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Story by: Jack Foley
CHARLIE'S Angels 2: Full Throttle opened in the US over the weekend
of June 27-30 and the reaction was not great.
Too many critics found the antics of the central trio stupid,
but not fun, making the sequel something of a tired re-tread of
the original.
Leading the way is the New York Times, which felt that
'Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle is like eating a bowl of Honeycomb
drenched in Red Bull -- a dizzying mouthful of unabashed silliness
that leads to an equally precipitous crash once the buzz wears
off after the film's first hour'.
Rolling Stone, however, went one worse, stating that 'watching
Full Throttle is like being pummeled for two hours with a feather
duster. It leaves no scars, but you do feel the pain'.
And the Los Angeles Times felt that, 'despite the fact
that a group of gifted professionals created exactly the cinematic
effects they were after, it's hard to take great pleasure in what's
been achieved'.
The Hollywood Reporter was equally unimpressed, stating
that 'noise and movement occupy the entire 105 minutes, yet there
is not a single coherent moment or imaginative idea in all the
chaos'.
While Slant Magazine felt that it is 'merely a preposterous,
maximized manipulation of the original film's winning formula'.
The New York Post, too, felt that the sequel is nothing
more than 'an excuse for a spectacular series of costume and hair
changes, not-so-spectacular stunts and a parade of pointless celebrity
cameos'.
And the San Francisco Chronicle felt that 'this is something
rare: a movie that insulates itself against its own rottenness
by being lousy by design'.
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Slightly more positive, however, was the New York Daily News,
which felt that Full Throttle is 'infused with an irresistibly
joyous spirit that simply cannot be faked'.
E! Online awarded it a B- and warned viewers to 'hang
on to your tub of popcorn and enjoy', while the Boston Phoenix
felt that it is 'another tongue-in-cheek triumph'.
The Denver Post was similarly upbeat, stating that 'the
goodness of Full Throttle resides not in its being good but in
the joyous spirit with which its stars go at playing Angels'.
While the Chicago Sun-Times wrote it off as 'harmless,
brainless, good-natured fun', awarding it two and a half out of
four.
The Montreal Film Journal declared that 'this is a movie
with less depth than a Maxim pictorial, but it’s fun', while
the Seattle Times felt that, 'as a movie, it's a mess,
but there's a loopy spirit to it that's infectious, and the giggly
camaraderie of its heroines shines through, like sunlight over
a junkyard'.
TV Guide, meanwhile, wrote that 'the plot is of less consequence
than the pop-culture references, star cameos, cheerfully jokey
soundtrack and double entendres'.
And the final two words go to Variety and CNN.
The former opined that Full Throttle is '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'.
And CNN concluded that the sequel 'somehow this movie
manages to be sassy yet completely juvenile, smart yet moronic,
and totally mindless all the way - yet very entertaining'.
The movie opens in the UK on July 4, when IndieLondon will deliver
its verdict.
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