bird poop and Fred Astaire. To its credit, the comedy is genuinely funny. The action is a different matter altogether.
The film relies on special effects in order to achieve the ludicrously over the top stunts, and in most cases they have a blurry, artificial look to them, as if rushed to meet a deadline. Examples include Madison throwing Dylan and then kicking her in mid-air, and the Angels using some super extended wire to swing from the rooftop of an exploding building. There’s also the gravity defying motocross sequence, which has to be seen to be believed. A “bad guy” shoots at the Angels chasing him, by lifting himself upside-down from his bike while suspended in midair. His shots cause Natalie’s bike to explode, resulting in her doing a midair cartwheel and landing on the back of Dylan’s bike. The idea and execution of the scene itself is unintentionally hilarious.
Barrymore didn’t just star, but also produced the film. A few months after its release she responded to reports about the box office takings, saying, “We’ve made close to $260 million worldwide to date, so it’s really bitchy and mean when people try to make you feel like a failure.” To be fair, the film didn’t flop, and it did recoup its $120 million production budget. But even Barrymore must have expected more, for she went as far as to blame Demi Moore for the reason the film under performed, citing her extravagant press coverage. “Demi's character Madison Lee wanted to overshadow the new Angels,” said Barrymore, “and that's what happened in reality.”
There were also a lot of rumours reported about Moore’s diva-like requests, involving excessive hairdressers and stylists. It was also reported that the trio didn’t get along with Moore, and that they even stopped talking to her. At the US premiere, Diaz was questioned by a reporter about Moore’s role, only for Diaz to say, “I don't want to talk about her.”
As testament to its awfulness, the film was nominated for seven Razzies, and won two, for Worst Sequel and Worst Supporting Actress for Demi Moore (the first film received no Razzies whatsoever). I viewed the film on its opening day, and I’ll admit to enjoying it because it made me laugh. However, the film tries to build a story around the numerous set pieces. Also, the overly reliant cheap CG look during the action meant that it just couldn’t compete when compared to the likes of that summer’s crop - Terminator 3, The Matrix Reloaded, and X-Men 2. Rather than rushing to get it out for the summer, a bit more care and attention towards the plot, which was clearly an afterthought, could have resulted in a much better film.